Peter Drucker (1909–2005) was an Austrian-American management consultant, educator and author whose writing helped lay the foundations of modern management. He popularised management by objectives, coined the term “knowledge worker” and wrote 39 books, according to Wikipedia.
Who was Peter Drucker?
Peter Ferdinand Drucker was born in Vienna on 19 November 1909, into a home where intellectuals including Joseph Schumpeter, Friedrich Hayek and Ludwig von Mises met to discuss ideas, according to Wikipedia. He worked in Hamburg and Frankfurt as a trainee and journalist, and earned a doctorate in international and public law from Goethe University Frankfurt in 1931. When the Nazis took power in 1933 he left Germany for England within 48 hours.
In 1937 he married Doris Schmitz and moved to the United States, becoming a citizen in 1943, according to Wikipedia. He taught at Bennington College from 1942 to 1949, and was professor of management at New York University from 1950 to 1971. His study of General Motors became Concept of the Corporation, and in 1954 he published The Practice of Management.
In 1971 he moved to Claremont Graduate University in California, where he developed one of the first executive MBA programmes; its management school was named after him in 1987, according to Wikipedia. He taught his last class in 2002, at 92. That year President George W. Bush awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He died in Claremont on 11 November 2005, aged 95. His 39 books have been translated into more than 36 languages.
His key ideas in brief
- Management by objectives. Agree clear goals, then let people manage themselves.
- What needs to be done? Start with the task, not your preferences.
- Opportunities over problems. Problem-solving prevents damage; opportunities produce results.
- Knowledge workers. Their productivity is management’s next frontier.
- Listen first, speak last. His ninth rule for executives.
At a glance
Born: 19 November 1909, Vienna
Died: 11 November 2005, Claremont, California
Taught: NYU (1950–71); Claremont (1971–2002)
Key books: The Practice of Management (1954), The Effective Executive (1967)
Honour: Presidential Medal of Freedom (2002)
Good fit if
You manage people or your own work, and want clear thinking on priorities, decisions and effectiveness rather than motivation.
Our take
The source of many productivity ideas that later self-help writers, including Brian Tracy and Stephen Covey, built on. Start with The Effective Executive.
Peter Drucker’s key ideas
Drucker wrote for managers, but many of his ideas apply to anyone managing their own work. Tap a card to read more.
Management by objectives
Drucker popularised “management by objectives and self-control”, the keynote of his 1954 book The Practice of Management, according to Wikipedia. The idea is that managers and staff agree clear objectives, and people then direct their own work towards them. Critics argue that management by objectives has never been proven to work well in practice, but goal-setting research shows that specific, challenging goals do improve performance, according to Locke and Latham. See our goal-setting guide.
The effective executive
In a 2004 Harvard Business Review article, Drucker wrote that effective executives were “all over the map” in personality, but followed the same eight practices:
- They asked, “What needs to be done?”
- They asked, “What is right for the enterprise?”
- They developed action plans.
- They took responsibility for decisions.
- They took responsibility for communicating.
- They focused on opportunities rather than problems.
- They ran productive meetings.
- They thought and said “we” rather than “I.”
He added a ninth rule: listen first, speak last, according to Drucker. The article won him his seventh McKinsey Award from HBR, the most awarded to any individual, according to Wikipedia.
Manage yourself, not time
Brian Tracy took several time-management questions from Drucker, including “What can I and only I do, that if done well, will make a real difference?”, which he credited to “the late Peter Drucker, the management guru”, according to Eat That Frog!. In No Excuses! Tracy quoted Drucker’s line “You cannot manage time; you can only manage yourself”. Tracy said that after reading Napoleon Hill and Norman Vincent Peale, he “migrated to Peter Drucker”, according to LA’s The Place.
Our guides: the Law of Three and key result areas, Eat That Frog and zero-based thinking.
The knowledge worker
Drucker coined the term “knowledge worker” in his 1959 book Landmarks of Tomorrow, and later considered knowledge-worker productivity the next frontier of management, according to Wikipedia and Wikiquote. His writing anticipated privatisation, decentralisation, the rise of Japan as an economic power, the importance of marketing and the information society.
The behaviour of people
As a young man in the 1930s, Drucker attended John Maynard Keynes’s seminars in Cambridge and realised that “Keynes and all the brilliant economic students in the room were interested in the behaviour of commodities, while I was interested in the behaviour of people”, according to Wikipedia. His books explored how organisations can bring out the best in people. “Morale in an organization does not mean that ‘people get along together’; the test is performance not conformance”, according to Wikiquote.
Videos with Peter Drucker
Hand-picked and checked one by one, including videos from the Drucker School at Claremont.
Start here
More on Drucker
Articles about Peter Drucker
Books by Peter Drucker
Drucker wrote 39 books, according to Wikipedia. These are the best known.
Courses and free resources
What the Research Shows
- Goals. Management by objectives rests on goals. Research by Edwin Locke and Gary Latham shows that specific, challenging goals improve performance compared with vague “do your best” goals.
- Criticism. Some critics argue that management by objectives, as practised, has never been proven to work effectively, according to Wikipedia.
- Recognition. HBR gave him seven McKinsey Awards, more than any other individual, according to Wikipedia.
Frequently asked questions
Who was Peter Drucker?
An Austrian-American management consultant, educator and author (1909–2005), often described as the champion of management as a serious discipline.
What is Peter Drucker best known for?
The Practice of Management (1954), management by objectives, The Effective Executive (1967) and coining the term knowledge worker.
What are Drucker’s eight practices of effective executives?
Ask what needs to be done; ask what is right for the enterprise; develop action plans; take responsibility for decisions; take responsibility for communicating; focus on opportunities; run productive meetings; and think and say we rather than I.
Where did Peter Drucker teach?
At Bennington College, New York University from 1950 to 1971, and Claremont Graduate University from 1971.
When did Peter Drucker die?
On 11 November 2005, in Claremont, California, aged 95.
How did Drucker influence Brian Tracy?
Tracy took several time-management questions from Drucker and quoted his line “You cannot manage time; you can only manage yourself”.
Books and sources
- Wikipedia: Peter Drucker (accessed 13 November 2026)
- Drucker, What Makes an Effective Executive, Harvard Business Review, June 2004
- Wikiquote: Peter Drucker (sourced quotations)
- Tracy, Eat That Frog!, 3rd edition (Berrett-Koehler, 2017)
- Tracy, B. No Excuses! The Power of Self-Discipline. Vanguard Press, 2010.
- LA’s The Place: A Chat With Brian Tracy, 10 March 2012
- Locke and Latham, Building a practically useful theory of goal setting, American Psychologist 2002
- Claremont Graduate University: Drucker School of Management
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