Peter F. Drucker
Post-Capitalist Society
Drucker Masterworks 8, 2007
About this book
Drucker describes a transition to a society in which knowledge, rather than capital, land, or labor, is the central resource. He maps the resulting changes for organizations, politics, education, and knowledge workers, arguing that applying knowledge to knowledge becomes the center of productivity and innovation.
What stayed with me
This book is part of the foundation for how I think about running a software company and understanding capitalism. It moved my attention away from the idea that management is tracking progress and assigning tasks, toward creating conditions in which specialists can set their own goals.
Knowledge workers carry their means of production within themselves. Organizations cannot own them, and must keep improving while deliberately letting roles go. The book is a reference point for seeing the company–individual relationship not as a hierarchy, but as a structure that connects knowledge.