Thanks to an introduction by Lisa Haneberg, I had the pleasure of discovering Bruce Rosenstein and his book , "Living In More Than One World: How Peter Drucker's Wisdom Can Inspire and Transform Your Life."
I've been a long-time fan of Peter Drucker ("The Daily Drucker" is always on my bedside table) for his philosophy on business and management. However, I have a whole new appreciation for Drucker's insights after reading Rosenstein's book.
Core, guiding principles
One thing that really stuck with me was the clarity Drucker developed about principles, purpose, and focus in his life. Drucker is typically recognized for his thoughts on business efficiency and process, but in this book I discovered how much emphasis he place on the purpose of his life - and the time he set aside for thinking.
In fact, Drucker considered thinking and reflection to be a critical success factor:
"The effective people I know simply discipline themselves to have enough time for thinking."
I found this to be a very engaging book. Rosenstein brings you through a very thought-provoking process by sharing examples of Drucker's thoughts and guidance. You're brought into the content with questions and assignments to help you put some of the thoughts into action. For example, you are asked to think about what your unique abilities and core competencies are, develop a "Total Life list" to expand your perspective, develop your teaching and learning skills, and create a plan for yourself so you can put that plan in motion.
One exercise that I found particularly useful was one in which you create a presentation to teach a topic to someone else. I've found that I learn far more about any topic when I'm "forced" to teach it to others, and that kind of process encourages much deeper analysis of the topic at hand.
Beyond the business
While Peter Drucker is best known for his contributions to business, he felt it was important to make contributions to the world, as summed up in this quote:
"So, if your goal is to make money, I rather pity you," Drucker said. "The people I have seen who were happy even after being successful are the people who want to leave something behind. A hospital that's working, a company that's working, whatever, or who are not money-focused but achievement-focused, because that you're never finished with."
It's safe to say that Rosenstein can be proud of the fantastic book he's created to share Drucker with the world. I highly recommend you read, "Living In More Than One World." I also believe this book is ideally structured for a "reading group" approach, which would help you really discover the nuances and depth of Drucker's ideas. If you conduct a book club around this book, I'd love to hear your take-aways.