Author

Jeffrey Krames

Rate this book

4.076925
Average: 4.1 (13 votes)

Manager Tools rating

4

This review was submitted by Mark.

It's really hard to argue with anything that captures the brilliance and wisdom of Drucker.  Think about that - brilliance, that bright flash of penetrating insight, AND wisdom, the power of a lasting idea, in a single person.  

The definition of genius.

So, anything Drucker gets high marks for us.  And I liked this book, though it's clearly different than most Drucker books.  Mr. Krames was scheduled to interview Mr. Drucker for 2 days, but only got one.  As such, he didn't get all of his questions answered.  And, I think Mr. Krames probably had to draw more on other works of Drucker than he might have liked.  

But as an overview with some interesting highlights, it's still a good book, and one I recommend (and keep in mind, I really don't recommend a lot).  He covers a lot of ground, and intermixes Mr. Drucker's shared insights with previous works well.

I really loved the opening anecdote about how Mr. Krames came to have his chance to interview Mr. Drucker.  He is a well-known editor and publisher, and has written well about Jack Welch.  But when he got the call - from Drucker himself - he says, this was different, "...this was Drucker" (italics his).

I would have reacted the same way.

If you're looking for something Drucker-esque that's a bit lighter, this is a good start.

PS: I read an advance copy, and there may have been some changes in the published version, but I can't imagine anything changing my recommendation.  Further I did a poor job of responding to Mr. Krame's publicity team regarding interviewing him for Manager Tools, which I regret.  While my recommendation isn't intended to make up for that, it would be nice in a karmic way - a good book about Peter Drucker and his genius deserves it.  

 

Comments

marcmozart's picture

I got the audiobook from audible.com. Here's the link:

http://www.audible.com/adbl/site/products/ProductDetail.jsp?productID=BK...

Highly recommended.

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ktnbs's picture

 Yes, I "read" the audio version too off of audible.com two winters ago whilst on long commutes in my then locale of Denver.  I thought the whole thing was fascinating and well done as touched on most of Drucker's key points.   That said, I knew a fair amount about Drucker beforehand so I was primed for it and probably colored my outlook.  I certainly found some of the background on Peter's life telling as I knew nothing about it.  And the author's first hand, though limited, face to face with Drucker in his old age, living alone, was pretty interesting and a bit poignant.

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pegman's picture

I Have loved reading this book for both its cerebral challenge and at times its simplicity.Such  basic concepts as 'Abandon all but tomorrow' appear so simple yet are bery challenging to implement. I am a huge Drucker fan so found this a great summary of his work.

I highly recommend this as an insightful and interesting read. Buy it ;)

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