Published on Tuesday, November 03, 2009
[From the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin]
CLAREMONT - Management guru Peter Drucker was a "great man with a really warm and sincere heart," Claremont artist Opoku Acheampong said.
The friendship formed between Acheampong and the man whose pioneering philosophy and strategies shaped successful management techniques used by corporations, countries and organizations worldwide has borne positive fruit for Acheampong's energies.
Recognizing the encouragement, inspiration and love he received from the father of modern management, Acheampong joins the November worldwide celebrations of the late economist's centennial birthday
Drucker died in November 2005. He was 95.
"Art By Opoku: A Tribute To Peter Drucker" will open 5:30 p.m. Friday with an artist's reception at the foundation office, 205 S. Yale Ave. The exhibit continues through Nov. 27. Gallery hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays.
Acheampong's artistic possibilities were stymied by his pragmatic urge to make a viable living. He didn't think art could economically sustain him and his family, so he earned a bachelor's degree in sociology and economics at the University of the Pacific and a master's in urban planning and regional development at Cal Poly Pomona.
He worked as an assistant city planner in Pomona, an urban planner specializing in transportation for Southern California Association of Governments as well as a Caltrans transportation planner. Art was an avocation until "traditional work" became the dominant force in Acheampong's professional choices, pushing even community and college exhibits to the back burner.
In 1997, he decided to complete a Ph.D in business and executive management at Claremont Graduate University.
"Of course, I signed up for Peter Drucker's class," Acheampong said. "His legacy and contributions make his opinions worth knowing and understanding."
He usually sat in the back of Drucker's significantly large classes. That is until he mumbled a correct answer after all others gave wrong ones, prompting Drucker to sit Acheampong next to him.
Their friendship began with Acheampong acting as extra ears for Drucker, repeating questions from the back of a classroom of 55 to 100 students.
During class breaks, Acheampong doodled sketches of Drucker. Drucker's unexpected admiration for his art led to more sketches and long conversations at school and in Drucker's Claremont home.
"He liked my work and asked me what was my passion? What was it I most wanted to do with my life?" Acheampong mused. "I talked about my art and told him I didn't pursue it because I didn't think I could make a living at it. He asked me what I was doing in a doctoral program for executive management since that wasn't my passion."
Drucker's voice became his artistic conscience, a mantra insisting art was Acheampong's calling.
"We'd talk and talk and talk. He loved classical music and art. He told me about famous visual and performing artists who'd started late, but they had started. He said I could, too," said Acheampong, smiling as he remembered Drucker's
The more he knew about Drucker the man, his character and his humility, despite more than 50 years of international acclaim, "the more blessed I felt to be counted among his friends," Acheampong said. "He had a deep admiration for friends, art and music. He said if he was reincarnated, he'd like to return as an artist or musician.
"Here was a man who was a legend in the world, yet he was so humble, kind, gentle, easy to be around. He didn't like to be called Dr. Drucker or have people regard him as a big, important guy. He was just Peter, a regular human being with a great sense of humor and humanity.
"His soul went beyond his greatness," the artist said, sighing.
When Acheampong presented him with a watercolor portrait at his 90th birthday salute, Drucker loved it and noted, "I made him handsome."
When CGU officials established the Peter F. Drucker and Masatoshi Ito Graduate School of Management to recognize the pioneering and continuing influence of the Presidential Medal of Freedom winner who'd taught at CGU and lived in Claremont for 30 years, Drucker seized an opportunity to persuade Acheampong to do art only.
"I couldn't believe it when he asked me to do his bronze bust for the school," Acheampong incredulously reacted. "I told him I draw and paint. I'd never done sculpture. I thought about it for a week, ran to the library to get a book on sculpture and called Betty Davenport Ford, a friend and master artist who helps and mentors less experienced artists.
"What could I say? I couldn't tell him no although I thought I might be tackling something way over my head. He was my friend and professor," he continued.
"I asked him why me when he could have gotten any famous sculptor in the world to do this. He said `You are my student, aren't you? I want you to practice your passion.' So I accepted the challenge."
To meet it, he devoured books on Rodin, Michelangelo and other famous sculptors. He enrolled in Ford's sculpture class and made more sketches and photographs of Drucker.
One of those sketches, Drucker's favorite, is featured on the cover of the recently released "The Drucker Difference: What The World's Greatest Management Thinker Means To Today's Business Leaders," a book edited by Drucker school professors Craig Pearce, Joseph Maciariello and Hideki Yamawaki.
He completed the bronze in six weeks. Drucker and his wife Doris were both pleased. Acheampong fought back emotions when he remembered Drucker calling the piece "monumental" and advising "Keep doing sculpture and drawing. Don't look back. Focus on art."
Acheampong additionally honored his friend by collecting 250 signatures among affected residents to persuade Mayor Corey Calaycay and Claremont City Council to rename 11th Street to Drucker Way between Dartmouth and College Avenues.
The Drucker school's new address is 100 Drucker Way.
