A Class with Drucker - Headway | Work on yourself

6 ■ A CLASS WITH DRUCKER
Not being from the Los Angeles area, nor having much dealing <strong>with</strong>
academia, I had never heard of this university, and I even suspected that it
might just be another diploma mill. I called the telephone number and was
soon connected <strong>with</strong> Dean Paul Albrecht. I didn’t know Paul Albrecht
when I called, but he was one of the leaders in higher education—an innovator
who in many ways changed education as we know it.
Dean Albrecht told me that this new PhD for executives had just been
approved by Claremont’s president and its academic council, and that a limited
number of students would be admitted to the first class in the fall of
1975. He told me that this was not a program for specialists or those who
wanted to become professors to teach and do research. It was designed for
executives who wanted to reach the top levels as practicing managers.
Potential students wanting to get into the program had to be practicing managers
<strong>with</strong> a certain minimum number of people reporting to them as evidence
of their management background and potential for further promotion.
Albrecht questioned me extensively about my background and about
the research and development organization which I headed. Finally, he
said: “If you are interested, you seem to meet the basic requirements. Why
don’t you send me your curricular vita?” He had to explain to me that “a
vita” was the academic way of saying “resume.” I sent it. Several weeks
later his secretary, Lois, called to set up an interview for me at Claremont.
After a week or so I was heading toward the small town of Claremont,
California, about thirty miles due east from my home in Pasadena. I wondered
whether I was to be disappointed again <strong>with</strong> another diploma mill.
I was much relieved when I arrived at the university and I found it to be
one of a consortium of educational institutions called “The Claremont
Colleges.” It looked real, but after my earlier experience, I was still somewhat
suspicious of California schools.
I met Dean Albrecht and he explained what in academia we call “the
theory construct” of his new doctoral program, the first class of which was
just forming. It was based on an equally demanding MBA executive program
begun several years earlier.
“Management is becoming more and more complex,” he said. “Even an
MBA is no longer sufficient. Our new program differs substantially from
our regular PhD program. Our regular program requires a high degree of
specialization. For example, if you wanted a PhD in finance, you must take
mostly finance courses and pursue this one discipline in some depth. Then,
of course, you must do research and write a dissertation in that discipline.