I spent the day with 20 other consultants discussing Drucker's five organizational questions. My favorite part of the day was Bob Buford's personal thoughts on the life and legacy of Peter Drucker.
Buford's respect for Drucker is immense. He called him "the smartest human being alive" and described Drucker's impact in his own life using a parenting metaphor. Bob shared that the consummation of Drucker's influence could be found in the preface of a book and that the preface is no longer in print. The name of the preface, written in 1974 is "Alternative to Tyranny." The idea behind the title is that without the social sector- organizations that exist for positive outcomes of life change - we are left with only government and for-profit sectors. The thrust of the preface, according to Buford, is that if these are the only forces at work in society, then tyranny is inevitable. The alternative to tyranny then, is the strengthening of the social sector. The recognition that it is the non-profit world that can uniquely "rescue society" signaled a shift in emphasis and importance of the social sector for Drucker in the last 30 years of his life. It was from this perspective that his friendship with Buford was forged.
Buford noted an important observation that Drucker about the church. Basically, he felt that the emergence of the megachurch at the end of the twentieth century was the most significant development in the social sector.
Here is an interesting Businessweek article on Drucker.