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Society, community, family are all conserving institutions. They try to maintain stability and to prevent, or at least slow down, change. But the organization of the post-capitalist society of organizations is a destabilizer. Because its function is to put knowledge to work - on tools, processes, and products; on work; on knowledge itself - it must be organized for constant change.
Peter Drucker
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Interpretation

What this quote means

This quote reflects on the tension between traditional institutions and the need for constant adaptation in modern society.

Peter Drucker argues that while society, community, and family work to preserve stability, the nature of the post-capitalist organization is inherently disruptive. By emphasizing the importance of applying knowledge to innovate tools, processes, and products, these organizations must embrace continuous change rather than resist it, leading to a dynamic evolution in how we work and interact.

Themes

ChangeSocietyStabilityKnowledgeInnovation

In practice

Example use cases

This quote can be used in a motivational speech about adapting to change in a business setting.

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