One of the most striking things I’ve discovered in more than three decades of research/writing about Peter Drucker is the accomplished and multidimensional lives of so many of his associates. Karen Linkletter perfectly fits in that category, as someone who combines her researching and writing career with being a professional cellist and equestrian. She is Research Director of the Management as a Liberal Art Research Institute (MLARI), and her involvement in the Drucker world goes back to her MBA and Ph.D. (in history) from Claremont Graduate University. She later taught in the American Studies Department at California State University, Fullerton for 15 years.
Karen collaborated as coauthor with Drucker’s longtime friend, colleague, and fellow Drucker School of Management professor, the late Joseph A. Maciariello, for the 2011 book Drucker’s Lost Art of Management: Peter Drucker’s Timeless Vision For Building Effective Organizations. She was also involved in the earliest days of the Drucker Archives, and conducted an oral history interview with Drucker in 1999.
I edited Karen’s article “Leading Through Management as a Liberal Art” for the Summer 2022 issue of Leader to Leader, where I am managing editor. Also in 2022, I was interviewed by her for the Management as a Liberal Art podcast.
Many thanks to Karen for answering my questions about her multifaceted life, and her continued work related to Peter Drucker, including a book she is currently writing.
For the non-specialist reader, how would you characterize your overall work, writing, and research?
I am trained as an historian, so I have an unusual approach to management and leadership. I tend to look at things in terms of context. How does what is happening right now fit in with a larger pattern, or a theme? I suppose that is why I was so drawn to Peter Drucker as a teacher, and as the subject of my dissertation. I taught American Studies at Cal State Fullerton for 15 years, where I rarely discussed Drucker. But how can you not address the rise of managerial capitalism in America in the 1950s? There was an entire genre of movies devoted to this (boardroom dramas)! It was not just an economic phenomenon, but also a cultural one. Many scholars have written on this subject, and, of course, sociologists were commenting on this at the time. But, until relatively recently, to teach management as part of cultural and intellectual history was heresy. Graduate work in business and other fields (humanities, the arts, sciences) were separate silos. This has – thankfully – been changing.
Can you provide an overview of the new book you are writing about Peter Drucker?
The publisher is creating a series on management thinkers from the past. The idea is to reintroduce important figures, such as Michael Porter and Peter Drucker, to today’s management students, younger practitioners, and a general audience. I’m excited about this project because it positions management as a cultural and intellectual product of history, not just a realm of day-to-day operations. Don’t get me wrong- Drucker emphasized performance and results! But this pragmatic aspect of his work often overshadows his larger project. He was, in essence, a philosopher and theorist. As someone who experienced Nazi Germany and the rise of fascism, Drucker sought to devise a social system that would prevent a repeat of history. I’ve presented Drucker as a social theorist in my previous work. The challenge with this book is to critically examine Drucker in terms of his place in history, yet also show his relevance to today.
Can your describe your life as a musician and how it fits in with your work as a writer, research director, editor, and teacher?
The short answer is: it makes for a complicated life. I find that all of the things that I do eventually overlap – and this may be a good message for some people who think they are “scattered.” Working as a musician involves leadership, individual growth, personal reflection, goals, performance and results – all of the things Drucker wrote about. It may be very focused (on a specific performance or piece of music) or it might be more broad (bringing a group together to create an event). Music informs my research, as it did Peter Drucker’s; he related group dynamics to musical groups (jazz combo and orchestra). Editing an article requires a sense of the writer’s rhythm, and how that translates to the reader’s understanding; we want to retain the author’s voice but work to maximize communicating the message to the audience. Teaching for me has always involved bringing in music, often with visual material. In some recent training sessions on Drucker’s philosophy and theory, I used scenes from a couple of old science fiction movies (2001: A Space Odyssey and Blade Runner) to illustrate Drucker’s concern with how new knowledge could be used for evil and how existentialist questions impact everyone – even androids. Bruce, as you argue in your book, Living In More Than One World: How Peter Drucker’s Wisdom Can Inspire and Transform Your Life, Drucker very much advocated living a life rich in variety, and devoted to excellence in more than one endeavor. It’s not for everyone, but it’s made for a fulfilling life for me, and I hope, at the end of it all, I’ve touched a few lives and made a difference.