From Business Week Online comes a story about one of the titans of business management and the recognition that those running today’s business are awarded more for greed than competence.
The story of Peter Drucker is the story of management itself. It’s the story of the rise of the modern corporation and the managers who organize work. Without his analysis it’s almost impossible to imagine the rise of dispersed, globe-spanning corporations.
But it’s also the story of Drucker’s own rising disenchantment with capitalism in the late 20th century that seemed to reward greed as easily as it did performance. Drucker was sickened by the excessive riches awarded to mediocre executives even as they slashed the ranks of ordinary workers. And as he entered his 10th decade, there were some in corporations and academia who said his time had passed. Others said he grew sloppy with the facts. Meanwhile, new generations of management gurus and pundits, many of whom grew rich off books and speaking tours, superseded him. The doubt and disillusionment with business that Drucker expressed in his later years caused him to turn away from the corporation and instead offer his advice to the nonprofit sector. It seemed an acknowledgment that business and management had somehow failed him.