Kenneth Hopper and William Hopper, authors of The Puritan Gift, are named Writers-in-Residence at the Drucker Institute

The Drucker Institute announced that Kenneth Hopper and William Hopper, co-authors of the highly acclaimed book The Puritan Gift, have been named Writers-in-Residence.

The Puritan Gift, which explores how and why America’s managerial culture was so excellent for so long before it lost its way, was selected by the Financial Times as one of the 10 best business books of 2007. Before he died in 2005, Peter Drucker encouraged the Hopper brothers to write their book, calling their research “tremendously interesting and impressive.”

“I can’t think of two better people to have as Writers-in-Residence than Ken and Will Hopper,” said Rick Wartzman, the Drucker Institute’s executive director. “They are exactly the kind of bold thinkers who follow in the tradition of Peter Drucker—writers who have the courage to take on the big issues and call it like it is.”

In conjunction with their appointment, the Hoppers will visit Claremont later this year and hold a series of lectures and seminars on a range of topics, including the global financial crisis and the direct (and underappreciated) role that America played in Japan’s rise to economic power.

The Hoppers will also participate in the Drucker Centennial, which marks the 100th birthday of Peter Drucker, the father of modern management; author of 39 books on organizational behavior, innovation, economy and society; and winner of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The two-year celebration, which is being led by the Drucker Institute and the Peter F. Drucker and Masatoshi Ito Graduate School of Management, features conferences, lectures and other events around the world. (For more information on the Drucker Centennial, please click here.)

Others who are visiting Claremont as part of the Centennial include Warner P. Woodworth, professor of organizational leadership and strategy at Brigham Young University, who is the first Peter F. Drucker Centennial Global Entrepreneur-in-Residence; David Cooperrider, a professor at Case Western Reserve University, who is serving as a Visiting Drucker Centennial Scholar-in-Residence; and KH Moon, former chief executive of Yuhan-Kimberly Ltd., who will be a Drucker Centennial Fellow.

Born in Glasgow, Kenneth Hopper has been active throughout his professional life as a consultant on industrial matters in the U.S. and Europe. He is a mechanical engineer by training. As a writer he has taken a particular interest in differing national managerial cultures, which encouraged him to go to Ireland when the “Celtic Miracle” was getting underway, to Harvard Business School during America’s glorious postwar decades and to Japan when that country’s “Economic Miracle” was at its peak. He now lives in New Jersey.

Through his articles and lectures, Ken has been largely responsible for uncovering and publicizing the pioneering management activities of the Civil Communications Section of General MacArthur’s command in Tokyo after World War II and its influence in Japan and throughout Asia.

William Hopper, who was also born in Glasgow, is a modern linguist by training. He has been an investment banker for more than 40 years, beginning his career as a financial analyst at W.R. Grace & Co. in New York, then becoming personal assistant to Sigmund Warburg at S.G. Warburg in London.

As a Director of Morgan Grenfell in London, he pioneered the Dragon Bond Market in East Asia in 1976 with a fund-raising for the European Investment Bank (touted by Institutional Investor as the “Deal of the Year”) and launched the first Eurobond issue for an East European country (Hungary) in the same year. Until last year, Will was chairman of the placement agents, WJ Hopper & Co. Ltd., which helped entrepreneurs raise capital to invest in Eastern Europe and elsewhere.

In addition to their posts at the Drucker Institute, the Hoppers have been appointed Visiting Fellows at Manchester Business School. Will Hopper has also received a Lifetime Achievement Award in Private Equity from the Thunderbird School of Global Management.