A Holistic Approach to Upskilling

Although Peter Drucker was primarily known for his 70-year career encompassing teaching, consulting, and writing books that sold millions of copies worldwide, less well-known is his prolific freelance writing.

I believe that today’s knowledge workers can learn from Drucker’s work in this endeavor, which in some ways foreshadows the gig economy. Drucker’s freelance writing required traits that we can all emulate, learn from and put to use in our own professional lives:

• Time management to write articles and meet deadlines
• Workflow management to meet writing commitments while not short-changing his teaching, authoring books and consulting
• Reaching different types of audiences by contributing to vastly different publications (ranging from Harvard Business Review to The Saturday Evening Post)
• Piloting ideas that later became developed in books
• Extending his professional network and reach by working with different editors and publications
• Learning about or deepening his knowledge he might not encounter in his other professional duties
• Influencing opinion makers and high-level audiences by writing in ‘prestige’ publications

More people will have to fend for themselves, away from traditional employment, in the years ahead; whether or not they will consider themselves to be part of the Gig Economy. While Drucker had a solid position as star professor and namesake of the Drucker School of Management, he spent a considerable amount of time writing for newspapers, journals and magazines. (By my count, he had bylines in at least 79 different publications, an astounding amount by any measure.)

In our current era’s social media explosion, there are fewer barriers to entry and many outlets that did not exist in Drucker’s day. That means that it was even more difficult when he was active to place articles in high-quality, selective publications. Consider that he kept up a demanding regimen of writing a column for 20 years in the Wall Street Journal, contributing many articles for Harvard Business Review, and major pieces for such publications as The Atlantic, Forbes, Harper’s and others.

Many ultimately found their way into his periodic collections of (mostly) previously published articles, such as The Ecological Vision: Reflections on the American Condition and Classic Drucker: Essential Wisdom of Peter Drucker from the Pages of Harvard Business Review. In 2020, Harvard Business Review Press published a series of books in its “Drucker Library,” reissues of eight of these collections with new titles and new covers.

Many of his articles were written to ultimately become published in these book collections, or within chapters of his books of new material. For instance, in his 2002 collection Managing in the Next Society, he writes: “I always pre-publish chapters of an essay volume such as this either as magazine articles or magazine interviews. This gives me professional editing by the editors of the magazines in which the pieces appear and by professional interviewers. It is “feedback” of quality and insight I could not possibly attain any other way…”

Drucker was unfailingly scrupulous about describing where material in these collections originated. In the acknowledgments to 1986’s The Frontiers of Management: Where Tomorrow’s Decisions Are Being Shaped Today, he explains that “Management: The Problems of Success,” a 26-page chapter, "was presented in an abridged version at the Fiftieth Anniversary Meeting of the American Academy of Management in Chicago, Illinois, in August 1986 but has not been previously published.”

In the spring of 1938, as a young man, Drucker did some fascinating foreign correspondent work in Europe for The Washington Post, one year after he moved from England to the United States. Sample articles: “Chamberlain’s Stock Sags in Great Britain” (Dateline: London; April 10, 1938) and “Under Germany’s Shadow: Populations Bordering on Nazi Empire in Danger” (Dateline: Zurich, April 16, 1938). The story of his involvement with the newspaper is told in Drucker’s 1978 memoir, Adventures of a Bystander. Drucker relates that he cold-called the foreign editor, Barnet Nover, walked into his office, and left two hours later with an advance for the first two pieces. Drucker further writes that he “… joined the Foreign Press Association and got a press card (which, incidentally, I never once was asked to show).”

Writing may or may not be part of the work you perform that is somewhat different from your primary work. But chances are that you have additional commitments and aspirations, such as volunteering, serving on boards of directors, sitting on committees, podcasting, consulting, giving presentations and speeches, producing artwork, making music, teaching and other areas that you find to be valuable. Learning from how and why Peter Drucker made a success of his “outside” commitments can strengthen how we approach these crucial aspects of our lives.