Get Ready for a Drucker Treat
Some years ago, it was a treat at a Special Libraries Association annual conference to be up front and close to the stage as Peter Drucker spoke about the role of special librarians in the success of their organizations. His down to earth comments resonated with what I have observed throughout the years, and the audience's reaction indicated how much we all appreciated his insights. Since then, The Essential Drucker has been kicking around my office, yielding inspiration (aha!), confirmation (I thought that's what I was noticing!), and validation (he expresses that challenge perfectly!).
At the most recent SLA conference, I encountered Drucker again in the form of Bruce Rosenstein, author of the forthcoming book Living in More Than One World: How Peter Drucker's Wisdom Can Inspire and Transform Your Life (Berrett-Koehler, August 2009). Focusing on individual development, the book is based on over 20 years of Rosenstein's research into Drucker's life and thought.
See brucerosenstein.com for details on the book and clips from a 2005 interview in which Drucker sums up our continuing work: "In the past, we always had a desperate shortage of information. Now we have an incredible overload of data, and the executives of tomorrow will have to learn to transform data into information - which very few know [how to do]". In commenting on "the shift from managing manual workers" he says plainly about knowledge management that "we are doing [it] very poorly".
We information specialists will always reach for ways to help our employers and clients improve their information related practices and do better with knowledge management. Bruce's book now adds a personal dimension to the legacy Peter left us ... get ready for your next Drucker treat!