There is an emphasis on the concept of a “calling” in the new book A Year With Peter Drucker: 52 Weeks of Coaching for Leadership Effectiveness. It’s clear that Joseph A. Maciariello was called to write it. The title is apt; reading the book really is like a virtual personal coaching experience (with both Drucker and Maciariello) and is meant to be taken seriously. It is rigorous and thorough.
Drucker School professor Maciariello was a longtime collaborator and friend of Drucker’s. Like the earlier book Drucker’s Lost Art of Management: Peter Drucker’s Timeless Vision For Building Effective Organizations, written with Karen E. Linkletter (which I blogged about in 2011), this has a magisterial feel, yet remains accessible to readers willing to immerse themselves in the learning experience. Maciariello manages the tricky task of making this appealing and relevant for both Drucker newcomers and longtime, faithful readers.
He employs scrupulous annotation, making it easy to go back (at least to the already published material), to learn more. A strong selling point is the inclusion of lots of previously unpublished Drucker work. Much of that consists of dialogues Drucker conducted over many years with faith-based leaders, such as Bob Buford (I blogged about his memoir Drucker & Me last year), Rick Warren, Bill Hybels and others.
One of the chief virtues of A Year With Peter Drucker is its clear and logical organization, especially important given its heft of 472 pages. Each week of the year has a theme, with Maciariello’s introduction setting the context, followed by a Drucker reading (from one of his books, or as otherwise noted), a reflection based on the reading and finally “Practicum-Prompts,” with Maciariello posing questions and suggestions.
