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Peter F. Drucker Quotes
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Peter Ferdinand Drucker was an Austrian-born American management consultant, educator, and author, whose writings contributed to the philosophical and practical foundations of the modern business corporation. He was also a leader in the development of management education, he invented the concept known as management by objectives and self-control, and he has been described as "the founder of modern management".Drucker's books and scholarly and popular articles explored how humans are organized across the business, government, and nonprofit sectors of society. He is one of the best-known and most widely influential thinkers and writers on the subject of management theory and practice. His writings have predicted many of the major developments of the late twentieth century, including privatization and decentralization; the rise of Japan to economic world power; the decisive importance of marketing; and the emergence of the information society with its necessity of lifelong learning. In 1959, Drucker coined the term "knowledge worker," and later in his life considered knowledge-worker productivity to be the next frontier of management. Drucker gave his name to three institutions and the annual Global Peter Drucker Forum, held in his hometown of Vienna, honors his legacy. Wikipedia  

✵ 19. November 1909 – 11. November 2005
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Peter F. Drucker: 180   quotes 56   likes

Peter F. Drucker Quotes

“All economic activity is by definition "high risk." And defending yesterday--that is, not innovating--is far more risky than making tomorrow.”

Peter F. Drucker

Innovations and Entrepreneurship (1985)
1960s - 1980s

“"Value added" is a meaningless concept for a retail business, for a bank, for a life insurance company, and for any other business which is not primarily engaged in manufacturing.”

Peter F. Drucker

Source: 1960s - 1980s, MANAGEMENT: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices (1973), Part 3, p. 647

Life , Business

“Culture eats strategy for breakfast.”

Peter F. Drucker

According to The Quote Investigator, this phrase first appeared on PIMA’s North American Papermaker: The Official Publication of the Paper Industry Management Association, in an article by Bill Moore and Jerry Rose. The year was 2000. Since then, the phrase has appeared many times. Peter Drucker died in 2005. The first time his name was associated to the citation was on 2011. Other occurrences and versions of the phrase can be found at https://quoteinvestigator.com/2017/05/23/culture-eats/
Misattributed

“Communication is always "propaganda."”

Peter F. Drucker

The emitter always wants "to get something across."
Source: 1960s - 1980s, MANAGEMENT: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices (1973), Part 2, p. 487

Communication

“Follow effective action with quiet reflection. From the quiet reflection will come even more effective action.”

Peter F. Drucker
Deep , Success

“The large industrial enterprise is... the representative institution of an industrial society. It determines the individual's view of his society.”

Peter F. Drucker

Under section header: The Enterprise as Society's Mirror
1930s- 1950s, The New Society (1950)

“We have been forced to put a major emphasis on the acquisition of technical knowledge.”

Peter F. Drucker

1930s- 1950s, An Economist Looks At the Peace (1945)

Knowledge

“It is not enough for the economist in a free society to be a good economic craftsman; he must also think and act as a citizen.”

Peter F. Drucker

Source: 1930s- 1950s, An Economist Looks At the Peace (1945)

Thinking

“[C]ollaboration between... divergent systems is possible... only as long as both are stable. ...International security is ...based upon the internal political and social security of each of the Great Powers.”

Peter F. Drucker

Source: 1930s- 1950s, An Economist Looks At the Peace (1945)

“There can be no freedom if one man or one group of men... is assumed... inherently perfect or perfectible. Its claim to perfection or perfectibility is a claim to absolute rule.”

Peter F. Drucker

Source: 1930s- 1950s, The Future of Industrial Man (1942), p. 122

Freedom , Perfection , Men

“[T]he basic decisions are... about aims... what is desirable... the greater good or the lesser evil in the case of conflicting aims... what sacrifice we are willing to make for a certain achievement, and at what point the sacrifice outweighs the advantages.”

Peter F. Drucker

Source: 1930s- 1950s, The Future of Industrial Man (1942), p. 120

Decision , Evil

“[T]he Western European democracies... will be forced into totalitarianism unless they produce a noneconomic society striving for the freedom and equality of the individual.”

Peter F. Drucker

Source: 1930s- 1950s, The End of Economic Man (1939), p. 242

Democracy , Freedom

“[J]ustification of power must be the central problem. For it is through this problem alone that freedom and equality—or... justice—can be projected into the social and political reality... But to fascism the problem does not even exist except as a ridiculous relic of "Jewish liberalism."”

Peter F. Drucker

Source: 1930s- 1950s, The End of Economic Man (1939), p. 15

Justice , Freedom , Problem , Reality

“We spend a lot of time teaching leaders what to do. We don’t spend enough time teaching leaders what to stop. Half the leaders I have met don’t need to learn what to do. They need to learn what to stop.”

Peter F. Drucker
Time , Learning