dancing in the dark

Peter Drucker (1909-2005) was an American management consultant whose work has influenced how business is done for more than 50 years. He was a prolific writer and is often quoted, though frequently incorrectly. Some of his quotes are pertinent today, especially here in New Brunswick, Canada where we have dropped all public health measures in advance of what will likely be a sixth wave of coronavirus, as infection rates in Europe are beginning to indicate.

“… no human being can possibly predict the future, let alone control it.” —Peter Drucker

Our government and public health authorities are confident that while hospitals are near capacity, vaccine efficacy is waning, and vaccination rates in children are low to nil, any subsequent wave of viral infection will not require any precautionary measures.

“A time of turbulence is a dangerous time, but its greatest danger is a temptation to deny reality.” —Peter Drucker

While it has been proven that the coronavirus is airborne, practices such as surface cleaning continue and gaping surgical masks are issued in hospitals and long-term care facilities.

“Unless we determine what shall be measured and what the yardstick of measurement in an area will be, the area itself will not be seen.” —Peter Drucker

For the past two years citizens have had access to data on infection rates, the effective reproduction number of each variant, hospitalizations, and deaths by age. Now, nothing will be measured, because it no longer matters to this government.

“Effective leadership — and again this is very old wisdom — is not based on being clever; it is based primarily on being consistent.” —Peter Drucker

Dancing as the lockdowns were lifted last Summer, prior to the deadly Delta variant, as well as a symbolic mask removal today, are clever, but in the first case dangerous, and in the second case, time will tell.

Image: CBC 2022-03-14

“Culture — no matter how defined — is singularly persistent.” —Peter Drucker

Meanwhile, a large segment of the population just wants to ‘get back to normal’. But we cannot go back to where we were. It no longer exists.

More of Drucker’s work should be taught in universities, especially in political science classes, business schools, and public health programs. His lessons have been forgotten.

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