What Drucker Taught Us about Social Responsibility and Leadership

Peter Drucker is known as “The Father of Modern Management. However he was also one of the pioneers of Social Responsibility and wrote on this topic almost up until his death. As a consequence, his “lessons” to us in this field extend over many years and are found in different manuscripts, from articles to books. Some of the basic concepts of Social Responsibility which Drucker developed and promoted remain revolutionary, and some might be considered radical in some instances, even today This paper consists of a history of the development of Drucker’s thought about Social Responsibility followed by the corollaries to his basic concept. These are his lessons, and even these sometimes differ from much of what others believe or have written. These were in six separate areas: the inability of government to solve social problems, the important caveat concerning an organization’s implementation, the unlimited liability clause, the ethics of social responsibility, the opportunities for competitive advantage in social responsibility and the critical importance of leadership. The author concludes that Drucker’s ideas while still valid, are simple, but not easy for an organization to implement although those who do will find considerable value by doing so.