Most of the great existential questions about the nature of knowledge or the reality of the world that assail men and women today were already raised in the texts of Aristotle and Plato. The fundamental human dramas, their motivations, passions, conflicts and often terrible outcomes, were already set out in Shakespeare's plays. The critical reflection on the collateral damage brought about by progress in the form of social inequalities and neglect of the underprivileged is powerfully woven between gag after gag in every frame of Chaplin's films. These displays of genius have endured through the ages thanks to his ability to address universal themes that transcend contexts, cultures and geographies. On a smaller and more specialised scale, in the world of business and leadership, there are also authors with this ecumenical stamp whose ideas can serve as valuable handbooks for dummies or, simply, for people overtaken by events. One such author is the Austrian Peter F. Drucker.
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Many of today's theories of modern business were already foreshadowed in Drucker's texts. Author of more than 35 books, it is to his great credit that he formulated his ideas at a time when business was moving in the opposite direction to the one he advocated. When in the 1960s and 1970s the prevailing business philosophy held that the only social responsibility of a company was to provide value to its shareholders (an idea whose visible head was none other than the Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman), Drucker already refused to accept that the company was only a source from which to squeeze economic benefits for its owners. For the New York University professor, profit was a natural consequence of business activity and a sine qua non for its continuity, but not a goal in itself.
What’s the ultimate meaning of our existence as a company? What do we do business for? Who do we serve? Today, the most successful companies on the planet are those that have not only been able to answer these questions, but have condensed and enunciated that answer into a purpose. But it was Peter Drucker who was the first to speak of a company with a purpose. For the former student of Keynes and Shumpeter, this purpose had to be, fundamentally, one of service. Service to the customer, but also to society in general. A company, he argued, should have what he called "social conscience", something that implied, among other things, following ethical behaviour and contributing, to the extent of its possibilities and from its sphere of influence, to the common good.
Profits were a natural consequence of entrepreneurial activity and a sine qua non for its continuity, but not a goal in itself.
Although the digital transformation and the unusual momentum that technology has gained in the last decade seem to have radically transformed the business world, many of Drucker's theories are still fully valid. Today no one doubts that we live in the knowledge society, but what not everyone knows is that it was he who coined the concept of the "knowledge worker", a professional category that worked with ideas and data and not with their hands. Drucker not only proposed new rules of the game for the company's relations with its environment. In the field of leadership, in contrast to the hierarchical and authoritarian styles of his time, he advocated ethical leadership, based on values and example.
The author of Managing Yourself or Executive Effectiveness went even further in terms of talent management. He didn’t believe in an organisational culture of tight control and instead advocated an approach based on respect, trust and the development of professionals. He believed in individual responsibility and proposed an organisation of work by objectives. In his model, each person knew what his or her role was and how it contributed to the company's overall objectives. These ideas are widespread today, but completely revolutionary when he put them forward.
In his model, each person knew what his or her role was and how it contributed to the overall objectives of the company.
Drucker's humanistic view of the firm as an entity that transcends the goal of mere economic profit has inspired countless thinkers who have followed in its wake. Authors such as Edward Freeman, who in the 1980s turned Friedman's theories on their head, broadening their scope towards a more social conception of the company, oriented towards meeting the needs not only of a few shareholders, but of a diversity of stakeholders, including customers, employees, suppliers, regulators, communities and society in general. Are Drucker's theories a guarantee of business success? Certainly not.
His ideas, like those of any other genius enlightened by the history of mankind, cannot be accepted as unquestionable truths, but as a reference on which to build. Always with a critical spirit, taking some of its elements and discarding others, combining them with those of other authors, reformulating concepts, adapting them and always contributing elements of one's own harvest. Because thought belongs to no one but those who dare to say it out loud and apply it to their own reality. Just in case, before taking that step, it can always be useful to ask oneself: what would good old Peter do if he was in my place?
Ramón Oliver is a journalist specialising in employment, economics and sustainability, topics he has covered for outlets such as El País, El Economista, OK Diario and Capital Humano. He currently contributes to Vozpópuli, La Vanguardia and Ethic Magazine, and is the editor of the specialist website MetaEmpleo.