Well before his death, Drucker had already become a legend. Over his 95 prolific years, he had been a true Renaissance man, a teacher of religion, philosophy, political science. But his most important contribution, clearly, was in business. What John Keynes is to economic, Drucker is to management.
In the 1980s, he began to have grave doubts about business and even capitalism itself. He no longer saw the corporation as an ideal space to create community. In fact, he saw nearly the opposite: a place where self-interest had triumphed over the egalitarian principles he long championed. In both his writings and speeches, Drucker emerged as one of Corporate America's most important critics. When conglomerates were the rage, he preached against reckless mergers and acquisitions. When executives were engaged in empire-building, he argued against excess staff and the inefficiencies of numerous "assistants to."
In a 1984 essay he persuasively argued that CEO pay had rocketed out of control and implored boards to hold CEO compensation to no more than 20 times what the rank and file made. What particularly enraged him was the tendency of corporate managers to reap massive earnings while firing thousands of their workers. "This is morally and socially unforgivable," wrote Drucker, "and we will pay a heavy price for it."
彼得•德鲁克在世时就已成为传奇人物。他以95岁高龄辞世，一生著作颇丰，涉略广泛，在宗教、哲学以及政治学等领域都堪为人师。然而他最重要的成就无疑还是在商业领域。德鲁克对管理学贡献巨大，其价值正如约翰.凯恩斯之于经济学。
二十世纪八十年代起，他开始对企业乃至资本主义制度本身产生了深深的怀疑。他不再认为公司是创造和谐氛围的理想场所，事实上，他所目睹的与此恰恰相反，公司里人人各为其利，而这与他一直倡导的平等原则相违背。无论是在著作还是演讲中，德鲁克都旗帜鲜明，成为美国式企业制度最重要的批判者之一。适逢大财团纷纷涌现，他不厌其烦，尽数此类疯狂兼并和收购的弊端。当企业经理人们埋头建造商业帝国时，他指出冗员过多和机构臃肿会造成效率低下，危害不浅。
1984 年，他在一篇文章中有力地说明企业首席行政官的薪酬之高已近失控，并强烈建议各公司的董事会将其首席执行官的报酬控制在普通员工的二十倍以内。他认为，企业高管动辄数百万美元的离职补偿金，使他们本末倒置，只管个人利益。最使他气愤的是公司经理人一方面自己收入丰厚，另一方面却在大批裁员。德鲁克写道，“无论是在道德层面，还是对于社会而言，这都是无法原谅的，我们会为此付出沉重的代价。”