Putting Drucker to Work

Dear Friend,

This month, I hope you will notice two different expressions of the same idea: effectiveness must ultimately show up in results.

Our latest Data Innovation research begins with a deceptively simple question: What do we really mean when we say employees are "engaged"?

By listening at scale to what employees themselves say about their workplaces, our researchers are finding an important distinction between engagement with one's work and engagement with the organization itself. Those experiences can reinforce one another, but they are not the same. And understanding the difference can help managers ask better questions about what their organizations need.

That research also illustrates something larger about the direction of our work at the Drucker Institute. New data and AI give us extraordinary capabilities to see organizations differently. But the objective is not more data or more metrics. It is better evidence, better questions, and ultimately better management.

You will see that same commitment expressed in a very different way this month with the return of the Drucker Prize.

First established in 1991, the Prize is being renewed for a new generation of social sector leaders. In partnership with Esri, we will begin in Southern California by recognizing healthcare nonprofits that can demonstrate what Drucker called innovation: "change that creates a new dimension of performance." We are looking not simply for promising ideas, but for measurable results, meaningful improvements in people's lives, and examples from which others can learn.

To me, these two stories belong together.

One uses research, data, and emerging technology to understand organizational effectiveness more clearly. The other goes into the world looking for organizations putting effectiveness into practice. One asks what we can learn from the evidence. The other asks what we can learn from organizations that are getting results.

Both reflect what we believe the Drucker Institute should be doing today: not simply preserving Peter Drucker's ideas, but putting them to work on the challenges organizations and society now face.

I hope you will explore both, and I hope they prompt the question that sits behind much of our work:

What makes an organization truly effective, and what can the rest of us learn from those that are?

Featured Content

The Drucker Prize for Social Sector Innovation

Apply by October 15th

💰 Two finalists: $25k cash award per finalist
🗺️ 10 finalists: one-year grant of Esri’s ArcGIS technology
🏆 All finalists: attend a leadership workshop & awards ceremony

Learn More, FAQ, and Apply

The Drucker Institute at Claremont Graduate University is proud to announce the return of the "Drucker Prize for Social Sector Innovation", presented in partnership with Esri, the global leader in geographic information system (GIS) software, location intelligence, and mapping.

The 2026 Prize will begin with a focused competition for eligible 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations located in Southern California - focused on healthcare.

This regional focus represents the first chapter of the renewed Prize. It provides an opportunity to build and demonstrate a new model for recognizing social sector innovation, with the ambition to expand the Prize's reach to additional organizations, sectors, and geographies in future years.

Ten finalists will be selected. All finalists will participate in a Drucker Fundamentals leadership workshop, co-hosted by the Drucker Institute and Esri, in November 2026, a 1-year grant to Esri’s ArcGIS technology (valued at $31,500), and two organizations will receive a one-time $25,000 cash award.

The partnership between the Drucker Institute and Esri brings together two complementary ways of understanding 'Organizational Effectiveness'.

Peter F. Drucker gave leaders a framework for thinking about Purpose, People, Knowledge, Innovation, Responsibility, and Results.

Esri's geographic approach adds another important dimension: context. Geographic thinking can help organizations bring people, data, resources, and results into a shared picture of reality. It can reveal relationships that might otherwise remain hidden, break down organizational silos, and help leaders turn complexity into understanding and understanding into action.

In this way, the partnership brings together Peter F. Drucker's enduring principles of management with a geographic approach that can help today's leaders understand an increasingly complex and interconnected world.

We invite eligible healthcare-focused nonprofit organizations based in Southern California to apply for the 2026 Drucker Prize. 

We also invite leaders throughout our community to help us identify organizations whose work deserves recognition and whose example can help others become more effective.

Resources

LEARNING

Customized Executive Education

Modern training for senior leaders, built on Drucker’s principles and adapted to today’s business challenges.

Read More & Contact Us

AUDIOBOOK

A Functioning Society

When Peter F. Drucker published a retrospective collection of his most influential writings, he appropriately titled it “A Functioning Society.”

For the first time, “A Functioning Society” is now available as an audiobook on Audible. The publication of the collection as an audiobook is an invitation to think seriously about the current condition of our social life and the ways we can act decisively to improve it.

Listen Now

Drucker+

Drucker+ is a new platform from the Drucker Institute that showcases the people & organizations who are putting the ideas and ideals of Peter F. Drucker into practice.

Drucker+ features essays, short films, podcasts, and an annual ranking of America’s best-managed companies. It also sponsors events and programs. In short, it’s a forum that brings people together with the goal of delivering on Drucker’s vision of what makes for a “functioning society.”