Synopses & Reviews
From 1975-1979, author William Cohen studied under the father of modern management, Peter Drucker, and became the first graduate of Drucker's doctoral program. He went on to become a major general in the Air Force, a professor, management consultant, multibook author, and university president. Here, Cohen shares new accounts of his mentor's wisdom, ideas that never made it it into his previous books or articles. The reader will find insights that Drucker himself offered to students in his classroom or informal settings. Enlightening and intriguing, this book will enable anyone to gain from the timeless wisdom of the inspiring man himself.
Review
William A. Cohen, Ph.D. (Pasadena, CA) is an authority on leadership and strategy formulation and deployment. He gives speeches and seminars for the Industrial College of the Armed Forces, the Air War College, the FBI Academy, all four armed services, and corporations from Boeing to The Cheesecake Factory. He is the author of many books including The New Art of the Leader, The Wisdom of the Generals , and How to Make It Big as a Consultant (978-0-8144-7073-2).
"...there's lots you can do with the book, starting with just enjoying the ride. It's a series of compelling lessons, all wrapped around a towering intellectual and some wonderful anecdotes, with Mr. Cohen, himself a management educator, adding his own supplementary thoughts at points. Some of it will be familiar for those steeped in Peter Drucker, and some of it will be
new. But all of it should be fascinating." The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
Review
"...there's lots you can do with the book, starting with just enjoying the ride. It's a series of compelling lessons, all wrapped around a towering intellectual and some wonderful anecdotes, with Mr. Cohen, himself a management educator, adding his own supplementary thoughts at points. Some of it will be familiar for those steeped in Peter Drucker, and some of it will be
new. But all of it should be fascinating." The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
Synopsis
“This book, done by one of The Master’s first PhD recipients, is a warm and useful read.” Business to Business, December 1, 2007
About the Author
Long considered the world’s greatest thinker and writer on management, Peter Drucker’s teachings continue to inspire leaders everywhere. From 1975 to 1979, author William Cohen studied under the Great Man and became the first graduate of his doctoral program. What Drucker taught him literally changed his life. In a matter of a few years, he was recommissioned in the Air Force and rose to the rank of major general. Eventually, he became a full professor, management consultant, multibook author, and university president—as well as maintaining a nearly lifelong friendship with the master. In A Class with Drucker, Cohen shares many of Drucker’s teachings that never made it into his countless books and articles, ideas that were offered to his students in classroom or informal settings. Cohen expands on Drucker's lessons with personal anecdotes about his teacher’s personality, lack of pretension, and interactions with students and others. He also shows how Drucker’s ideas can be applied to the real-world challenges managers face today. Now every reader can benefit from Drucker’s thoughts on such topics as:
what everybody knows is frequently wrong • why everyone should approach problems with their ignorance • top executives should stay no longer than six years • some so-called menial tasks can only be done by the boss • what everyone needs to be an effective manage • why self-confidence is a necessity
Enlightening and intriguing, A Class with Drucker will enable anyone to gain from the timeless wisdom of the inspiring man himself.
Table of Contents
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments and Dedication vii
What Peter Drucker Wrote About Bill Cohen viii
Foreword by Ira Jackson ix
Introduction xiii
1 How I Became the Student of the
Father of Modern Management 1
2 Drucker in the Classroom 11
3 What Everybody Knows Is Frequently Wrong 19
4 Self-Confidence Must Be Built Step-by-Step 30
5 If You Keep Doing What Worked in the Past
You’re Going to Fail 44
6 Approach Problems with Your Ignorance—
Not Your Experience 57
7 Develop Expertise Outside Your Field
to Be an Effective Manager 69
8 Outstanding Performance Is Inconsistent
with Fear of Failure 82
9 The Objective of Marketing Is
to Make Selling Unnecessary 96
10 Ethics, Honor, Integrity and the Law 108
11 You Can’t Predict the Future, But You Can Create It 121
12 We’re All Accountable 133
13 You Must Know Your People to Lead Them 147
14 People Have No Limits, Even After Failure 160
15 A Model Organization That Drucker Greatly Admired 173
16 The Management Control Panel 189
17 Base Your Strategy on the Situation, Not on a Formula 201
18 How to Motivate the Knowledge Worker 215
19 Drucker’s Principles of Self-Development 231
Afterword 246
Notes 249
Books by and About Peter Drucker 252
Index 253