A Class with Drucker - Headway | Work on yourself

THE MANAGEMENT CONTROL PANEL ■ 193
There was much less emphasis at Harvard back then on turning out highpowered
consultants or entrepreneurs than today. So for two years, students
labored on case after case in a variety of industries in order to learn
the secrets of running companies from the top.
This individual had met the expectations of his alma mater by becoming
the president of a small company that manufactured furniture. It was
his first job in business. He told me that he had never heard of the concept
of a Management Control Panel previously. However, Harvard did consider
something similar, which was the basis of their claim that their Harvard
graduates could assume the presidency of any company in any industry,
and manage it successfully, knowing just three aspects of the business: the
product, the finances, and the firm’s position in the marketplace.
More precisely, the theory was that given a mastery of how to apply
basic management skills, if you understood the product, the finances, and
the market position, you knew all that was necessary in order to succeed.
Even West Point made no such claims regarding the education of their
graduates as preparation for battle.
However, the young MBA had apparently confirmed Harvard’s theory.
With no prior business experience, he had taken control of a company and
tripled sales and profits over an eight-year period. At the end of eight
years, the owners sold the company. The new owners thanked him for his
services and sent him on his way, putting their own man in charge. The
former young company president now had an interesting problem: He had
no job and no experience except in this one industry, and that only at the
top level of management.
The furniture manufacturing industry, or at least this segment of the
industry, was apparently too small to support many companies and,
therefore, many company presidents. Outside of this industry, potential
employers weren’t convinced that his industry-specific experience as
president translated into other industries at the same level, despite his
success. With no experience except as a company president, they weren’t
particularly enthusiastic about taking him on for other positions. So he
had quite a challenge in his job search, and this was the reason he was
seeking my advice.
He felt, however, that as far as producing results based on certain inputs,
Harvard was on the money. His conclusion regarding the Management
Control Panel was that if computer technology had really advanced that
much, he could see its value. Harvard’s theory about being able to run any