By Bruce Rosenstein
When I tell people that I have written a self-development book (Living in More Than One World: How Peter Drucker's Wisdom Can Inspire and Transform Your Life, recently publishedby Berrett-Koehler) based on Peter Drucker’s life and work, I get a number of reactions. But one common theme is how fortunate I was to have known Drucker and to have had personal interactions with him. I interviewed him several times for the book before his death in 2005 at 95, and several times before that when I was with USA TODAY.
I had thought about writing a Drucker-related book for years, but the idea for one synthesizing his best ideas for individuals and personal growth came to me not long after I interviewed him in Los Angeles for a July 2002 feature story in USA TODAY. I started work on the book a couple of months later. In my personal interactions with him (the interviews, plus details before and afterwards by phone and fax), he displayed patience, good humor and personal warmth. One of the interviews, conducted in Claremont, California on April 11, 2005, seven months to the day before his death, was videotaped. He displays the personal qualities mentioned above, along with words of wisdom delivered in a deep and measured voice. You can view a trailer here.
Drucker died well before the book was published. But now it is coming out in his centenary year, when even more attention will be trained on his contributions to the world. And I was further privileged to have Frances Hesselbein, who worked so many years with Drucker, write the foreword. In these uncertain times, Drucker’s message for personal growth built on integrity, knowledge, contemplation and action is needed more than ever. One constant during the nearly seven years of researching and writing was the awareness of how privileged I have been to apply my knowledge of Peter Drucker and his work to my firstbook.
Read an excerpt from Living in More Than One World, from publisher Berrett-Koehler.
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