Herr Drucker

The Economist had a nice write up in Schumpeter on Rembembering Drucker. Peter Drucker is my management hero and I have absorbed most of his writings. The article makes the point that Drucker hit the sweet spot between managment of the organization (people) and management of the organization through metrics (accountability). People allow the organization to have success - you can't grow without the right people. Metrics keep us accountable to each other. The right people, with the right metrics ALWAYS leads to success.

We have left Peter Drucker for people stealing cheese, getting on the right bus, blinking and all of that popcorn management. Drucker was involved in the beginning of management theory and as the Economist points out, management is not a progressive science. The trade offs of management and the human condition have not changed for thousands of years. Know what your people do and genuinely care about them as human beings. As the Hawthorne effect shows - do this and the lights come on.

Travel Musings

The total deterioration of the US airline industry is difficult to live through. The airlines have drifted into an impossible model of competing for every fare at the sacrifice of the quality of the experience. Being placed into a seat with zero leg room (an I am not tall) and paying for a snack is almost to the point of laughable.

The US needs to decide if an investment in a rail grid is favorable to an investment in a regulated airline industry - pick one and invest. There is a portion of the population were being in NYC in three hours is not critical. Let's save flying for those willing to pay a premium to be somewhere fast. Let's have trains to get everyone else around who doesn't absolutely have to be there overnight....