Rating: 
Summary: A Book For All Professionals, Not Just Managers
Review: Peter Drucker is a thinker who gets to the heart of issues and can make one see the world, and one's self, in a different way. That may seem like a grandiose claim for what, on the surface, is merely a business book. But if you're the least bit familiar with Drucker's numerous books and articles, written over a 60-year career, you already suspect that this isn't a mere business book. We live in times of turbulent change. Drucker's task is to make us SEE, to give us guiding insights and principles. He illuminates the deeper forces of history, of economics, of society, which managers in ALL kinds of instituations - hospitals, universities, churches, nonprofits, governments, and of course businesses - will inevitably face. Drucker not only calls for a new paradigm of management, but he outlines that new paradigm - and more importantly, contrasts it with the old paradigm. The word paradigm itself has become cliche, but Drucker's analysis is hardly fluffy or faddish. And that's just in the first chapter. In the rest of this brief (207 pages) but potent book, he expounds (as evidenced by the chapter titles) on the following themes: Strategy - The New Certainties; The Change Leader; Information Challenges; Knowledge-Worker Productivity; Managing Oneself. The latter chapter alone - which is about managing one's career(s) in light of the insights provided in the foregoing chapters - is alone worth the price of admission. There are several small gems of practical advice in that chapter alone, and it also gives one food for ongoing thought (as does the rest of the book). As Drucker himself concludes, this book is ultimately not about the future of management. It's about the future of society. In reading it (or any of Drucker's other works), you get the sense you're in the presence of a great thinker who has a passion for truth. This book isn't just for managers, it's for all "knowledge workers" who seek a sophisticated perspective on deep historical forces which will affect everybody in all developed countries. Drucker consciously intended - and in my opinion succeeded - to write a practical book for people who aren't afraid to think and challenge their assumptions about the world and themselves. Drucker's focus is utlimately on *action*. He doesn't give recipes, he gives questions, insights, and principles on which to formulate actions and make decisions. He even offers advice on how to get the most out of his book. A couple of notes about Drucker's writing style, for those who haven't read him before: Drucker's prose and word rhythms can sometimes be quirky. He has a fondness for occasionally "quoting" words and for EMPHASIZING THINGS IN CAPITAL LETTERS. He's not a fuzzy-minded loudmouth, though. That's part of his natural, unpretentious style, and his message doesn't suffer for it. Also, in this particular book, Drucker uses a layout technique which I initially found to be confusing, but I eventually came to appreciate. He sprinkles the entire book - without warning or explanation - with paragraphs that are indented further in from the "main" paragraphs. At first I thought he was quoting himself from his earlier works. But I finally realized that the indented paragraphs are "meat", in the form of specific examples or historical references. Once I figured that out, they didn't bother me, and in fact I appreciated the layout. In summary: read this book! It's much more worthwhile than most business or change-your-life seminars, which can cost hundreds of times more.
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Summary: Look ahead and act to transform challenges in opportunities
Review: This is the invitation made by Peter F. Drucker in his book: Management challenges for the 21st century. The author writes: "Reading this book will upset and disturb a good many people, as writing it disturbed me" and "It is a very different book from the one I originally envisaged". These two sentences explain that the pressure of the future is so already with us that ideas coming to the author have difficulties to organize on the paper. But this stressing environment gives one of the best book of Peter F. Drucker with issues not to be ignored by knowledge-workers and executives who will have to work on them to make sure to be among the leaders of tomorrow. In the 2 first chapters, we are sharing ideas from the Management's assumptions, which are no more valid in the "New Economy" to The New Certainties on which very few organizations and very few executives are working on and are invited to a call for action in front of a period of a profound transition. In Chapter 3, Peter F. Drucker is describing, the Change leader, which mission will not be to manage change, because it is not possible to manage change, but to be ahead of it. Different recommendations are given, but the more important one is piloting the change to permanently test reality. If making the future is highly risky, it is less risky than not trying to make it in a period of upheavals, such as the one we are living in. In chapter 4, the author convinces us that IT Information Technology has to move from the T to the I. That means that Technology as such is not the concern of executives when Information is. It is true that executives did not get always, with the Information Technologies Revolution, the Information they need for acting. But Information requires also to move from internal information to external Information, because strategy is mainly based on the last one. Information being the key resource for knowledge workers asks to be organized at individual and group level to anticipate and avoid surprises in front of significant events and to prepare for action. In chapter 5, after discovering that the main contribution of management in the 20th century was the fifty-fold increase of productivity of the manual-worker in manufacturing, we are presented the challenge for the 21st century as being the increase of knowledge-worker productivity. The move there is from quantity measurement to quality measurement of an agreed defined task of a knowledge-worker, which is part of a growing population in developed countries. Knowledge-workers, owning their means of production, the knowledge between their ears, are becoming assets instead of costs. And if costs need to be controlled and reduced, assets need to be made to grow. This means a change of attitude of management but also of corporation governance who have to find balance between the interests of shareholders and knowledge-workers contributing to the wealth of the organization. In the final chapter, we are presented the impact of all previous evolutions on the individual knowledge-worker, who will have to manage himself in this new environment. This is a real revolution in mentalities due to two new realities: workers are likely to outlive organizations, and the knowledge worker has mobility the manual-worker did not have. Partnership is becoming an answer to these changes with all the consequences for the individual who has to ask himself: "what should be my contribution" and "where and how can I have results that make a difference", yes a real revolution already there. Management Challenges for the 21st Century is giving the basics to enter the period of profound transition we know with the arrival of the "New Economy" and will make the difference for the people who read this book. We really have to thank Peter F. Drucker for this important contribution at the age of 90, a masterpiece after more than sixty years devoted to management development.
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Summary: A PERSPECTIVE OF FUTURE MANAGEMENT CHALLENGES
Review: Dr. F. R. Bosch an apologist, researcher, and lecturer who integrates [Biblical] faith and knowledge, is a full-time university professor in Southern California, U.S.A. "Management Challenges for the 21st Century" is a brief and stimulating book. It addresses some insightful topics that Prof. Drucker thinks will influence and shape the future. He encourages the reader to consider "management" in a larger than "business" context - the universe of our personal, family, career, volunteerism, and corporate lives - which all need to be managed for success to occur. He begins by discussing how our "basic assumptions" make up our reality paradigms that affect our perception of the world and the decisions we make. In spite of the important role that assumptions play in our lives, Drucker says that the assumptions are rarely analyzed, studied, challenged, and rarely even made explicit (p. 3). The implication is that we need to invest some quality time and thought about the assumptions that profoundly affect our lives. He goes on to say that "what matters most...are therefore the basic assumptions. And a change in the basic assumptions matters even more" (p. 4). The basic or fundamental assumptions that make up our reality paradigms are very important. The examples Drucker cites throughout the book clearly convey his belief of the profound role that fundamental assumptions play in managing our lives. There is a definite cause and effect relationship between what we embrace to be true and the product of their application. Although the Harvard Business Review says that Drucker "discusses how the new paradigms of management have changed and will continue to change our basic assumptions about the practices and principles of management," Prof. Drucker has said in other of his writings, as well as in this book, that the "Fundamentals do not change. But the specifics to manage them do change greatly with changes in internal and external conditions," and that "there is a need for continuity in respect to the fundamentals...because change is a constant...the foundations have to be extra strong" (Managing in Turbulent Times, p. 9; Management Challenges for the 21st Century, p. 92). Clearly, we need to differentiate between foundation and structure, and realize that the changes being discussed mainly relate to the structure (application), and not necessarily to the fundamental presuppositions. Actually, when the fundamental assumptions change the world changes. Thus, changes of fundamental assumptions are major life-changing events - revolutions (shifts) in paradigm language. However, Drucker seems to convey the notion that the application of management principles is what is changing and not the principles themselves. "Management Challenges for the 21st Century" is an eye opener and energizing primer to view and practice management.
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Summary: Very good on manage changes
Review: This book have described how to manage changes. That is very important. just as the book who moved my cheeses.
Rating:
Summary: Marvelous.
Review: I didn't expect Drucker to cover individual management and the
problem that knowledge workers might face during his life.
The information change chapter also outlines what influence it
might put on the individual and the organization.
Rating: 
Summary: Great at times.......boring at others.....
Review: I read a lot of business books and I have to say that Drucker really gets the "big picture" better than 99.999% of the people out there. If you want some other good books related to this book try Free Agent Nation by Daniel Pink and As the Future Catches You by Juan Enriquez (two chapters succinctly FULLY explain the value of the knowledge worker in the 21st Century. The rest of the book is extra info. on genomics but it is VERY EASY to read). The nice part about Drucker's book is that he gives tips and suggestions, along with things to look for in the next generation of managing workers. At times his language can be a bit more boring than the previous two titles I mention but the book is definitely worth reading. Drucker wastes no time in this book by stating what he believes is the most powerful social force working today and some of the consequences that arise from it. He believes the aging of the population in the developed countries will have profound impacts on future wealth creation and societal structures. This is a result of a lowering of the birthrate in these countries. When you then add the fact that an additional 2 billion people are projected to live on this planet in the next 20 years you begin to really think about the profound potential impact to the planet and business. Drucker states that "the most important, and indeed the truly unique, contribution of management in the 20th century was the fifty-fold increase in the productivity of the 'manual worker' in manufacturing. The most important contribution management needs to make in the 21st century is similarly to increase the productivity of 'knowledge work' and the 'knowledge worker.' The most valuable assets of a 20th-century company were its production equipment. The most valuable asset of a 21st-century institution, whether business or nonbusiness, will be its knowledge workers and their productivity." That comment alone illustrates that Drucker fully understands the implications that arise from countries evolving their economies from agricultural to industrial to service and technology based knowledge economies. I gave it 4 stars because at times it is pretty tedious reading but definitely a very good book.
Rating:
Summary: Just read it
Review: It's Drucker; just read it. NO more said. If you are in management, you owe it to yourself to read any of his books.
Rating:
Summary: Solutions, not mere statements of the obvious
Review: In reading material purporting to help me run my company better today and tomorrow, I have grown tired of hearing the mantra, "change is inevitable so prepare for change." Well, I know that already, so my eyes and mind glaze over when it is encountered. My interest is in learning what the changes might be and ways in which I can better cope with them. While Drucker does use some of the routine statements about change, he correctly identifies some of the changes that are taking place, the affects they will have and how to respond to them in an effective manner.
Drucker identifies what is the most powerful social force working today and some of the consequences, namely the aging of the population in the developed countries. This, coupled with the lowering of the birthrate to the point where the native populations are now declining will change everything in our societal structures. One phenomena that I had not thought of is a consequence of families only having one child. It appears that the parents lavish so much more on the only child that they end up spending more on toys than they would for multiple children. Other, more obvious trends are how to keep the older workers interested, trained and dedicated so that they do not "retire on the job." It is clear that the only way the economies will continue to run without the steady influx of young people is by getting more productivity out of the older ones.
The other main point is the rise to dominance of the knowledge worker and how developing countries are making concerted efforts to create them. In a throwback to Marxist dogma, it means that for the first time the workers own the means of production, namely the knowledge that they carry around. The consequences of this for business management are very profound. In manufacturing, it was possible to monitor progress by simply counting how many widgets were constructed per time frame. If a worker decided to take some time off while on the job, that number dropped. However, for the knowledge worker, similar metrics are difficult if not impossible. While some progress has been made in the area of measuring programmer productivity, it is still much a matter of guesswork. When ten lines of brilliant, bug-free code can be better than one hundred lines of adequate code, such traditional measures such as lines of code cannot be applied. Old style incentives such as bonuses for the production of more widgets also do not apply well to knowledge workers. Incentives such as payments for lines of code or bugs found have almost always ended up with improvements in numbers without an equivalent improvement in quality. Furthermore, incentives to increase the speed just get you a poorer quality product faster. Drucker's treatment of these issues lend his powerful voice to the chorus who describe modern management as the position of an overseer with a tickle stick rather than a whip.
While there are many more challenges facing us in the 21st century than can be described in a book with less than 200 pages, Drucker hits many of the most significant. While there may be times when you will not quite agree with his proposals, they are sensible and you need overwhelming evidence to conclude that they do not apply to you.
Rating:
Summary: just do it
Review: This is a book for any manager serious about his/her future, for any management trainer/consultant serious about his/her future, for any leader serious about his/her future. Just do it. Read it.
Rating:
Summary: 90 years of living went into this book
Review: Peter Drucker wrote this book when he was 90. The great advantage he has is that we lived through all the stages and phases of the management theory and practise in this century. He has seen it. There is no one else that has so much accumulated knowleadge in this field. The book is very easy to read. It explaines some very elementary things that seem so obvious that you may think - why didn't I think about it before? The book is very useful for all managers in every possible type of organization - from a corporation to a hospital. But it seems to me that it is implicitly written for managers in the field of finance. For them the two most important parts of the book are the one about the demograhics and the one about the exchange rates volatility. Non managers - regular employees - would also benefit a great deal from reading this book. It urges you to realize that since you will probably live much longer than previous generations you must take a different approach to your life. Especially regarding your financial planning and continuous education. Really an excellent piece of work!
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