(CGU: Claremont, CA) -- The Peter F. Drucker and Masatoshi Ito Graduate School of Management and The Drucker Institute have announced the details of the global commemoration and celebration of the life of the late Peter F. Drucker, eminent author, winner of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and the father of modern management.
The Drucker Centennial, which marks Drucker’s 100th birthday, will be crowned by a week of special events at Claremont Graduate University (CGU) and in locations throughout Los Angeles starting in November 2009. Event speakers include leading management thinkers Jim Collins, Stephen Covey, Warren Bennis, Ken Blanchard, and Charles Handy.
In addition to hosting these locally based activities, the Drucker School and Drucker Institute will take part in a series of Centennial events around the world—from New York City to Seoul, and Vienna to Beijing, and Tokyo to Sao Paulo—all highlighting Drucker’s seminal teachings on effective management, ethical leadership, and social responsibility.
“The timing couldn’t be more urgent,” says Ira A. Jackson, dean of the Drucker School at CGU. “With fallout from the financial crisis continuing and institutions of all sorts being viewed with deep mistrust by the public, Drucker’s insights have never been more essential. Clearly, we need Drucker now more than ever.”
Underscoring the importance of Drucker’s ideas and ideals is a roster of leaders, thinkers, and management luminaries who are serving as chairs of the Centennial. They include John Bachmann, senior partner at Edward Jones, chairman of the Drucker School Board of Visitors and CGU trustee; Warren Bennis, renowned author and USC professor; social entrepreneur Bob Buford, chairman of the Drucker Institute; John Byrne, the executive editor of BusinessWeek; Jim Collins, the bestselling author of Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don’t (HarperCollins, 2001), and How the Mighty Fall: And Why Some Companies Never Give In (Collins, 2009); author and inventor Doris Drucker; Rajiv Dutta, former president of eBay Marketplaces; and David Gergen, director of Harvard University’s Center for Public Leadership, CNN commentator, and former White House advisor.
Also serving as Centennial chairs are Charles Handy, co-founder of the London Business School and author of The Age of Unreason (Harvard Business School Press, 1990), and The Elephant and the Flea (Harvard Business School Press, 2001); Frances Hesselbein, chair of the Leader to Leader Institute, former CEO of the Girl Scouts of the USA, and recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom; Masatoshi Ito, founder and honorary chairman of the Ito-Yokado Group, Asia’s largest retailer; Harvard University’s Rosabeth Moss Kanter, author of SuperCorp: How Vanguard Companies Create Innovation, Profits, Growth, and Social Good (Crown Business, 2009), and Confidence: How Winning Streaks and Losing Streaks Begin and End (Three Rivers Press, 2006) and 16 other books; Alan Khazei, CEO of Be The Change and co-founder of City Year; Wendy Kopp, founder and CEO of Teach for America; A.G. Lafley, chairman of Procter & Gamble; Minglo Shao, chairman of Bright China Holding Ltd. and head of the Peter F. Drucker Academy; and Rick Warren, the pastor of Saddleback Church and the author of The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For? (Zondervan, 2007), the best-selling hardback book in American history.
In addition to various forums, conferences and other gatherings (listed below), the Centennial will include other significant milestones, such as the publication later this year by McGraw-Hill of The Drucker Difference: What the World’s Greatest Management Thinker Means to Today’s Business Leaders. The book, which analyzes Drucker’s most important ideas in the context of today’s turbulent business environment, was written by Drucker School faculty.
Also as part of the Centennial, the stretch of 11th Street in Claremont, California, that runs alongside the Drucker School and the Drucker Institute will have its name changed to Drucker Way.
What’s more, the Centennial period has already seen a doubling around the world of the number of Drucker Societies—all-volunteer groups that use Drucker’s teachings to bring about positive change in their local communities. “The Drucker Societies, now two-dozen strong in 15 countries and boasting hundreds of volunteers, are the living, breathing embodiment of Peter Drucker’s philosophy,” says Rick Wartzman, executive director of the Drucker Institute, a campuswide resource of CGU. “We are thrilled to be extending the reach of the network as part of the Centennial.”
Wartzman notes that it was the Drucker Society of Korea that helped kick off the Centennial by organizing and hosting a two-day conference in June on innovation among companies and social enterprises.
The list below highlights events for fall 2009 from the Drucker Centennial calendar. (The Centennial will continue through fall 2010). For additional details, including times and exact locations, please visit www.drucker100.com. The Centennial also has a bevy of social media tools to keep you connected. You can find us on Twitter; check us out on YouTube; subscribe to our RSS feed; and go here for a video about Peter Drucker.
Oct. 6–7, 2009
World Business Forum, New York City
Each year, thousands of attendees from around the globe gather at Radio City Music Hall to network, advance their businesses and be part of this annual live experience with an incredible lineup of global leaders, brilliant minds, business icons, and legendary CEOs. Speakers will include former President Bill Clinton, Jack Welch, Gary Hamel, Jeffrey Sachs, and Drucker School dean, Ira Jackson. This year's World Business Forum has been officially designated a Drucker Centennial event.
Oct. 14, 2009
CEO Forum, Claremont, California
Top CEOs gather to discuss what it takes to be a leader in an age when the challenges facing our planet, our society, and our individual organizations are more complex and demanding than any known in our lifetimes. This event, hosted by Procter & Gamble chairman A.G. Lafley, is by invitation only.
Oct. 16–19, 2009
Drucker Centennial in China and Hong Kong
Drucker Centennial commemorations will take place on Oct. 16 in Beijing and at a forum at the Nanjing University School of Business, with keynote speeches and concurrent sessions on Drucker on management. On Oct. 17, Drucker forums for business, government, and social sector leaders will take place in Nanchang and Jinan. On Oct. 18, a similar forum will take place in Shanghai. On Oct. 19, a Drucker forum in Hong Kong will include the presentation of the Bright China Drucker Awards for Innovation in Civil Society and for Corporate Social Integration, and a Drucker 100 Power Dinner for 300 top leaders in government, business, and the social sector.
Nov. 2, 2009
Opening of Japanese art exhibition, Claremont, California
This exhibition, on the campus of Scripps College, will showcase pieces from the internationally renowned Sanso Collection. Curated by Bruce Coats, chairman of Scripps College’s department of Art History, the exhibit will feature more than 30 Japanese scroll paintings and survey a wide variety of responses to the teachings of Zen Buddhism. Displaying the Sanso Collection as part of the Centennial also highlights Peter Drucker’s belief that management was a liberal art and his ability to draw insights from a wide variety of disciplines. Drucker lectured on Japanese art at Pomona College from 1975–1985. The exhibition will run through Sunday, Dec. 6.
Nov. 2, 2009
Ken Blanchard, live in Claremont, California
Ken Blanchard is the co-founder of the international management training and consulting firm that bears his name. Blanchard’s book, The One Minute Manager, co-authored with Spencer Johnson, has sold more than 13 million copies. Blanchard is also the author of Raving Fans, Gung Ho!, Whale Done! and Leading at a Higher Level, among many others. His books have combined sales of 18 million-plus copies in more than 25 languages.
Nov. 3, 2009
Management All-Stars forum, Los Angeles, California
This event, at the Club Nokia at L.A. Live Theatre, will feature Ken Blanchard; USC professor Warren Bennis, hailed by Forbes as “the dean of leadership gurus”; and British social philosopher Charles Handy. These three management giants will pay tribute to Peter Drucker’s path-breaking insights while relating his work to their own.
Nov. 4–5, 2009
Frances Hesselbein, live in Claremont, California
Frances Hesselbein is the chair of the Leader to Leader Institute (formerly the Peter F. Drucker Foundation for Nonprofit Management). She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1998. The award recognized her leadership as chief executive of the Girl Scouts of the USA from 1976–1990, her role as the founding president of the Drucker Foundation and her service as “a pioneer for women, diversity, and inclusion.” Recently, Hesselbein was named the chair for the Study of Leadership at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.
Nov. 5, 2009
Stephen Covey, live in downtown Los Angeles, California
Stephen Covey has been recognized as one of Time magazine’s 25 most influential Americans. An internationally respected leadership authority, family expert, teacher, organizational consultant, and author, he has sold more than 20 million books in 38 languages. Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People was named the No. 1 Most Influential Business Book of the 20th Century by CEO magazine.
Nov. 7, 2009
Drucker Centennial Day with Jim Collins, Claremont, California
Drucker Day brings together Drucker School alumni and others interested in hearing great speakers, taking mini-classes with faculty, networking, and enjoying great food. Bestselling author, Jim Collins, will keynote the event. In addition, the day will feature a raft of other headline speakers, including Charles Handy; former Monsanto CEO Bob Shapiro; Faye Washington, CEO of YWCA of Greater Los Angeles; authors Will Hopper and Bob Nelson; and more. Concurrently, all Drucker Centennial Day guests will have access to a day-long Expo of Drucker-related activities and organizations that will showcase ways to stay connected with the local and global Drucker community.
Nov. 19–20, 2009
Drucker Global Forum, Vienna, Austria
Under the patronage of Michael Häupl, mayor of Vienna, the Drucker Society of Austria will hold a major conference on management and social responsibility in the 21st Century. The forum will take place on the occasion of Peter Drucker’s 100th birthday in the place of his birth. Speakers will include C.K. Prahalad, Charles Handy, Philip Kotler, Fredmund Malik, Hermann Simon, Yves Doz, and many more.
Born in Vienna on Nov. 19, 1909, Peter Drucker had a profound effect on how people around the world organize themselves in the realms of business, government, and civil society.
Drucker’s 39 books, along with his countless scholarly and popular articles, predicted many of the major developments of the late 20th century, including privatization and decentralization; the rise of Japan to economic world power; the decisive importance of marketing and innovation; and the emergence of the information society with its necessity of lifelong learning. In 1959, Drucker coined the term “knowledge worker,” and he spent the rest of his life examining an age in which an unprecedented number of people use their brains more than their backs.
Drucker’s first major work, The End of Economic Man, was published in 1939. Driven by an insatiable curiosity about the world around him—and a deep desire to make that world a better place—Drucker continued to write long after most others would have put away their pens. The result was a ceaseless procession of landmarks and classics: Concept of the Corporation in 1946, The Practice of Management in 1954, The Effective Executive in 1967, Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices in 1973, Innovation and Entrepreneurship in 1985, Post-Capitalist Society in 1993, Management Challenges for the 21st Century in 1999.
Drucker, who had taught at Sarah Lawrence College, Bennington College, and New York University, spent the last 30-plus years of his career on the faculty at Claremont Graduate University. In 2001, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor. He died in November 2005, just shy of his 96th birthday.
Founded in 1925, Claremont Graduate University is one of the top graduate schools in the United States. Our nine academic schools conduct leading-edge research and award masters and doctoral degrees in 22 disciplines.
Because the world’s problems are not simple or easily defined, diverse faculty and students research and study across the traditional discipline boundaries to create new and practical solutions for the major problems plaguing our world. A Southern California-based graduate school devoted entirely to graduate research and study, CGU boasts a low student-to-faculty ratio.
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