A Class with Drucker - Headway | Work on yourself

138 ■ A CLASS WITH DRUCKER
in the world. He didn’t, because he knew what he wanted to do and the
contributions he wanted to make in life. Such wealth as he attained was
only a by-product of his contributions and the main goal he set for himself.
The Responsibilities of the Leader
His lecture well represented what <strong>Drucker</strong> was trying to teach us about the
responsibilities and accountability of management and of any leader. He
could not understand how any top executive could be earning high compensation
while the business was performing poorly or if there was a need
for layoffs.
Actually, this example of the accountability of the leader was but one of
many examples that <strong>Drucker</strong> gave during this lecture and others. However,
what stuck <strong>with</strong> me was that this particular example emphasized that the
leader or company executive was always responsible, even for actions that
he did not personally initiate, such as having his own salary raised.
In many ways, <strong>Drucker</strong>’s lecture on the accountability of management
emphasized something I was taught early on in my own career. I believe
leaders in all organizations, including those in business, should adopt it
<strong>with</strong>out qualification. Namely, this is that a leader is responsible for everything
that his or her organization accomplishes or fails to accomplish,
regardless of other factors, including the business or economic climate or
anything else. It is the leader who is always responsible!
In reviewing my own experiences as a leader over the years, in the military,
in business, and in academia, I cannot think of a single failure in
which some action or lack of action on my part was not the root cause or
a major contributing factor to a less-than-desirable outcome. Executive
salaries, which <strong>Drucker</strong> used as his prime example, were but representative
of all executive actions or inactions for which an executive is ultimately
and always responsible and accountable.
Union Accountability
Leaving top management, <strong>Drucker</strong> then turned to labor, and especially the
unions. He told us that there was a time when management ruthlessly
exploited workers, and unions were formed to protect the worker from this
mistreatment. So the formation of unions to protect the worker was well
justified. However, in the United States and many other countries, labor
laws now largely protected workers from unfair practices. The problem was
that most unions saw themselves as accountable only for worker welfare.