Drucker Thursday: Social Purpose for Society
The absence of a basic social purpose for industrial society constitutes the core of our problem.
Drucker Thursday identifies key ideas from Drucker in bite sized chunks. Earlier we discussed the importance of identifying the future that has already happened and the importance of reinventing yourself as a knowledge worker.
Thanks for an overwhelming response to this newsletter on LinkedIn and Substack. We have more than 700 subscribers in 2 weeks. I am thrilled and humbled. I will strive to explore the intersection of strategy, innovation, design and the human within all of this with a touch of Drucker.
We are discussing as a society extensively about the role of economic progress, capitalism and what should society value for the past few years.
In one of his first books, The Future of Industrial Man in 1942, Drucker discusses the goal of society.
We already have given up the belief that economic progress is always and by necessity the highest goal. And once we have given up economic achievement as the highest value and have come to regard it as no more than one goal among many, we have, in effect, given up economic activity as the basis for social life. The abandonment of the economic as the socially constructive sphere has gone further. Western society has given up the belief that man is fundamentally Economic Man, that his motives are economic motives, and that his fulfillment lies in economic success and economic rewards.
We have to develop a free and functioning society on the basis of a new concept of man’s nature and of the purpose and fulfillment of society. A basic ethical concept of social life must be developed. It lies in the philosophical or metaphysical field.
Deloitte has been running a survey for more than a decade on the views of young people and what they expect from business and government. Overwhelmingly, they are keen on social purpose — and social and environmental issues matter to them.
Millennials and Gen Zs are willing to take a stand, rejecting jobs and assignments that don’t align with their values and expecting more from employers in terms of driving positive societal change. Employers must prioritise purpose and impact to attract and retain top talent from these generations.
Readers Pointers: What is your purpose? Does it have a social angle? Is creating social value important? What’s the way we can create a Theory of the Business that connects societal needs with organisational purposes?