A Year with Peter Drucker

October 27, 2014
Any book with the late management guru Peter Drucker’s name on it is likely to draw a crowd. However, this one, compiled by Maciariello, Drucker’s onetime student and longtime colleague, may leave readers feeling that, although Drucker’s insight still has merit, its value might be waning in today’s changing landscape. The book, as the title indicates, is meant to be savored one week at a time; each chapter features reading material that supports that week’s theme and ends with “practicum prompts” featuring thought-provoking questions. Although most of the lessons are still current—“defining purpose and mission,” “succession decision”—some seem timeworn or odd. Occasional references are dated. E-commerce receives only a minor mention. And today, when so many individuals and companies are finding ways to build successful businesses and “do good,” Drucker’s chapter on how to “Move from Success to Significance” feels redundant. Drucker’s views on religion’s place in American culture, particularly, will leave many readers cold. Still, the book (especially its latter half) may prove the perfect holiday gift for an older and accomplished business professional, one in the waning years of his or her career and with the time and inclination to reflect.

July 1, 2014

A longtime collaborator of Peter Drucker, Maciariello draws on Drucker's personal coaching program, including unpublished material, to offer a 52-week course in leadership. Key ideas: management isa human activity, and you've got to focus on the important, not the urgent. (But what about my deadline?)

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