The absence of a basic social purpose for industrial society constitutes the core of our problem.
We already have given up the belief that economic progress is always and by necessity the highest goal. And once we have given up economic achievement as the highest value and have come to regard it as no more than one goal among many, we have, in effect, given up economic activity as the basis for social life. The abandonment of the economic as the socially constructive sphere has gone further. Western society has given up the belief that man is fundamentally Economic Man, that his motives are economic motives, and that his fulfillment lies in economic success and economic rewards.
We have to develop a free and functioning society on the basis of a new concept of man’s nature and of the purpose and fulfillment of society. A basic ethical concept of social life must be developed. It lies in the philosophical or metaphysical field.
ACTION POINT: Define an organizational purpose that goes beyond next-quarter financial results and goes beyond maximization of shareholder wealth. Define a purpose that employees can believe in and challenges them to contribute their best work.
The Future of Industrial Man
* Source: The Daily Drucker by Peter F. Drucker