Pop Quiz on Peter F. Drucker

On March 30, Drucker School professor Dr. Bernard Jaworski and I presented a Drucker Master Class focusing on Peter Drucker’s teachings on change, innovation, learning and related topics.

For one segment of the Master Class, I devised 10 ‘polling’ questions about Drucker’s life and work as a fun and instructive interaction with the class members.

For this article, I’ve included those questions and added 10 others, in the hopes that taking this quiz will deepen your understanding of Drucker’s life and work, and that you will have fun engaging with the material.

Questioning was a major part of Drucker’s work, especially as a consultant and professor. In that spirit, I hope you enjoy wrapping your brain around these thought-provoking areas covering many aspects of his life and work. I’ve provided the answers at the end.

And unlike the quick polling during the Master Class, there is no time limit for your responses. Take your time; you're likely to find this to be a stimulating challenge!

Questions

Question 1: Peter Drucker’s 1939 book The End of Economic Man was favorably reviewed by which famous person?

a. John Steinbeck
b. Eleanor Roosevelt
c. Winston Churchill

Question 2:  Drucker’s 1946 book The Concept of the Corporation is based on his in-depth study of which automobile company?

a. General Motors
b. Ford
c. Toyota

Question 3: Drucker became an expert in which of these non-management disciplines?

a. Computer programming
b. Nutrition
c. Japanese Art

Question 4: Which honor did Drucker receive in 2002?

a. National Book Award
b. Presidential Medal of Freedom
c. Nobel Prize in Economics

Question 5: Peter Drucker’s wife, Doris Drucker, published a book in 2004. What is its title?

a. My Years With Drucker
b. Lifelong Learning
c. Invent Radium or I'll Pull Your Hair: A Memoir

Question 6: Peter Drucker branched out and wrote The Last of All Possible Worlds in 1982. What type of book is it?

a. Novel
b. Poetry
c. Science Fiction

Question 7: Peter Drucker often said this person was his favorite novelist:

a. Ernest Hemingway
b. Charles Dickens
c. Jane Austen

Question 8: Which of these subjects did Peter Drucker not teach during his career?

a. Statistics
b. Physics
c. Religion

Question 9: Between 1951-1971, Peter Drucker taught at which university?

a. New York University
b. Harvard
c. University of Chicago

Question 10: Peter Drucker was a long-running columnist for which publication?

a. The Economist
b. Wall Street Journal
c. The New York Times

Question 11: When he was an early 20th-century student in Hamburg, Germany, Drucker attended an opera performance that had a significant influence on his life. Who was the composer?

a. Mozart
b. Wagner
c. Verdi

Question 12: One of Drucker’s longest-standing friends and consulting clients was William Pollard. In what company was he the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer?

a. Procter & Gamble
b. ServiceMaster
c. Intel

Question 13: The author of the book The Allure of Toxic Leaders was a longtime teaching colleague of Drucker’s at the Drucker School/Claremont Graduate University. Who is she?

a. Rosabeth Moss Kanter
b. Annie McKee
c. Jean Lipman-Blumen

Question 14: Drucker was a Montclair, N.J. neighbor of which 20th-century baseball icon?

a. Yogi Berra
b. Casey Stengel
c. Hank Aaron

Question 15: Which of these management techniques was Drucker particularly associated with?

a. Total Quality Management
b. Management by Objectives
c. Business Process Re-engineering

Question 16: Which of the following was not identified by Drucker as one of his ‘seven sources of innovation?’

a. Demographic changes
b. Incongruities
c. Industry press releases

Question 17: Finish this sentence from Drucker’s 2004 Harvard Business Review article “What Makes an Effective Executive.” Knowledge is useless to executives until it:

a. …has been verified by at least three sources
b. …has been translated into deeds
c. …has been approved by the person at the highest level of the organization.

Question 18: Writing in the Harvard Business Review in 1985, Drucker said that this was one of the important steps in making effective promotion/staffing decisions:

a. Look at a number of potentially qualified people
b. Take as many days as you need to come to the right decision
c. Check their college transcripts

Question 19: In his classic 1974 book Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices, Drucker outlined eight key areas in which to set objectives. Which of these was not on the list?

a. Human resources
b. Productivity
c. Information Technology

Question 20: Finish this sentence from Drucker’s 1990 book Managing the Non-Profit Organization: By focusing on accountability, people….

a. … take a bigger view of themselves
b. … get promoted into higher positions
c. …learn how to manage others

Answers

Question 1: c. Winston Churchill

Question 2: a. General Motors

Question 3: c. Japanese Art

Question 4: b. Presidential Medal of Freedom

Question 5: c. Invent Radium or I'll Pull Your Hair: A Memoir

Question 6: a. Novel

Question 7: c. Jane Austen

Question 8: b. Physics

Question 9: a. New York University

Question 10: b. Wall Street Journal

Question 11: c. Verdi

Question 12: b. ServiceMaster

Question 13: c. Jean Lipman-Blumen

Question 14: a. Yogi Berra

Question 15: b. Management by Objectives

Question 16: c. Industry press releases

Question 17: b. …has been translated into deeds

Question 18: a. Look at a number of potentially qualified people

Question 19: c. Information Technology

Question 20: a.… take a bigger view of themselves

So how'd you do? To read more about Peter Drucker and Drucker-Inspired Management, check out our articles here.