Peter F Drucker Harper Business 2001 ISBN 0887309992 Buy

This book describes the views of Peter Drucker, perhaps the most respected management writer of our time, on the challenges to be faced by management in the 21st Century.

He starts by reviewing and challenging the assumptions that management has used in its history to date, concluding that things will need to become more operationally focused. He then covers changes in the strategic environment, particularly demographic and globalisation trends, before moving onto the subjects of change and the use of information.

In the area of information, he argues that management and knowledge workers do not get the information they really need, and that if anything they tend to get too much information. He advocates that this is beginning to change, suggesting managers and knowledge workers ask themselves ‘What is the meaning of information and its purpose?’.

Drucker then writes at length on the subject of knowledge worker productivity. Click here to read more of his arguments. He then complements this with a chapter on managing oneself, arguing that in the future it will be up to the worker, not the employer, to drive their career and capabilities.

As ever Drucker provides a good mix of example, historical context and insights into the future, making him one of the most readable management writers around.