The Practical Drucker

CHAPTER  |  NINE

What Everyone Knows Is Usually Wrong

He's rarely quoted on this, but it was one of Peter Drucker's most common cautions to us in his classroom and it was an expression he often used outside of class. “What everyone knows is usually wrong,” he claimed. This sounds so wrong in itself that I was certain when I first wrote about this Druckerism that he must have actually said frequently wrong, not usually wrong. However, recently some old classroom notes have come to light and there's no mistake. What Drucker said was, “What everyone knows is usually wrong.” Now, it is true that Drucker many times uttered statements to make a particular point. This made him, as one friend stated, “eminently quotable.” But could Drucker have absolutely ...