A Class with Drucker - Headway | Work on yourself

PEOPLE HAVE NO LIMITS, EVEN AFTER FAILURE ■ 167
To support my position, I gave the example of General Pershing’s
assumption of command of the American Expeditionary Force during
World War I. Despite considerable pressure from America’s French and
British allies, Pershing insisted that U.S. forces be employed as a separate
entity under him, rather than integrated piecemeal into established
allied units.
In effect, Pershing structured the job around himself. Indeed, one of
the arguments against his doing this was the disruption of the established
ways of “doing business” <strong>with</strong>in the Allied command. Moreover, the Allies
argued that they had the experienced commanders and units, the necessary
artillery, aviation, and tank support, and that they lacked only the
men. Pershing’s force had none of these, only men. However, keeping his
men as a separate organization meant that the fresh American forces were
employed as a single fighting force, rather than used to provide additional
manpower filler for the war-weary English and French units.
Pershing stuck to his demands and, when they tried to go around him,
the French and English found that he was supported by President Woodrow
Wilson. The organization built around Pershing is credited <strong>with</strong> a significant
contribution toward the Allied victory, despite the disruption it created.
After I made my argument, Peter did not dispute my theory that sometimes
a disruption was justified. This made me feel pretty good.
This, too, was part of <strong>Drucker</strong>’s character. If your argument made sense,
he would listen. Admittedly, it was a rare instance that he would agree <strong>with</strong>
your argument. In most cases, Peter’s own positions were so well thought
through that mere practitioners, or even academic researchers, could not
successfully challenge them. Quite simply, he was almost always right!
Back to the Basics
Now let’s get back to <strong>Drucker</strong>’s main point. Thinking through the basic
requirements of the job means determining those qualifications for the job
which a successful executive must have to accomplish it successfully. If
this were done in every case, it would minimize the chance that a selection
would be made on less relevant factors.
Years ago, during a brief period when I worked as an executive recruiter,
I learned that the modus operandi was for a recruiter to submit three to five
candidates for any position, all of whom met the basic requirements, which
the headhunter had helped the hiring executive to develop. The reason, as