Living in More Than One World,

“I have been reading for years the acceptance speeches of Nobel prize winners.” – Peter Drucker, 1969.

Photo credit: Bigstock

There is little wonder why Peter Drucker found inspiration in reading about winners of prestigious prizes. When he wrote the above, nearly 50 years ago in his book The Age of Discontinuity, it took some effort to find this information. Now, much of it is readily available on the Nobel Prizes’ website. We are at this time of year awash in inspiration, especially from the ongoing announcements of winners for the various Nobel Prizes. In addition, there is the MacArthur Fellows program (AKA ‘Genius Grants,’) which I wrote about in Create Your Future the Peter Drucker Way and in my October 8, 2012 post “Become Your Own Genius Grant Fellow.” In September, the Drucker Institute announced that We Care Solar, of Berkeley, Ca., was the winner of the 2017 Drucker Prize.

I was saddened recently to learn of the August 8th death, at 92, of Max De Pree, who had an illustrious career as CEO and Chairman of the innovative furniture/design company Herman Miller.

In 1989, after he retired as CEO but while remaining as Chairman, he also started a parallel career as a best-selling leadership author; particularly with his first book, Leadership is an Art; the follow-up Leadership Jazz, and in 1997, with Leading Without Power: Finding Hope in Serving Community. These slim volumes are eloquent, full of wisdom of various types, and spiritually reflective of De Pree’s deep Christian faith.

Earlier this month, the innovative nonprofit organization Aileron posted part one and part two of an interview with me about how the principles in my book Create Your Future the Peter Drucker Way can benefit business owners and executives, particularly those in small businesses.

Aileron is a testament to the value of maintaining focus. Its niche is to provide coaching to owners of small businesses. As it points out on its website, “Small business is the engine that drives economic growth.” Although it provides many online resources, Aileron has a striking, nature-based campus in Tipp City, Ohio; near Dayton, for onsite programs.

On September 30, The Drucker Institute announced the winner of the 2016 $100,000 Drucker Prize: ImproveCareNow Network. The Institute says that the winning organization has “transformed health and care by enabling patients, families, clinicians and researchers to collaboratively improve knowledge and outcomes related to Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. It engages these stakeholders in a learning health network that provides real-time quality improvement, research and community-building for children with these conditions.”

The prize, which has been given since 1991, reflects two particular areas of focus within the long career of Peter Drucker: innovation and the strength of nonprofit organizations, and what businesses can learn from them.

In my previous installment of posts about the new book Drucker: A Life in Pictures, I remarked on the tremendous variety of people who are represented in documents depicted from the Drucker Archives, including Cesar Chavez, Rick Warren and Frances Hesselbein. As the chapter “The Social-Sector Advisor” makes clear, Peter Drucker was a citizen of the highest order. Besides some of the organizations mentioned in my earlier posts, this also illustrates his involvement with CARE International (CARE Foundation International Humanitarian Award; May 24, 1995), the Salvation Army (Evangeline Booth Award, 2001) and Mutual of America (Distinguished Citizens Service Award; April 4, 1991).…

Last week I wrote the first of several installments about the new book Drucker: A Life in Pictures, by Rick Wartzman, Executive Director of the Drucker Institute; with photos by Anne Fishbein (whose work has been displayed in many major museums and galleries), and curated by Drucker Institute archivist Bridget Lawlor. The content reveals a lot about Peter Drucker’s work processes, the thought that underpinned his work, and how varied that work was. In the previous post I mentioned the notes from leaders in business, politics and even baseball. But his involvement and influence extended beyond these worlds.…

It’s been three weeks since I’ve been in Claremont, California; where I spent several days at the Drucker School and elsewhere at Claremont Graduate University and The Claremont Colleges. Now the new, Fall 2012 issue of The Flame, CGU’s excellent quarterly magazine, is available in print and online. I’ve been reading this regularly since my first visit to Claremont in 2002, when I began researching my book Living in More Than One World: How Peter Drucker’s Wisdom Can Inspire and Transform Your Life.
The article  “A Hunger for Change” profiles Badiul Alam Majumdar, Vice President and Country Director, The Hunger Project-Bangladesh.…

Gordon Pitts of The Globe and Mail in Toronto has a fascinating Q&A today, Why Joseph Rotman hates the ‘do-gooder’ label,  with businessman/philanthropist/volunteer/educator Joseph Rotman, who seems to embody the idea of living in more than one world. The Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto is named after him. He is highly educated himself and recognizes the value of education not just to individuals, but to all of society. One theme I took away from the interview was that working with and strengthening nonprofit organizations and the arts was in everyone’s interest. They are part of the pillars of making a better life for everyone in a community, or an entire country.…

I’m one of the few people who have not read a Harry Potter book, and I haven’t seen any of the movies, either. However, I have been fascinated by the phenomenon of the books, and of the personal story and success of J.K. Rowling, since 1998, when I read one of the early reviews of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, written by my friend and former USA TODAY colleague Cathy Hainer, a year before Cathy died of breast cancer. I continued to read a lot about Rowling and the books over the years, and enjoyed the opportunity to do reference questions at USAT about Rowling, especially when the series-ending Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was published in 2007.…

Every year I look forward to the announcement of The MacArthur Foundation’s Fellows Program awards, the so-called “genius grants” that have been given to creative, make-a-difference individuals since 1981. The winners receive $500,000 over five years, with no strings attached on how the money is spent. Reading their profiles, and the media stories about them after they’ve won, is always enlightening. The 2008 fellows include a critical care physician, urban farmer, structural engineer, novelist, anthropologist, stage lighting designer and other professions. The entire list of winners, from 1981-2008, makes fascinating reading.  But the foundation also makes awards to organizations, and on April 27 it announced the worldwide, nonprofit recipients of the MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions.…