Peter Drucker's Way to the Top

by William Cohen

  DO YOU HAVE A POSITIVE ATTITUDE?

  We all get depressed from time to time, and have bad days as well as good ones, but how is your overall feeling of attitude, and how can you improve it if it is not as good as it might be? Abraham Lincoln said that, “Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.”2 Yet Lincoln himself suffered from bouts of depression.

  RESEARCH ON HAPPINESS: HOW TO INSTANTLY BECOME HAPPY

  What President Lincoln said is not so far-fetched. Modern research in psychological methods and techniques have produced some amazing results. Norman Vincent Peale became world famous when he wrote the bestseller The Power of Positive Thinking. It stayed on the New York Times bestseller list for almost four years and to date has sold over five million copies. Basically, Peale’s method was to stay positive in your beliefs for attainment of any goal in the face of adversity and to press on. It is hard to argue with the success idea. I’ve seen and experienced many ideas myself that seemed hopeless but succeeded, and it seems to me that while you may ultimately fail in some desired goal, you would most assuredly fail if you did not believe in your ultimate success. Legendary football Coach Vince Lombardi of Green Bay Packers expressed it this way: “We never lose, but sometimes the clock runs out on us.”3

  But can we become instantly happy on demand? Maybe we can, and it is possible that Drucker mastered this ability. Four years after Peale’s book, Dr Hornell Hart at Duke University published his own, Autoconditioning.4 Hart’s basic methodology was a two-minute self- administered test which he called a “mood meter”. You took the test, used some self-hypnosis techniques, and then took it again. It sounds a bit oversimplistic, but it worked. The self-hypnosis caused a notable improvement in mood. Your attitude can indeed change to help you reach success. And Drucker was all for that.

  Those who want to try this can create a self-induction into hypnosis by simply relaxing the body completely by parts, focusing first on the hands and fingers and proceeding throughout the body concluding with the toes and feet. Once you are completely relaxed you concentrate on whatever you want whether it’s happiness, pain control, or something else. When you are done with your session, you bring yourself to full awareness with a slow mental count from one to ten. I never discussed this technique with Drucker, although now I’m sorry I did not. I’ve since been amazed at the number of successful people who use this and similar methods, but they rarely reveal it publicly.

  There have been hundreds of techniques introduced since Peale from neurolinguistics to fire-walking and Silva mind control. Drucker did not involve himself or recommend these to anyone directly. However, his actions demonstrated that he used specific techniques for development. Take his reading habits. As I explained earlier, his wife reported that he did not read management books. He scanned them. But he did read history. I believe that he used historical results from other fields to develop management theory to test and apply. In this way, he did reveal his theory that the greatest advances in any industry came from something practised first in an entirely different industry.

  I was always particularly interested in what I call ‘mind stuff’. That’s where I came across the technique that one of my sons used to pass the exam which eventually got him into West Point and through their four-year programme successfully. In fact, I used similar techniques myself to get into West Point. You will need to explore these on your own. Different techniques work best for different people. My thinking is that if Drucker noticed a technique in his own self-development, he probably tried it. His personality seemed always upbeat and positive and when I asked my professors prior to taking the exams for my PhD what books to read or where I should concentrate my preparation, he alone told me: “Don’t read or study anything additional. You are ready for the comprehensive exams right now.” I followed his advice, although I continued to use various techniques for stress reduction.

  Some years ago, during one of our reunions at West Point, I got into a discussion with perhaps my most celebrated, best-known and successful West Point classmate, Pete Dawkins, and described some of these techniques. Dawkins was a champion athlete, a football player who had won the national Heisman Trophy and who had earned letters in other sports as well. The Heisman is awarded annually to the single most outstanding player in college football in the US whose performance best exhibits not only excellence as a football player, but integrity as well. He was elected captain of the football team. He was in the top 10% of our class academically. He was appointed ‘first captain’, the highest cadet rank attainable as a member of the Corps of Cadets. He was elected class president. He was a member of the West Point Glee Club. There were few honours that he didn’t win. I discovered that he had used some of the techniques that I had learned later in life. This study led to many changes and innovations at West Point including the use of meditation for stress reduction and goal attainment and other techniques which I learned on my own over the years. It all depends on how you perceive things. Let me use myself as an example.

  WHAT HAPPENED IN MY OWN LIFE

  Drucker’s comment about exploiting opportunities, giving more results than solving problems was meant to encourage us to be proactive rather than reactive. There are bad situations that arise in everyone’s life that require solving problems and being proactive in doing so. Your personal attitude and reaction to these are of major importance as you continually progress in life. All of us encounter challenges and negative events in our lives, but critically it’s not what has happened but rather how we react.

  Not many know that Drucker encountered severe medical challenges towards the end of his life. Yet he never complained publicly except to once tell an interviewer that he was less focused in old age on hoping for a long life and more interested in an easy death. However, he was still productive and accomplished much despite the disabilities which he could not control.

  My own challenge has been less severe, yet it has been a challenge. Almost two years ago I suffered a major stroke. It completely paralysed me on the left side of my body and took away my speech. This was a big issue for one depending on speaking for a living. I practised and although my speech returned within days, at first, I couldn’t speak coherently. That took some weeks. I was laid out supine and at first could not move to sit up. I spent several weeks in a hospital in a rehab ward for stroke patients after paramedics took me from home to emergency. I was released from the hospital in a wheelchair. I could do almost nothing for myself. I slept little. With difficulty, I could walk about 15 feet with the walker and I was extremely proud the first time that I did although the 15 feet wore me out completely. For someone who had previously been very active physically, this was a substantial change. I had no stamina at all. My happiest event was when I left the hospital for home. Yes, I was in a wheelchair, but I could also use the walker to a very limited extent.

  I was restricted to the first floor of our two-storey home and slept in a spare bedroom which was on the ground floor. I could bathe and use bathroom facilities only with the help of a caregiver. I had a special chair-like device fitting over the side of the bathtub which I could mount with assistance, and then the caregiver would wipe me with a cold, wet, washcloth with soap while with difficulty I manipulated a flexible shower head and showered. Somehow, my wife, Nurit, put up with the many challenges of a stroke victim while maintaining a full schedule and still going to work.

  Our new life was not easy. Not only could I do little by myself, but even small medical events could have a big impact. For example, I fell from the walker and scraped my right elbow to the bone. It took almost two months to heal. I had a caregiver from 9am until 1.30pm five days a week. I was in plenty of pain but could take no effective painkillers. That’s because of the medications I was already taking to prevent another stroke or a heart attack, so my blood was already thin enough. Even an aspirin made my blood too thin and could cause a major problem if I took it. I could sleep only for about four hours maximum before pain woke me up. Finally, I
found that if I watched TV for several hours I might get tired enough to return to sleep for two or three more hours. According to reports on the internet, stroke survivors tended to be depressed and have a high suicide rate. That I could understand. Meanwhile my wife tried to keep things together and worked full-time as a clinical psychologist. To the best I could I tried to take care of myself, so she could sleep at nights.

  I was determined to return to work. I had been president of an accredited MBA-granting graduate school. I now restarted the Institute of Leader Arts to conduct international training even before I could speak. Previously I had been in excellent health and prided myself on being stronger than almost anyone I knew. But despite my strength and apparent good health, I had had this major stroke. I don’t know what caused it. I do know that both my physical condition and my positive attitude helped with my rehab.

  My first big goal was to move back to the first floor where I had my office and could get back to a computer. I knew that I wouldn’t be able to do much work, but I could still write. I had three speeches previously scheduled for Mexico City a month after the stroke. Of course, there was no way of making those, and I cancelled them and my flight. I had accepted another in China, in six months’ time. I thought that I’d be able to make that one. I was wrong, and I had to cancel that one, too.

  My long-range goal, of course, was to fully recover. I was told that a full recovery would probably not be possible and that I should be thankful that I was still alive, but in any case, my first goal was to simply get upstairs and to my computer.

  I had a physical therapist twice a week when I got out of the hospital, for several weeks. First, I had to learn to get up out of the wheelchair by myself and get to my walker and to sit down in the wheelchair again afterwards. The therapist showed me how to do this and some exercises to learn how to stand up from the wheelchair and engage the walker. On the days that she didn’t come I exercised with the walker on my own with the help of my caregiver an hour a day. After several weeks, I regained enough upper body and leg strength to get upstairs by putting both arms and pulling on the single banister we had as I went up, or eased myself down with both arms on the banister when I went downstairs. I needed a safety belt with someone holding on in case I should fall. My physical therapist at the time was amazed at my ability to do this. She told me that she wouldn’t have believed it possible so soon. I knew that you can generally do much more than you think you can and I felt that I was a lot better off than a lot of our wounded troops from Afghanistan or Iraq. After all, I had ‘only’ a stroke

  Falling is one of the major dangers of stroke victims. I have fallen many times, but fortunately only once on the stairs and though sometimes bloodied, I have never broken anything. I have been lucky. I exercised every day strengthening my legs and arms. After some time, I could use a wide-based cane instead of the walker. The cane had about a 12-inch base, but even walking with that wide-based cane was difficult at first.

  Then, I decided I could take a shower by myself in a shower stall using the cane which was nickel-plated and drying it after drying myself. The shower stall was small enough that there was no place to fall, and my caregiver stood outside the shower in case I did fall. Fortunately for me, I never did. Anyway, I got away from that chilly water that my caregiver used to soap me down with.

  When I first started working on the computer, I only had the energy to write for about half an hour a day and I learned to build this up over time. In addition, I had a daily workout of about an hour and started going out to restaurants in the evening with my wife acting as caregiver. This helped my morale and we progressed from wheelchair to walker to wide-based cane to regular cane and eventually today, walking without any support from a cane at all.

  What kind of work did I do at the computer? First was my writing. I had two projects in mind, one is the book you have in your hands. I had used many of Drucker’s techniques that he had taught me regarding his own self-development and which he had used to reach the pinnacle of his management-thinking career. I thought that he would appreciate the fact that his ideas were still helping others.

  I knew that he kept busy with useful work even when he was in his nineties and ill with the ailments of age. To deal with the depression and hopelessness that tends to go with strokes, I got busy with my own work as soon as I could. I developed a book proposal and had several of my publishers read it until my editors at LID and I agreed that they, who had previously published my book Peter Drucker on Consulting,5 were the best suited to publishing this new book. I am also a syndicated columnist with seven publications, print and online, for a monthly column on Drucker’s ideas which reach an audience of 1,000,000 readers a month in four countries. I had written several months’ worth of material in advance, so I didn’t miss a single column despite the stroke. The techniques used were the same I’ve talked about in this book.

  In addition to my writing, I disconnected the Institute of Leader Arts from the California Institute of Advanced Management (CIAM), the graduate school of which I had been president and CEO. With two associates both now in Northern California, I planned to introduce new concepts of international training and consulting when my rehab was more complete. And this was happening fast.

  During this time, with a lot of hard work one day, miracle upon miracle, I managed to walk for several steps without the cane. I looked like a version of Dr Frankenstein’s monster. But I walked! I considered this a major victory at the time. It was great for my morale.

  My next goal was to make a live presentation. I learned how to drive again, and I created a one-hour presentation and gave it to an audience of students and faculty from CIAM at the invitation of the current president, Jennie Ta. I was worried that I might get tired standing for an hour and asked for a chair. However, I presented on my feet for an hour and I felt I could have continued if it was necessary. The presentation that I created and gave was entitled “Innovate or Evaporate” and it went over well, and I have now added it to my training repertoire. I also said a few words as guest of a national Korean military veterans group, with about 500 in attendance in Los Angeles at their first annual meeting.

  My friends and associates consider me a miracle. My caregiver, who had several previous stroke patients told me that I was different. Her previous stroke patients were partially paralysed but had not made the progress that I had. Though physical therapists tried to work with them they did no additional exercise when the therapist wasn’t present. They never thought about returning to any type of work. They apparently accepted their condition as a sentence and that was that.

  What did I do differently? I had a different perception and attitude. I set successive goals and continually worked towards achieving them because I had an intense desire and intent to reach my goals. My attitude was different. I hope yours will be when you encounter adversity as well.

  They say that an advice-giver should ‘walk his talk’. I think that I have done this. How am I doing now you may ask? I have not yet fully recovered. But I am still progressing and getting stronger every day. I work out with weights several days a week. I have not fully recovered my strength and stamina, but my body looks almost the same as before the stroke. Some call me a miracle or an inspiration. I know others that have overcome far more difficult challenges and they are my inspiration.

  Recently I had the opportunity to interview for another job as a university president of a much larger accredited school than I had run previously. I decided not to interview, not because I couldn’t do the job, but because I was so busy with my other activities that I didn’t feel that I had the time.

  Everyone recovers at a different rate. I know that I am very lucky, and many people have helped me. However, I’ve been told that attitude has played a vital role in my case. I was 79 years old when I had the stroke, so age is no excuse not to rehab and continue with your life.

  In any case, I have recovered enough to work at almost the same level as before the stroke in both my profes
sional speaking and writing. No, that isn’t accurate. I think that I can work at a higher level now. I can only add that if you will adopt Drucker’s techniques and maintain a positive attitude you will be amazed at what you can do.

  WAYS OF CREATING PERSONAL ATTITUDE CHANGE NOT RECOMMENDED

  There are other methods of creating personal attitude change. Drucker neither used nor recommended them. I don’t recommend them either. Some are just too temporary or actually can cause harm. Others are addictive and may even be self-destructive. For example, what’s wrong with acquisition of things? Feel bad? Buy yourself a piece of expensive jewellery or a new car. Or eat chocolate. Will you feel better? Absolutely. But how long will this good feeling last? Not long. It’s very fleeting. Some attempt to change attitude by the acquisition of wealth itself. But this seems to require more and more wealth to maintain the desired change. In addition to leading to the destruction of personal relationships, it frequently leads to poor personal or business decisions. Drucker avoided these traps by adherence to a personal code. His personal code of ethics was based on thorough investigations followed by analysis and rigid adherence.