"Managing in the Next Society"
Only Peter Drucker could title a book this way and make it stick. I've read his books for thirty years and never tire of pondering his insights.
Drucker thinks the "Next Society" that is emerging includes the shrinking of the young population (not just in proportion to us old boomers, but numerically); the steady decline of manufacturing as a producer of wealth and jobs; and the changes of the form, structure and function of the corporation and its top management.
Since I primarily write on manufacturing, let's just ponder his middle point. I've been in manufacturing since 1971. In the 70's, "blue collar" workers, that is people who drew hourly wages and worked in the shop who were either skilled or unskilled, could make a middle class living. That is no longer the case, and hasn't been for 20 years. I can't document all the changes, but I remember changing laws under Reagan that made it easier for companies to replace striking workers. I saw it happen twice in Sidney, Ohio. In those shops now, workers who made $12/hour in 1983 now make $7. That's not adjusted for anything, just the gross wage on the check.
It's still possible to get middle class wages, but the number of places where that happens is dwindling.
Look at skilled trades and professional workers, especially engineers. I remember going into GM factories and visiting the manufacturing engineers. Often I would see a little prototype set up where an engineer, or group of engineers, was "playing" with some new control equipment. They tried it out, learned how to use it, discovered its strengths and drawbacks before ever trying to put it on the production line. I challenge you to find a company these days with enough engineers to explore new ideas. In most places I've been in during the last 15 years, the engineers are up to their proverbial necks in alligators just keeping production going.
This is a result of drastic corporate cost cutting. I wonder if it has gone too far? Don't we still need engineers, perhaps a slightly different sort of engineer, to keep tinkering to find better ways to run our manufacturing operations?
Drucker explores the necessity of innovation later in his book, and I'll return to that theme later. Suffice it to say that his long term analysis is that if an organization doesn't innovate, it faces a future like a withering plant. It may live for a while, but the life won't be in it.
4:32:58 PM 
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