Drucker on Leadership: New Lessons from the Father of Modern Management

Chapter 8. The Seven Deadly Sins of Leadership

Some say that Drucker turned away from writing for business leaders in the last ten or so years of his life because he saw too many of them display the vices he warned about in his teachings. I cannot speak to this. He said nothing to me about it, and I have found no hard evidence for such a change. Drucker did become more interested in nonprofit leadership during that period. However, Drucker maintained his contact with business leaders of all types and continually wrote about both nonprofit and for-profit management and lectured about them in the classroom.

It is a fact that Drucker set very high ethical standards for all leaders. To Peter, management, as a profession practiced by leaders, was a ...