As this tumultuous month comes to an end, it’s worth noting the significance the month of November held for Peter Drucker. He was born November 19, 1909 and died November 11, 2005.
November is also a major month of Drucker-related/inspired commemorations and activities. On November 3rd, the Peter Drucker Society Korea held its 10th Annual Conference. November 5th was Drucker Day, in Claremont, California; at the Drucker School of Management. November 17-18 marked what has become perhaps the major global management event of the year, the 8th Global Peter Drucker Forum, in Vienna, Austria; produced by the Peter Drucker Society Europe. The Drucker Institute has the new, November/December edition of MONDAY*, Creating an Entrepreneurial Society.
This was the first time in years that I did not attend/participate in Drucker Day, which I have written about a number of times. The theme of this year’s event was Drucker Leadership Arc: Managing Self to Society, featuring keynote speaker Howard Behar, former President of Starbucks Coffee Company North America and Starbucks Coffee International, and author of It’s Not About the Coffee: Lessons on Putting People First From a Life at Starbucks. Also featured was Drucker School professor Jeremy Hunter, my longtime friend whom I wrote about in Create Your Future the Peter Drucker Way.
The Drucker Forum, as usual, had a star-studded cast of speakers, including Gary Hamel of London Business School, Clayton Christensen of Harvard Business School, Mariana Mazzucato of University of Sussex and Sara Armbruster of Steelcase.
And it was in November 2004, when Drucker turned 95, that I wrote two USA TODAY pieces, a review ofThe Daily Drucker, which became one of his most popular books, and a sidebar Q&A, “Drucker Reinventing Himself at Age 95.” In the latter, I asked him about reinvention, and what actions and techniques people could use in this process. His reply: “I myself always when finishing an assignment or a project, ask WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE NOW? — and I always end up with a new action program. I don’t find that a DIFFICULT question. The difficult part is the NEXT question: AND WHAT ARE THE PRIORITIES? That takes me quite awhile as a rule, and a lot of agonizing. But it has to be asked and has to be answered.”
