What Does Drucker Have To Do With My Life?

Chair on ocean-smallWe have been discussing the brilliant work of Peter Drucker.  He was the leader in the development of management education and invented “management by objectives”.  He wrote dozens of books about business and management.  Drucker was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2002.  Our discussion is based on Drucker’s 12 Keys to Success (http://www.forbes.com/sites/ericwagner/2013/05/07/entrepreneurship-according-to-drucker-your-12-keys-to-success/).

I received a thoughtful comment from a reader.  The nugget of the comment was now that he is retired he doesn’t have anything to manage except his life.  Of course, that too is a big job.

Perhaps, you too are thinking the same.  What does this have to do with me?  I am retired now and business is behind me. 

I think that the principles of Drucker’s 12 Keys to Success also apply to living a successful life.  Perhaps if you apply these keys to living a life you love, you may find that your life is more satisfying and meaningful.  Please try it on and tell me where I am wrong.

Today let’s look at Keys 6, 7, and 8 with the viewpoint of how do they apply to my life.

Key 6: “Measure innovations by what they contribute to market and customer.”

Let’s look at this key in reverse.  How do the changes that you make in your life contribute to you?  I am substituting the word “changes” for the word “innovations”.

Each change we make to our life is our innovation.  We do this to live a more satisfying and perhaps more comfortable life.  You can ask the question: Does this change contribute to me or am I doing it just for the sake of change?  If you drill down in the question you may find that most of changes that you make don’t make one iota of difference to you.  You are changing something for the sake of change.  If that is so, I respectfully say: Stop It!

Secondly, do the changes that you make contribute to your circle of influence?  The phrase circle of influence is your market.  Customarily, we make changes without a thought about how that change affects others.  I think that is a mistake.  When you make a change, consider if it is a contribution to others.  If not, you may want to re-consider the action.

Key 7: “Often a prescription drug designed for a specific ailment ends up being used for some other quite different ailment.”

You planned for something that you created in your life to be useful in a certain way.  It wasn’t, but instead is an inspiration to someone that you hadn’t even thought of!  Instead of being disappointed, it would be more valuable to celebrate that you made a difference.

Just because it didn’t turn out how you thought it would, it still turned out.

Key 8: “Innovative ideas are like frogs’ eggs: of a thousand hatched, only one or two survive to maturity.”

And that is the key to living a life well.  We try things, they didn’t work.  However, you don’t stop trying new things, failing and trying again.  This way of living—finding in failure the need to try again differently—can bring more joy and satisfaction to your life.

I am looking forward to hearing from you in the comments below.  Please share about the changes that you have made and how they have contributed to you and others.  Bonus points if you also share where you have failed and what you did to turn it into a win.

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