Like a good wine, some writers get better with age. After some 30 published books – mainly on management, economics, politics, and society – Peter Drucker is still dispensing wisdom in ever greater doses. At 93 years, the doyen of management authors, forecasts the challenges ahead in this field for the New Millennium. A review of Butterworth‐Heinemann’s catalog for 2002 reveals 16 titles alone by this guru of management development, one of which is just ready for release – Management in the Next Society (for catalog, contact Ailsa.Marks@repp.co.uk or Jennifer.Pursely@bhusa.com).
Management Challenges for the 21st Century opens with an introduction on “tomorrow’s hot issues.” Here this professional futurist tries to alert business and professional leaders to the realities of the emerging knowledge culture with its radical changes in the social, economic, and demographic situation. And so Drucker successfully accomplishes mind expansion in six pithy chapters that deal with management’s new paradigms, strategies, transformational leadership, information frontiers, knowledge worker productivity, and even managing oneself! This very readable volume offers unique insights on issues that are already with us, the people and organizations in transition between the industrial and metaindustrial worlds. As a result, Drucker maintains that policies will have to be reversed, mindsets have to be enlargened, new systems have to be created. The book’s entire emphasis is upon real issues now confronting both management and knowledge workers. As one who has written many books on comparable subjects for three‐quarters of a century, I tip my hat in deep admiration to another Drucker analysis and call for action!
Those who would be cutting‐edge leaders cannot afford to miss reading this and other meaningful and prophetic books by Peter Drucker. Born in Vienna, educated in Austria and England, Dr Drucker’s long career covers newspaper correspondent, economist, global management consultant, and university professor, presently at the Calremont Graduate School in California, USA. His message has added significance for the “children” of the information or space age!
