Peter Drucker's lively and thoughtful memoirs are now available in paperback with a new introduction by the author. He writes with wit and spirit about people he has encountered in a long and varied life, including Sigmund Freud, Henry Luce, Alfred Sloan, John L. Lewis, and Marshall McLuhan. After beginning with his childhood in Vienna during and after World War I, Drucker moves on to Europe in the 1920s and early 1930s, describing the imminent doom posed by Hitler and the Nazis. He then goes on to describe London during the 1930s, America during the New Deal era, the World War II years, and beyond. According to John Brooks of The New York Times Book Review, "Peter Drucker is at a corner cafe, delightfully regaling anyone who will listen with tales of what must be one of the more varied-and for a practitioner of such a narrow skill as that of management counseling, astonishing-of contemporary professional lives." Dorothy Rabinowitz of the Washington Post writes, "The famous are here as well as the infamous.... All are the beneficiaries, for better or for worse, of Drucker's unerring eye for psychological detail, his remorseless curiosity, and his imaginative sympathy.... Drucker's book appears in a stroke to have restored the art of the memoir and of the essay." Adventures of a Bystander reflects Drucker's vitality, infinite curiosity, and interest in people, ideas, and the forces behind them. His book is a personal and informal account of the rich life of an independent man of letters, a life that spans eight decades and two continents. It will be of interest to scholars and professionals in the business world, historians, sociologists, and admirers of Peter Drucker.

Periods of great social change reveal a tension between the need for continuity and the need for innovation. The twentieth century has witnessed both radical alteration and tenacious durability in social organization, politics, economics, and art. To comprehend these changes as history and as guideposts to the future, Peter F. Drucker has, over a lifetime, pursued a discipline that he terms social ecology. The writings brought together in The Ecological Vision define the discipline as a sustained inquiry into the man-made environment and an active effort at maintaining equilibrium between change and conservation.

The chapters in this volume range over a wide array of disciplines and subject matter. They are linked by a common concern with the interaction of the individual and society, and a common perspective that views economics, technology, politics, and art as dimensions of social experience and expressions of social value. Included here are profiles of such figures as Henry Ford, John C. Calhoun, Soren Kierkegaard, and Thomas Watson; analyses of the economics of Keynes and Schumpeter;and explorations of the social functions of business, management, information, and technology. Drucker's chapters on Japan examine the dynamics of cultural and economic change and afford striking comparisons with similar processes in the West.

In the concluding chapter, "Reflections of a Social Ecologist," Drucker traces the development of his discipline through such intellectual antecedents as Alexis de Tocqueville, Walter Bagehot, and Wilhelm von Humboldt. He illustrates the ecological vision, an active, practical, and moral approach to social questions. Peter Drucker summarizes a lifetime of work and exemplifies the communicative clarity that are requisites of all intellectual enterprises. His book will be of interest to economists, business people, foreign affairs specialists, and intellectual historians.

Peter Drucker's wide-ranging book, drawn from his best work, looks at management, the individual and society. He connects these themes of today's world with his usual clear-sighted and far-reaching style to create a work which encapsulates his essential and strongest writings IN ONE VOLUME. Under the three headings, Drucker covers aspects such as what the non-profits are teaching business and the information that executives need today. In his section on the individual he gives advice on knowing your own strengths and values, your time and, intriguingly, the second half of your life. The third part on society encompasses the coming of the entrepreneurial society and citizenship through the social sector.

'It is not so very difficult to predict the future. It is only pointless...what is always far more important are fundamental changes that happened though no one predicted them or could possible have predicted them.' (quote taken from this book) It is these unpredictable and irreversible changes from the past, and their effect on the role of the executive which Peter Drucker examines in his latest book. The management of change is a subject which has been, undoubtedly, the principal preoccupation of management thinkers in the 1990s. Peter Drucker, the guru's guru, brings together a group of his own original essays and interviews on this vitally important topic. As ever, he provides invaluable food for thought for all executives and students of business and management.

What is management? What is a manager? How is a business organized, and how can managers use people's strengths more effectively? What is the relationship between management today and the society and culture it seeks to direct? These and many more questions are discussed in Peter Drucker's classic survey of management thought and practice. People and Performance is the ideal volume for those who want the essence of Drucker's thinking, but with limited time at their disposal. It spans all the main dimensions of management and its themes are based on Drucker's direct experience as an adviser to businesses, government departments, public institutions, and as a widely sought lecturer.

The book brings together this celebrated author's most useful ideas and insights on ways in which managers can better understand the new duties and responsibilities created by their constantly changing world. `a brilliant collection of forty of his articles, most of which were published originally in the Wall Street Journal....absorbing even to the non-specialist' Publishers Weekly The book brings together this celebrated author's most useful ideas and insights on ways in which managers can better understand the new duties and responsibilities created by their constantly changing world.

"The basic economic resource - 'the means of production', to use the economist's term - is no longer capital, nor natural resources, nor 'labour'. it is an will be knowledge." With penetrating insight Peter Drucker describes the changes that are affecting politics, business and society itself. It is vital that we are aware of and understand these changes in order to benefit from the opportunities that the future has to offer.

The Frontiers of Management offers stimulating and profitable reading for both existing Drucker disciples and those new to his writing. This collection of thirty-five finely balanced articles and essays, plus an interview and afterword, was planned by the author from the beginning to be published eventually in one volume and as variations on one unifying theme - the challenges of tomorrow that face the executive today. What kind of tomorrow it will be depends heavily on the knowledge, insight, foresight and competence of the decision makers of today. The future is in the hands of executives who are already fully occupied with the daily crisis, and for whom the daily crisis is the one absolutely predictable event in their working day. It is to these people that this Drucker volume is addressed, to enable them to see and to understand the long-range implications and impacts of their immediate, everyday, urgent actions and decisions.

Managing in Turbulent Times tackles the key issues facing managers in the 1990s: how to manage in rapidly changing environments. This seminal and prophetic book laid the foundation for a generation of writers on change management. This book concerns the immediate future of business, society and the economy. The one certainty about the times ahead, says Drucker, is that they will be turbulent times. In turbulent times the first task of management is to make sure of the organizations capacity for survival, to make sure of its structural strength and soundness, its capacity to survive a blow, to adapt to sudden change and to avail itself of new opportunities. The author is concerned with action rather than understanding, with decisions rather than analysis. It aims at being a practical book for the decision maker, whether in the private or the public sector.

This wide-ranging, future-oriented book is sure to number among the most important and influential business books of the decade. Drucker writes with penetrating insight about the critical issues facing managers in the 1990s: the world economic order; people at work; new trends in management and the governance of organizations.

Concept of the Corporation was the first study ever of the constitution, structure, and internal dynamics of a major business enterprise. Basing his work on a two-year analysis of the company done during the closing years of World War II, Drucker looks at the General Motors managerial organization from within. He tries to understand what makes the company work so effectively, what its core principles are, and how they contribute to its successes. The themes this volume addresses go far beyond the business corporation, into a consideration of the dynamics of the so-called corporate state itself. When the book initially appeared, General Motors managers rejected it as unfairly critical and antibusiness. Yet, the GM concept of the corporation and its principles of organization later became models for organizations worldwide. Not only businesses, but also government agencies, research laboratories, hospitals, and universities have found in Concept of the Corporation a basis for effective organization and management. Because it offers a fundamental theory of corporate goals, this book is a valuable resource for business professionals and organization analysts. It will also be of interest to students and professionals in economics, public administration, and political science. Professional and technical readers who admire Peter Drucker's work will want to be certain this volume is in their personal library. At a time when everything from the size to the structure of corporations is being questioned, this classic should prove a valuable guide.

In The End of Economic Man, long recognized as a cornerstone work, Peter F. Drucker explains and interprets fascism and Nazism as fundamental revolutions. In some ways, this book anticipated by more than a decade the existentialism that came to dominate the European political mood in the postwar period. Drucker provides a special addition to the massive literature on existentialism and alienation since World War II. The End of Economic Man is a social and political effort to explain the subjective consequences of the social upheavals caused by warfare. Drucker concentrates on one specific historical event: the breakdown of the social and political structure of Europe which culminated in the rise of Nazi totalitarianism to mastery over Europe. He explains the tragedy of Europe as the loss of political faith, resulting from the political alienation of the European masses. The End of Economic Man is a book of great social import. It shows not only what might have helped the older generation avert the catastrophe of Nazism, but also how today's generation can prevent another such catastrophe. This work will be of special interest to political scientists, intellectual historians, and sociologists. The book was singled out for praise on both sides of the Atlantic, and is considered by the author to be his most prescient effort in social theory.

The closing decades of the twentieth century have been characterized as a period of disruption and discontinuity in which the structure and meaning of economy, polity, and society have been radically altered. In this volume Peter Drucker focuses with great clarity and perception on the forces of change that are transforming the economic landscape and creating tomorrow's society. Drucker discerns four major areas of discontinuity underlying contemporary social and cultural reality. These are: (1) the explosion of new technologies resulting in major new industries; (2) the change from an international to a world economy an economy that presently lacks policy, theory, and institutions; (3) a new sociopolitical reality of pluralistic institutions that poses drastic political, philosophical, and spritual challenges; and (4) the new universe of knowledge based on mass education and its implications in work, leisure, and leadership. Peter Drucker brings to this work an intimate knowledge and objective view of the particular and general. The Age of Discontinuity is a fascinating and important blueprint for shaping a future already very much with us.

A Drucker management classic, first published in 1990, which breaks down any narrow definition of management and is aimed specifically at decision-makers and managers working in non-profit making and charitable organizations to help them apply the principles of good management to their sector. Drawing from the American experience, Drucker poignantly illustrates his discussion of management by quoting his in-depth interviews with top executives from non-profit making organizations. The issues of mission, performance, people and relationships, leadership and developing managers are eloquently discussed and Drucker provides Action Implications throughout the book which are of practical importance to the reader.

In this volume Drucker has collected twelve essays on technology and management and their relationship to, and interaction with, human society. In these essays the reader is able to grasp and savour some of the essential ideas and philosophy that have been expanded into Drucker's various books. In this volume Drucker has collected twelve essays on technology and management and their relationship to, and interaction with, human society. In these essays the reader is able to grasp and savour some of the essential ideas and philosophy that have been expanded into Drucker's various books.

Managing in Turbulent Times tackles the key issues facing managers in the 1990s: how to manage in rapidly changing environments. This seminal and prophetic book laid the foundation for a generation of writers on change management. This book concerns the immediate future of business, society and the economy. The one certainty about the times ahead, says Drucker, is that they will be turbulent times. In turbulent times the first task of management is to make sure of the organizations capacity for survival, to make sure of its structural strength and soundness, its capacity to survive a blow, to adapt to sudden change and to avail itself of new opportunities. The author is concerned with action rather than understanding, with decisions rather than analysis. It aims at being a practical book for the decision maker, whether in the private or the public sector.

Management Challenges in the 21st Century looks afresh at the future of management thinking and practice. The content revolves around two fundamental issues that are occuring simultaneously: changes in the world economy, and shifts in the practice of management. These developments, especially in developed countries are crucial in exploring and understanding the challenges of the future. This volume focuses on the key questions for all business: What are the new realities? What new policies are required of companies and executives in order to deal with these changes. Facing a whole swathe of issues head-on in his usual clear-sighted style, Drucker offers up a prescient and informed analysis that will help every executive to build a proactive strategy for the future.

Managing for Results demonstrates Drucker's particular genius for breaking through conventional outlooks and opening up new perspectives for ultimate profits in the world of business. What must be done to make the organization perform, prosper and grow - what the executive, the maker of decisions, must do to move the enterprise forward - is the subject of this book. It will be of great value to students of management as well as executives in industry and commerce, and it deals skilfully and perceptively with economic tasks which every business has to tackle in order to achieve sound performance and economic results.

Divided into four parts, the book offers searching analysis of the 'information revolution' and the knowledge society it has created. It goes to scrutinize the unprecendented demographic, economic and sociological transforms of recent times to present an outline of 'The Next Society' - which in turn points to a challenging, provocative and at times disturning view of the future. Managing in the Next Society is a collection of Peter Drucker's most strikingly prescient articles. Salient and incisive as ever, Drucker ranges widely over the most critical issues facing business and society today to offer advice, admonition and instruction for proactive executives.

Drucker on Asia is written in two parts (Times of Challenge & Time to Reinvent) which is the result of a dialogue between Peter Drucker and Isao Nakauchi on international themes.
Drucker On Asia is the result of extensive dialogue between two of the world's leading business figures, Peter F Drucker and Isao Nakauchi. Their dialogue considers the changes occuring in the economic world today and identifies the challenges that free markets and free enterprises now face with specific reference to China and Japan. * What do these economic changes mean for an individual country and its economy? * What do these changes mean to Japan? * What do these changes mean to society; the individual company; the individual professional and executive? These are the questions that Drucker and Nakauchi address in their brilliant insight into the future economic role of Asia.
Written by 2 of the world's leading business figures
Gives a brilliant insight into the future economic role of Asia

A Drucker management classic, first published in 1990, which breaks down any narrow definition of management and is aimed specifically at decision-makers and managers working in non-profit making and charitable organizations to help them apply the principles of good management to their sector. Drawing from the American experience, Drucker poignantly illustrates his discussion of management by quoting his in-depth interviews with top executives from non-profit making organizations. The issues of mission, performance, people and relationships, leadership and developing managers are eloquently discussed and Drucker provides Action Implications throughout the book which are of practical importance to the reader.

Peter Drucker's lively and thoughtful memoirs are now available in paperback with a new introduction by the author. He writes with wit and spirit about people he has encountered in a long and varied life, including Sigmund Freud, Henry Luce, Alfred Sloan, John L. Lewis, and Marshall McLuhan. After beginning with his childhood in Vienna during and after World War I, Drucker moves on to Europe in the 1920s and early 1930s, describing the imminent doom posed by Hitler and the Nazis. He then goes on to describe London during the 1930s, America during the New Deal era, the World War II years, and beyond.

According to John Brooks of The New York Times Book Review, "Peter Drucker is at a corner cafe, delightfully regaling anyone who will listen with tales of what must be one of the more varied--and for a practitioner of such a narrow skill as that of management counseling, astonishing--of contemporary professional lives." Dorothy Rabinowitz of the Washington Post writes, "The famous are here as well as the infamous.... All are the beneficiaries, for better or for worse, of Drucker's unerring eye for psychological detail, his remorseless curiosity, and his imaginative sympathy.... Drucker's book appears in a stroke to have restored the art of the memoir and of the essay."

Adventures of a Bystander reflects Drucker's vitality, infinite curiosity, and interest in people, ideas, and the forces behind them. His book is a personal and informal account of the rich life of an independent man of letters, a life that spans eight decades and two continents. It will be of interest to scholars and professionals in the business world, historians, sociologists, and admirers of Peter Drucker.

This classic volume achieves a remarkable width of appeal without sacrificing scientific accuracy or depth of analysis. It is a valuable contribution to the study of business efficiency which should be read by anyone wanting information about the developments and place of management, and it is as relevant today as when it was first written. This is a practical book, written out of many years of experience in working with managements of small, medium and large corporations. It aims to be a management guide, enabling readers to examine their own work and performance, to diagnose their weaknesses and to improve their own effectiveness as well as the results of the enterprise they are responsible for.

Concept of the Corporation was the first study ever of the constitution, structure, and internal dynamics of a major business enterprise. Basing his work on a two-year analysis of the company done during the closing years of World War II, Drucker looks at the General Motors managerial organization from within. He tries to understand what makes the company work so effectively, what its core principles are, and how they contribute to its successes. The themes this volume addresses go far beyond the business corporation, into a consideration of the dynamics of the so-called corporate state itself.

When the book initially appeared, General Motors managers rejected it as unfairly critical and antibusiness. Yet, the GM concept of the corporation and its principles of organization later became models for organizations worldwide. Not only businesses, but also government agencies, research laboratories, hospitals, and universities have found in Concept of the Corporation a basis for effective organization and management.

Because it offers a fundamental theory of corporate goals, this book is a valuable resource for business professionals and organization analysts. It will also be of interest to students and professionals in economics, public administration, and political science. Professional and technical readers who admire Peter Drucker's work will want to be certain this volume is in their personal library. At a time when everything from the size to the structure of corporations is being questioned, this classic should prove a valuable guide.

The closing decades of the twentieth century have been characterized as a period of disruption and discontinuity in which the structure and meaning of economy, polity, and society have been radically altered. In this volume Peter Drucker focuses with great clarity and perception on the forces of change that are transforming the economic landscape and creating tomorrow's society.

Drucker discerns four major areas of discontinuity underlying contemporary social and cultural reality. These are: (1) the explosion of new technologies resulting in major new industries; (2) the change from an international to a world economy--an economy that presently lacks policy, theory, and institutions; (3) a new sociopolitical reality of pluralistic institutions that poses drastic political, philosophical, and spritual challenges; and (4) the new universe of knowledge based on mass education and its implications in work, leisure, and leadership.

Peter Drucker brings to this work an intimate knowledge and objective view of the particular and general. The Age of Discontinuity is a fascinating and important blueprint for shaping a future already very much with us.