My Life in Leadership: The Journey and Lessons Learned Along the Way (J-B Leader to Leader Institute/PF Drucker Foundation) by Frances Hesselbein

Author:Frances Hesselbein
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Wiley
Published: 2011-01-05T14:00:00+00:00

In the end, crises are tests of the quality and character of leaders, as much as they are tests of leaders' skill and expertise. Whether you like it or not, they will show you who you are.

Chapter 9

My Journey with Peter Drucker

Five years after coming to New York, I received a letter from John Brademus, chancellor of New York University, inviting me to a dinner at the University Club to hear Peter Drucker speak. I knew I wouldn't be able to meet Drucker in that group of fifty foundation and large social sector organization presidents, but at least I would be able to hear him in person.

The invitation read, “5:30 p.m. reception.” Now if you grow up in western Pennsylvania, 5:30 is 5:30; so when the evening came, I arrived on time, walked into the reception room, and found myself alone with two bartenders. I turned around. Behind me was a man who had just walked in. He said, “I am Peter Drucker.” (Obviously, if you grow up in Vienna, 5:30 is 5:30.) I was so stunned that instead of saying “How do you do,” I blurted out, “Do you know how important you are to the Girl Scouts?” He said, “No, tell me.”

So I told him about how those remarkable 766,000 men and women (1 percent of which were employed staff), serving more than 2.2 million girls, had transformed the organization, and I said, “If you go to any one of our 335 Girl Scout councils, you will find a shelf of your books. If you read our corporate planning and management monographs and study our management and structure, you will find your philosophy.”

“You are very daring,” Peter replied. “I would be afraid to do that. Tell me, does it work?”

“Superbly,” I told him, adding, “I have been trying to get up enough courage to call you, ask if I may come to Claremont, have an hour of your time, and lay out before you everything you say the effective organization must have in place. We do. I want you to look at where we are and then talk to me about how we can take the lead in this society and blast into the future.”

Peter said, “Why should both of us travel? I'll be in New York soon, and I'll give you a day of my time.”

Before we met again, Peter studied us at the council level—on the ground where the girls and leaders were—as well as our circular governance and management, and declared us the best-managed organization in the country: “Tough, hardworking women can do anything.” I wasn't sure about tough, but hardworking, yes!

In 1981, the great day for our meeting came. The national board and staff members were in the boardroom. I am sure they expected him to comment on the results of the past five years, for these remarkable people with their partners in local councils had transformed the organization using Drucker's principles. He stood before us and thanked us for permitting him to join us—then he completely surprised us.

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