Programs

Drucker Societies

Drucker Societies are the seeds of a global movement for effective management and ethical leadership. They are springing up all around the world to bring Peter Drucker’s wisdom and practical insights to new generations of corporate and social sector thinkers and doers.

As independent volunteer-driven associations, the Societies take many forms, each according to the needs and interests of its membership. Their activities include book clubs in which CEOs discuss Drucker’s teachings and how to apply them to their companies and communities; Drucker-based training programs for nonprofit organizations; and presentations on Drucker and his ideas for high school students.

The Drucker Institute actively encourages the formation of Societies and serves them as a hub, supporting their efforts and empowering their members.

The Responsibility Gap

The Responsibility Gap show is a 45-minute presentation that covers the vital importance of management to the health of modern society; the dire implications of our collective failure to be effective managers and ethical leaders of our people, resources, and institutions; and how Peter Drucker’s core insights and values highlight a way to begin bridging the Gap. The show has been honed over nearly a year’s time and dozens of performances. A documentary version is in development.

The show can be combined with a follow-up conversation based on seven discussion questions designed to get audience members thinking about what they and their organizations can do to close the Gap.

To find out more about The Responsibility Gap show and how you can bring one of our trained presenters to an event, email contact@druckerinstitute.com.

"The Drucker Difference"

Every two weeks, Institute Director Rick Wartzman writes a column, “The Drucker Difference,” for BusinessWeek online. It runs as part of the management section of the magazine’s website, which gets more than 1 million hits each month. The aim of the column is to tie Drucker’s wisdom to today’s headlines.

The Peter F. Drucker Award for Nonprofit Innovation

The award, administered by the Institute, is given each November to three U.S.-based nonprofit organizations in recognition of existing programs that have made a difference in the lives of the people they serve. The award has been given annually since 1991 and is accompanied by a first-place prize of $35,000 and two runners-up prizes of $7,500 and $5,000.

“Innovation is change that creates a new dimension of performance. All nonprofit organizations must be governed by performance, not merely good intentions. To do so, they must begin with mission, for the mission defines what results are for any organization. In the social sector, as in business and government, performance is the ultimate test of an organization. Every nonprofit organization exists for the sake of performance in changing people and society.

“In the years ahead, America 's nonprofits will become even more important. As government retrenches, Americans will look increasingly to the nonprofits to tackle the problems of a fast-changing society. These challenges will demand innovation—in services, and in nonprofit management. The purpose of the annual Peter F. Drucker Award for Nonprofit Innovation is to find the innovators, whether small or large; to recognize and celebrate their example; and to inspire others.” — Peter F. Drucker

Past winners of the Peter F. Drucker Award for Nonprofit Innovation:

• 2008 KickStart, San Francisco, CA
• 2007 Brooklyn Workforce Innovations, Brooklyn, NY
• 2006 United Through Reading, San Diego, CA
• 2005 The Landscape Bank, Keep Alachua County Beautiful, Inc., Gainesville, FL
• 2004 Wheel Get There, Minnesota Valley Action Council
• 2003 River Falls First Responders, River Falls, WI
• 2002 Crafts with Conviction, Crayons to Computers
• 2001 The Eloy Model, Florence Immigrant & Refugee Rights Project
• 2000 Peer Educator Training Program, SAGE Project, Inc.
• 1999 California Transportation Training Institute California Emergency Foodlink
• 1998 Times Square Jobs Training Program, Common Ground Community
• 1997 Computer Clubhouse, The Computer Museum
• 1996 Second Family Program, Lutheran Social Services of Illinois
• 1995 ECO-O.K. Banana Project, Rainforest
• 1994 Community Schools, Children's Aid Society
• 1993 Project Teamwork, Center for Study of Sport in Society
• 1992 Parish Partnership Transitional Housing Program, Lutheran Family and Children's Services of Missouri
• 1991 Living in Family Environments, Judson Center

Conferences, Symposiums, Workshops

The Institute regularly hosts forums that bring in first-rate presenters and panelists from all over the world to address a variety of topics that springboard off of Peter Drucker’s teachings. Many of these gatherings seek to convene participants from all sectors—business, government, and nonprofit—in true Drucker fashion. They are also a way for the Institute to contribute to Claremont Graduate University as a home for “great conversations that matter.”

Please see the What’s New section for more on specific upcoming events.

The Nonprofit Drucker

Thanks to the generosity of Bob Buford and The Leadership Network, the Drucker Institute has re-issued The Nonprofit Drucker, a landmark five-volume audio series featuring Peter Drucker’s insights into the management of the social sector.

Originally produced by The Leadership Network and recorded in 1989 in cassette format, The Nonprofit Drucker has now been converted to CD and digital download formats, with a new introduction that highlights the continuing relevance of the series to today’s nonprofit world. The discs feature 25 hours of interviews—with Peter Drucker and of Drucker in conversation with nonprofit leaders. The material served as the basis for Drucker’s book, Managing the Non-Profit Organization: Principles and Practices.

We offer the CDs and a digital download for sale through our website.

Educational Partnerships

Through select strategic partnerships, the Institute teaches Drucker-based management practices to working professionals.

We are an ongoing contributor to the Chrysler/California Latino Caucus Institute Elected Officials Training Academy, which holds workshops for public officials in ethical leadership.Institute staff also deliver customized training and curricular materials to leaders and senior managers in the private and nonprofit sectors.

Research

The Drucker Institute is committed to supporting original research that builds on Peter Drucker’s teachings.
Our current project is documenting Drucker’s thinking on management as a liberal art. Drucker believed that management, when practiced right, is infused with and enriched by all the humanities and social sciences: history, sociology, psychology, philosophy, culture, and religion. The Institute’s goal is to spark a conversation that will move the concept of management as a liberal art into the larger academic community and, ultimately, into the realm of practice.

Drucker Scholars and Practitioners in Residence

The Institute, in collaboration with Claremont Graduate University’s Peter F. Drucker and Masatoshi Ito Graduate School of Management, brings in visiting scholars and practitioners to explore Drucker’s work and further their own. In turn, they contribute to campus life, as well as to the larger community, during their time in Claremont (in the form of lectures, sessions with students and other activities). The first two Distinguished Drucker Scholars in Residence were Professor Jiro Nonaka of UC Berkeley and Hitotsubashi University and Charles Handy, the renowned author and organizational behavior expert. Their visits marked the beginning of a rich fellowship program that regularly attracts top-notch educators, along with business executives, nonprofit leaders and journalists.