Elon Musk is said to have a list of books that influenced him most. Such a list can be helpful in two ways: one, to understand the person and, two, to find names that may have escaped one's reading habit. I have two such books that had a profound impact on my life. First, the autobiography of Bertrand Russel. I came across the book in my sophomore years at the university. I had already read a few of his books, not necessarily understood them. I was curious as he was quite aged at the time, when the first of the three volumes came out. How could one be so creative at the unenviable age of ninety? I had, at that time, some relatives in their seventies who had problems with speaking coherent sentences. Ninety was a difficult age to live, let alone work.
The second book is Peter Drucker's 'Management Challenges for the 21st Century' that came out at the close of the century. I was still at the university, though in a different role. I was quite comfortable with his books. In fact, I was using some as references in my lectures. Drucker was in his ninety. But it did not seem a terrible age to live. I had seen people leading healthy lives in their eighties.
Russell studied mathematics. He taught mathematics and philosophy. He was a mathematician cum philosopher, but got the Nobel for literature. He was a humanist and fought against inconsistencies of his time such as the Vietnam War. This was the sixties, the age of rebels such as Tariq Ali and Rudy Dutschke. Russell's books covered many aspects of life, from morality to religion to politics to philosophy. His views on life were rebellious at times. He was a pacifist and went to jail for his views against war and arms. His liberal views on sex were ridiculed. His views on religion were blasphemous.
Drucker studied politics and law. He taught politics and management. His books ranged from fiction to politics to management. Born to privileges he was a victim of fascism and had to emigrate to the USA to escape Hitler. It may not be an exaggeration to say that he established management as a discipline writing a large number of books. I have not read any of his fictions, but his autobiography 'Adventures of a Bystander' is a fascinating read.
My interest in the two teachers grew at different points of time. I studied Mathematics at the under-graduate level. This was the time when I was introduced to the likes of Maugham and Wells, thanks to the rapid readers in the college. I still remember reading Maugham's Cakes and Aleor Mr. Know-All again and again in case I missed something between the lines. But Russell was a different cup of tea. He was not part of my academic syllabus. But his 'rebellion' agreed with the mood of my generation, whether in praise of idleness or pointing out the inconsistencies in religion or waging war on war. I switched over to Management in my post-graduate studies. Drucker was not a compulsory reading in any of the courses. Somehow his books became a part of my reading habit. That was before Management books became a fad. I admired Drucker's simple but authoritative style and his uncanny insight in future management practices, as they would happen.
Going back to the two sages of my time, both Russell and Drucker were born to privileges. But each was uncomfortable with his time. Russell fought against establishment and suffered. He was even imprisoned. His views on religion and liberal views on sex did cost him dear. But Drucker was treading on a much safer ground of management, though he had his share of unease with the forces of fascism, within which he grew. Again, the field of management did not exactly embrace him with open arms. After his book The Practice of Management was published in the fifties, the reviews were mixed. One reviewer was even sarcastic to the extent of remarking if Drucker thought he had invented management. Drucker's nonchalant answer was a confident 'yes'. Anything that could not be replicated had not been invented. He formalized the practice of management.
I did not understand Russell well at the time. Russell's mathematics was not easy for me and philosophy was outside my orbit of serious interest. However, his essays became a reading habit. But Drucker was different. I teach Drucker. But he is not part of my syllabus per se. Somehow Drucker got into my lectures, from knowledge work to age of discontinuity to challenges of the millennium. I should not pretend that I agree with everything that Drucker says. One criticism of Drucker is his abstinence from quantitative research. With the brashness of younger years now gone, I would not go as far as Russell in many of his writings.
I look at these two individuals as the span of a bridge connecting the thought processes of the century that influenced our life as we lived through the relentless changes of time. Though not exactly comparable, the two had a common trait, a concern for the civilization as it evolved and an ability to look beyond their time. Besides, the subjects Mathematics and Management share a common starting letter. This is how I linked up the two of them in my life.
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