A Class with Drucker: The Lost Lessons of the World’s Greatest Management Teacher

Chapter Six. Approach Problems with Your Ignorance—Not Your Experience

When Peter first began instruction on this lesson, we thought he was making an outlandish statement to make a point. Drucker was certainly not the sort of professor to brag about any of his accomplishments. This was in contrast to some professors I have met as a student or later when I became a professor myself. Drucker was never arrogant or “full of himself.” But he was not above relating anecdotes that later proved to be less than accurate to illustrate a point, although the point itself was always absolutely true and immensely powerful.

A Chilly Afternoon in Drucker’s Class

In any case, this Drucker lesson began unexpectedly on a chilly afternoon in January of 1976, a little ...