Must Read: The Essential Drucker

Peter Drucker has always been one of my favorites. Here is a summary of what his new book is all about.

Drucker himself chose the material in this from books and articles written during a 60-year career, one which continues in his 93rd year. Can you believe it?

According to Drucker, this volume has two purposes: "First, it offers, I hope, a coherent and fairly comprehensive Introduction to Management. But second, it gives an Overview of my works on management and thus answers a question that my editors and I have asked again and again.

Where do I start to read Drucker? Which of his writings are essential? The material is divided within three parts: Management, The Individual, and Society. In all of what Drucker has published thus far, he either asserts or implies that the profession of management has obligations to society in general (indeed to the global human community) as well as to any one organization. Indeed, he entitles another of his works The Profession of Management. The title of Drucker's first chapter in this volume suggests this: "Management as Social Function and Liberal Art." The title of the final chapter is "From Analysis to Perception -- The New Worldview." As always, Drucker has one eye on the task at hand and the other on the future. All of the material in this volume is first-rate.

It's worth a cruise. Drop by Amazon.com or Barnes and Noble.com for a look.