In the music, Lupicínio Rodrigues says he liked it a lot when “they told me they found him crying and drinking at a bar table”… and that when his friends asked me a sob cut his voice, he didn’t let him speak… In conclusion, “ shame was the greatest legacy my father left me…”. At Christmas 1949, New York City, near New York University, Adolph Drucker, father, and Peter Drucker, son, go to lunch with their dear friend Joseph Schumpeter, a brilliant Austrian economist. Schumpeter died five days later.
In the book I took more than 40 years to write and which I finally released this year, Drucker Forever, I tell this story, in the words of beloved master Peter Drucker: “On Christmas Day 1949, my father came from California to visit me in New York. I taught at NYU. And together we went to lunch with Joseph Schumpeter, then 66 years old, already famous and consecrated throughout the world. My father jokingly reminded his friend of what he, Schumpeter, used to say. Who wanted to be remembered for being the greatest lover of beautiful women in Europe”…
Schumpeter smiled and said the answer was different now, and explained, “You know what, Adolph Drucker, I’ve now reached an age where I know that being remembered for books and good theories isn’t enough. Nobody stands out unless they make a difference in people’s lives.” Schumpeter, already very ill, died five days later.
“I never forgot that conversation again,” says Drucker. “That day I learned three things. First, you must always ask yourself how we would like to be remembered. Second, revise the answer, if necessary, as we go through the years. And, third, the certainty that the best memory we can leave is the difference we made in people’s lives.” For 521 years our dear Brazil has been waiting for us. He rolled up to the hilt, gave everything he could give us and, as far as it was up to us… Nothing. In a little while, we’ll leave. What legacy will we leave for our children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren now that we live longer? And if the excuse is that there were no opportunities, that excuse is gone. The technological tsunami practically wipes out everything, offers a spectacular opportunity for all countries to roll up their sleeves, dive head first, and seize and pull in the vacuum of disruption, climbing…
Enough of wasting time, looking back, and throwing away the last few years or decades we have left discussing the sides – right and/or left – trying to fix the past, when all we have to do is plan and build a new present with eyes glued to the future. I have four wonderful grandchildren and I intend to dedicate what I have left of my life to them. And there is no better way to honor them and respect them than by believing and investing, finally, in building a true and new country.
This presupposes that from the next few weeks, looking at the elections and voting in that direction, we plan an absolutely and radically new country, packed, soaked and enveloped by technology. In parallel, accelerating all reforms to preserve ourselves alive while the new doesn’t break out. And a radical overhaul of the system of representation of democracy that we have around here.
If you like what I’m talking about and want to walk together, let’s go ahead. There is still time, especially given the opportunity arising from the technological tsunami, to finally build a real Brazil. Great 2022.
Francisco Alberto Madia de Souza is a marketing consultant ([email protected])
