Northwestern was floundering some back in the 1980s when Bobby Alost became president of the university. He wanted advice on how to run the place from the best expert he could find.
After some research, Bobby determined that was Dr. Peter Drucker, who had an international reputation as the “founder of modern management.”
Drucker, who wrote 39 books on corporate management, was a professor at the prestigious Claremont College in California. Bobby planned for a bunch of us at Northwestern to go see him.
A native of Austria, Drucker presented some formal lectures to the group. His heavy accent was hard to understand, and there was little time for questions and other interaction with him.
Bobby made arrangements for just a few of us to go back for a longer, more relaxed visit with Drucker. The conversations would be recorded for everybody back at the university.
He decided that Ron McBride and I should accompany him to California for the more casual sessions. An audiovisual expert, Ron would film everything. As a journalist, my job was to ask questions and get the management guru to talk.
Getting Drucker to talk was not a problem. We had dinner at a restaurant near his home the first night there. The waiter served him a glass of red wine when we sat down before he even asked for it.
Drucker started talking and didn’t quit until we left two days later.
He changed the next day’s meetings from his office to his house. His lovely wife Doris made us a great lunch of fruits, sandwiches and salads, and Dr. Drucker talked about management.
Drucker wanted to show us around the following day. We rode to the Venice Beach boardwalk 50 miles away, saw bikers, surfers, sunbathers, skateboarders, mimes and musicians and listened to more theories on management and organization.
Quotes from Drucker are displayed on office walls at companies around the world, and we heard a lot of them the few days we were there. Things like, “The most important thing in communication is hearing what isn’t said,” and, “Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.”
One point that stuck with me after spending all those hours with Drucker was that every organization needs a go-to person who knows everything about the place and how to get things done.
He said facetiously that it’s usually a tough lady, probably with a name like Rosie, and maybe with a big tattoo on her forearm.
I had run into some folks like that and knew Drucker was right. We were all intimidated by our great editor George Healy when I worked at The Times Picayune, but we learned that it was more important to please his secretary than Mr. Healy.
She was an older lady, and I talked to her every chance I got. She called one morning to tell me that I had messed up a story the day before and the editor wanted me to come in an hour early to “browbeat” me as she said. He was good at that.
Her plan was to tell him she couldn’t reach me and for me to come in at the usual time to give her time to talk to Mr. Healy. When I got there, she said he had “calmed down.” He pointed out my error, but it was a pleasant visit.
Mrs. Carroll worked in the dean’s office when I was in college. I was summoned to see the dean several times for missing classes, not turning in papers, registering late and other violations but never met the dean. Mrs. Carroll always took care of it.
Loneta Graves was chief financial officer at Northwestern for years, and she could be a terror if any of us ever failed to pinch a penny. We were scared of her.
When I turned in my expenses for a trip to Chicago, she questioned my receipts for cab fare. I had requested $8. She said it should not have been over $6.
I filled out another form and lowered the cab fare, but I added 20 cents for two trips to a pay toilet at the airport. Loneta approved the expenses, and It was the first time I saw her laugh. We became long-time friends.
None of those ladies were named Rosie or had tattoos, but they were the kind of people Peter Drucker said every organization needs.
REPRINTED FROM THE NATCHITOCHES TIMES