A Class with Drucker - Headway | Work on yourself

150 ■ A CLASS WITH DRUCKER
the names, but so much else about his new students and their families.
Months before their arrival, all students were asked to submit a family picture
and facts about their career and interests. This information would be
circulated to the entire class so that they would more quickly get
acquainted for this intensive year of top-level learning.
The commandant had assembled these responses and taken the time to
study these photographs and learn all of his students’ names and a few
facts about them. He told his assembled students that he had done this for
an important reason: all leaders must know everything they can about
their subordinates. Only in this way can a leader lead in such a way as to
maximize success of the organization to reach its objectives.
“Moreover,” he said, “I wanted to demonstrate that it could be done.
No one is obligated to learn so much about so many subordinates and
their families in such a short amount of time. But it can be done.”
Then the commandant told them that from his study of the material
they had sent in months earlier, he knew that they had a great class. As this
commandant had shown beyond any doubt that he really knew their backgrounds,
he wasn’t just speaking “out of his hat.” He was sincere, and his
sincerity was based on fact.
A College Dean Goes Even One Better
Barry Richardson is an editor at AMACOM, the publisher of this book.
Barry told me the following story: “When I was a freshman at Trinity
College (Hartford, CT) our dean memorized all the incoming students’
names and hometowns by studying the freshman handbook. Trinity had
about 2,000 students altogether at that time, so I guess he was memorizing
approximately 500 faces, names, and hometowns. When I ran
into the dean on the campus quad and he said, “Hi, Barry. How are
things in Rockville Centre?” I was floored. The dean’s remarkable ‘feat’
was mentioned time and again in any conversation <strong>with</strong> fellow freshmen
that first week.”
Now you may consider the actions of this general and dean a bit overboard.
Maybe we don’t need to go as far as they did to learn about the people
we work and interact <strong>with</strong>. Nevertheless, it is a fact that <strong>with</strong>out those
people we cannot succeed, no matter who we are, or what heights we have
reached in our professions. Knowing and understanding people we work
<strong>with</strong> is an important secret of success for any leader.