Inspiration | Wisdom
5 Life Lessons From One of the 20th Century’s Most Influential Thinkers
Learning from the “Father of Modern Management” about life
Imagine sitting with one of the twentieth century’s greatest thinkers and listening to some of his advice for living a good life. Finding such guidance has never been easier because of the vast online information available today.
Let’s look at five lessons on how to live a better life from the man known as the “Father of Modern Management.”
The Father of Modern Management
During the twentieth century, he influenced millions of people worldwide. Born in Vienna, Austria, he came to the United States in 1937, becoming a naturalized citizen at 34 in 1943.
During his life, he published 39 major books, authored countless articles, and in 2002 received the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He lived a long life, passing at 95 in 2005.
Peter Drucker is known worldwide as the “Father of Modern Management.” Much of his work extends beyond management and applies to everyday life, the viewpoint used for this article. Let’s look at some of his wisdom and how it can be applied to help us live a better life.
The quotes that follow come from Drucker’s many books and articles.
Creating the future you want
Drucker provides superb advice on what to do and what not to do when creating your future. Why not take the future into your own hands by heeding the following?
“The best way to predict the future is to create it.”
“To make the future demands courage. It demands work. But it also demands faith.”
“If you want something new, you have to stop doing something old”
“Don’t try to innovate for the future. Innovate for the present!”
If you can measure it, you can change it
Not everything in life is measurable; however, many things are. When you have a standard against which you can measure, you can improve whatever it is. For example, you can measure your savings, spending, grades, days worked/missed/taken off, blood pressure, etc. In Drucker’s words:
“You can’t manage what you don’t measure.”
“What gets measured gets managed.”
“What gets measured gets improved.”
“Until we can manage time, we can manage nothing else.”
“If you can’t measure it, you can’t change it.”
Keep learning
Never stop learning. A learner will always grow and accomplish more than one who will not learn and grow. Learning gives you much more than knowledge alone. It can inspire you, provide confidence, broaden your perspectives, and enhance your growth, creativity, and cognitive processes, among many other things.
“We now accept the fact that learning is a lifelong process of keeping abreast of change.”
“No one learns as much about a subject as one who is forced to teach it.”
“The only skill that will be important in the 21st century is the skill of learning new skills. Everything else will become obsolete over time.”
Do Not Fear Mistakes
As the old saying goes, if you make an omelet, you need to break a few eggs. Nothing good comes from being afraid to make a mistake. Avoiding making mistakes can seriously stunt your growth. Heed Drucker’s timeless advice on risking and taking changes in whatever you do.
“People who don’t take risks generally make about two big mistakes a year. People who do take risks generally make about two big mistakes a year.”
“The better a man is the more mistakes he will make for the more things he will try.”
“The one to distrust is the person who never makes a mistake, never commits a blunder, never fails in what he tries to do. Either he is a phony, or he stays with the safe, the tried and the trivial.”
“The most serious mistakes are not being made as a result of wrong answers. The true dangerous thing is asking the wrong question.”
How much do you get done?
Drucker’s writing on efficiency and effectiveness affected my life and career in ways little else can. What you do and why you do it is crucial to everything and is summed up in the following statement:
“Efficiency is doing things right;
Effectiveness is doing the right things.”
Drucker expanded on this statement greatly in his writings, as emphasized in the following words:
“Doing the right thing is more important than doing the thing right.”
“There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all.”
“If there is any one secret of effectiveness, it is concentration. …do first things first and… do one thing at a time.”
Final thoughts
We have barely tapped into Peter Drucker’s amazing insight. To tap into some of his wisdom, I highly recommend reading three of his books — The Five Most Important Questions, Managing Oneself, and The Effective Executive.
There is a good chance his books will affect you as they have me and many others, forever changing your perspectives on life and business.
To make the best use of this article in your life, share it with someone with whom you can discuss it. Each of you will greatly benefit from the experience!
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Bill Abbate Leadership Writer and Editor in ILLUMINATION
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