A Class with Drucker - Headway | Work on yourself

PEOPLE HAVE NO LIMITS, EVEN AFTER FAILURE ■ 165
war, the Dardanelles Campaign, including an Allied landing at Gallipoli.
This resulted in the worst Allied defeat, <strong>with</strong> over 200,000 casualties, and
Churchill’s forced resignation from that particular job. Yet the same man,
<strong>with</strong> much higher responsibilities as Prime Minister during World War II,
saved England and possibly the world during almost a year, when the British
stood alone against Hitler and his minions. Moreover, this “incompetent” is
now considered the greatest British political figure of the 20th century.
Politicians are often great examples disproving the Peter Principle.
While U.S. President Abraham Lincoln had his share of successes, he had
more of his share of failures. He failed in business, ran for the Illinois State
Legislature and at first was defeated, went into business again and went
bankrupt, ran for Speaker of the Illinois State Legislature and was defeated,
was defeated in his efforts to secure nomination to the U.S. Congress, was
rejected for an appointment for the U.S. Land Office, was defeated in a
U.S. Senate race, and two years later was defeated again in a nomination
for vice president. Then, in 1860, he became our 16th president and
saved the Union. To the best of my knowledge, not even his present-day
detractors call him incompetent.
<strong>Drucker</strong>’s Three Key Rules on Staffing
Peter’s basic thought in the area of staffing was that you must first lower
the failure rate. To do this, the appointing executive must staff for strength.
Consequently, <strong>Drucker</strong> recommended three prime rules for staffing:
1. Think through the requirements of the job.
2. Choose three or four candidates for the job, rather than immediately
settling on just one.
3. Don’t make the selection <strong>with</strong>out discussing the choice <strong>with</strong> a
number of knowledgeable colleagues.
Let’s look at each of these rules in turn.
(1) Think Through the Job Requirements
A poorly designed job, one in which the requirements have not been
clearly thought through, may be an impossible job that no one can do. An
impossible job means that work intended to be accomplished is accomplished
poorly or not at all. In addition, this risks the destruction, or, at