Bain Drain

So much for being consistent. After declaring just about a week ago that we rarely highlight articles by others on Peter Drucker (because there’s just so much out there), here we go again. Dan Mulhern, writing for the Huffington Post, penned the latest piece to which we’d like draw your attention. Its title: “Is Capitalism the Bain of Romney’s Political Existence?”

Mulhern, who teaches leadership at the University of California at Berkeley, asserts that “we ought not look to [Republican presidential candidate Mitt] Romney, but to Peter Drucker, the father of business management, as we answer the cry that’s unceasing from middle Americans: How will America produce decent jobs and opportunity?” [EXPAND More]

Mulhern goes on to raise a point that we’ve made ourselves: Business has an inherent responsibility to work for the common good.

“Peter Drucker, a huge believer in market capitalism, was deeply concerned about what is now Romney’s Bain problem,” Mulhern asserts. “Drucker saw that business had become a huge force in American life. And as he argues . . . where there is power, there must be some accountability.”

Mulhern then quotes Drucker: “Management books tend to focus on the function of management inside its organization. Few yet accept it as a social function. But it is precisely because management has become so pervasive as a social function that it faces its most serious challenge. To whom is management accountable? And for what? On what does management base its power? What gives it legitimacy?”

You can read Mulhern’s full piece here. [/EXPAND]