The opposite of a management fad must be an idea that survives, develops and continues to influence businesses long after the thought is first aired. No wonder, then, that Peter Drucker - who died just over a week ago at the age of 95 - rejected the label of "guru" with all its associations of fads and charlatanism. His ideas have continued to inspire managers and business leaders for decades.

Born in Austria in 1909, Drucker had enjoyed a conventional upper-middle-class upbringing and would ordinarily have been heading for a professional or academic career had Hitler not intervened. In 1937 he left Europe for the US, where he worked initially as a journalist before embarking on his lifelong career in management writing.