A Class with Drucker - Headway | Work on yourself

DRUCKER’S PRINCIPLES OF SELF-DEVELOPMENT ■ 233
Peter smiled. “That would be one logical outcome. However, the fact
is there are serious consequences to overspecialization, not for society,
but for the individual. Specialists and generalists are both needed by
society as a whole, and they both make contributions. However, significant
innovations frequently come from outside any particular discipline.
For an individual, overspecialization can limit the available repertoire of
ideas from which to draw. Yet, a new idea taken from one field and
applied to another could result in what many erroneously term a ‘breakthrough.’
Many individuals have made what are considered major contributions
because of this.”
The Lesson of An Australian General
Then Peter shared a lesson. “Are you familiar <strong>with</strong> the name John Monash?
“As a matter of fact, I am,” I replied. “He was an Australian general during
the First World War. As I recall he was commander of all Australian
troops on the Western Front in France. There is a university in Australia
named after him. I have a friend who is a professor at that university.”
“What you say is correct,” said <strong>Drucker</strong>. “You may not know that Field
Marshal Montgomery called Monash the best corps commander in that
war. In fact, Monash was years ahead of his time. He achieved a success
which could not be denied despite a singularly unique background for a
senior British Empire officer.
“Monash was not from the upper classes of British or Australian society.
He was a Jew whose family had immigrated to Australia from Prussia.
If that weren’t enough, he did not come from the regular army <strong>with</strong> the traditional
military education and experience that this implied. He graduated
from the University of Melbourne where he studied the arts, law, and engineering.
On graduation, he obtained work as an engineer, but also became
interested in the army and almost casually joined a reserve artillery unit
associated <strong>with</strong> the university. Almost twenty years later, by 1913, he was
a colonel. He wrote a book on junior officer leadership which was good
enough to become an official army training manual.
“Soon after the war began, Monash was given command of an infantry
brigade. In the bungled Gallipoli campaign against the Turks in 1915, his
unit stood out due to his innovative ideas and his ability to implement
them. Monash was promoted to major general and sent to France in command
of a new division. Again, where others stumbled, Monash, <strong>with</strong>