The Army trains and develops more leaders than all other institutions together

Photo: Shutterstock, July 2022

Drucker never served in the military. However, when war came, he had a PhD, so he volunteered for civilian service. He was assigned and he eventually became familiar with the Army and how it operated including its rules, systems, and unique aspects, including organization and management which he later incorporated into his practice and recommended for civilian adoption.

Generals Rarely get Rich

Right away, he saw that a general who might command thousands and have responsibility for millions of dollars of equipment earned less than $50,000 a year. At the time, this was less than five times the pay of the average soldier who was not an officer. Later he discovered that many corporate CEOs received more than 58 times the pay of their average workers. Drucker said that not only was this unfair, but it was also poor management and affected productivity..

In 2004 he expressed his admiration for the Army in a testimonial for the book Be, Know, Do co-authored by his friend Frances Hesselbein who had been CEO of the Girls Scouts of the USA and General Eric K. Shinseki who had been U. S. Army Chief of Staff. Drucker wrote:

“The Army trains and develops more leaders than all other institutions together – and with a lower casualty rate. Be, Know, Do shows how this is done – and how it can be adapted by the nonmilitary businesses, colleges and universities, nonprofits, and churches”.

The First of Many Lessons that Drucker Learned from the Military

I heard many lessons he learned from the military in my time as his student.

The first involved his government orders to report to a colonel who was to be his commander. His assignment was as a “management consultant”. However, the orders did not explain what a “management consultant” was nor what duties he was expected to perform.

Drucker himself did not know. The term was not in any dictionary, nor any management or book he consulted. However, the colonel seemed pleasant enough and asked if he had any questions.

“Please, Sir,” he asked, “Can you tell me the responsibilities of a management consultant?”

The colonel looked at him with a twinkle in his eye but didn’t answer Drucker’s question and said only: “Young man, don’t be impertinent.” By this Drucker told us that he knew that the colonel didn’t know what the duties of a management consultant were either.  Drucker said, “His response allowed me to suggest something which that I wanted to do and where I could best contribute.”

Knowing Yourself is More Important than Knowing Your Competitors

I had always thought that competitive intelligence was important, but Drucker discovered that knowledge of self, your own capabilities and limitations at a particular time is even more so. He wasn’t the first. Ancient Chinese military genius Sun Tzu wrote: “If I know myself and know my enemy. I need not fear defeat in 100 battles. If I know only myself, I will lose half. If I know only my adversary and not myself, I will lose all.”

Proven Again in China during WWII

Claire Chennault, then a retired captain from the Army Air Corps, went to China as advisor to General Chang Kai Shek, fighting the Japanese who had invaded the country.  He was made a colonel in the Chinese Air Force and commanded the American Volunteer Group sent to China and known as the “Flying Tigers” by President Roosevelt to be part of the Chinese Air Force before the U.S. entered the war. Few of the 200 American volunteers had flown fighters previously. They all held reserve commissions in the Army, Navy, and Marine Corps, and all were pilots. But they had flown transports, bombers, and observation planes, not fighters which is what Chennault  needed. Chennault had helped to convince President Roosevelt to give the Chinese 100 P40E fighter planes. They were all that was available but were considered inferior to Japanese fighters. Moreover, their Japanese opponents had years’ of combat experience, the American pilots had none. Chennault  knew they could be trained and knew and knew the P-40E. It was not as nimble for traditional dog fights as the Japanese aircraft. However, it was heavier and faster and had much better armor. He trained his pilots to take advantage of what P-40E’s had, not what it lacked. In their first combat the Flying Tigers defended the important Chinese city of Kunming which previously had no aerial defense. The Japanese had been bombing it unopposed. The inexperienced pilots trained by Chennault shot down 9 of 10 attacking bombers. Over the next six months his inexperienced fighter pilots destroyed 296 enemy aircraft, while losing only 14 pilots of their own in combat. No other fighter unit of any country in history has equaled this record.

Corporal Joe Cossman applies Lessons from his Military Experience

Cossman had no college and had been a corporal in the combat Engineers during WWII. After the war he explained: “I bought an old typewriter and used my kitchen table as an office every evening after supper. Every night I read the newspaper, looking for scarce commodities. Then, I offered these products through the mail to prospects overseas.”

He worked for a year skipping meals and working part time from his kitchen table. “Then, one day I saw a small, classified ad in the New York Times. It was for laundry soap, which was then in short supply. “As I had several times before, I answered the ad, got samples, and sent them to overseas contacts. This time I got an order with a letter of credit for $ 180,000 almost by return mail!”

The letter of credit said that a New York bank would pay him $180,000 as soon as he presented bills of lading, the documents showing the product on a ship bound for the buyer. There was also a deadline. The bills of lading had to be presented to his bank within thirty days, or the letter of credit would be worthless.

No Soap

“When I got to New York, I telephoned the man who ran the ad. He didn't own a single bar of soap! He had put the ad in the paper on speculation and sent a few samples he had on hand.” From a local  library Joe got the names, addresses, and phone numbers of every soap manufacturer in the United States. The next day he locked himself in his hotel room. There was a telephone strike, and it took fifteen minutes before he got an operator. He told the operator his story.  She promised to keep Joe on the line until he made his calls. It took until the next day, but he found a company in Alabama which had the laundry soap he needed.

More Troubles

He completed the deal with no cash, but with his inexperience, he made a mistake. Joe took delivery of the soap in Alabama. So, he had to find some  way of getting the soap to New York.

“I began pounding the pavements of New York. I looked for someone that would loan me thirty trucks and drivers on credit. I finally found the president of a trucking company willing to send trucks to Alabama transport the soap even though I had no money to pay in advance.”

Continuing to use his Military Knowledge to Overcome Obstacles

“We arrived back in New York twenty-four hours before the letter of credit was to expire. We started loading the soap on the “lighters” which took the soap to a freighter in the harbor.”

However, they weren’t going to make it. The banks closed at two o'clock. He wouldn’t get his on board bills of lading to give to the bank until it was too late.

The offices of the steam‑ship line were near the docks. Cossman found the president’s office and convinced his secretary to get him in to see him. He told him the whole story. The president looked him in the eye and declared “If you've gone this far, you're not going to lose the deal now.” Within minutes Joe had his bills of lading. The president even sent his limousine to take Joe to the bank. Joe arrived fifteen minutes before closing time. He rushed in and presented his bills of lading. The teller gave him a check for $180,000, and he went outside to get a taxi. Then he remembered that though he had a check for $180,000, he didn’t have taxi fare to get back to his hotel. Joe went back to the teller and got checks for his creditors as well as some cash.

Cossman went on to build a multimillion-dollar corporation over the next few years. His company sold dozens of unusual products including 1.8 million “ant farms” – a  toy for children still being sold today. Like Drucker he adapted military lessons to civilian life. Veteran or not, you can apply many lessons learned from those in uniform too.

*Adapted from Consulting Drucker: Principles and Lessons from the World’s Leading Management Consultant (LID, 2018) and syndicated internationally

*הכותב ד"ר ביל כהן הנו מומחה בתורת המנהיגות. ד"ר כהן הינו מייג’ור גנרל בדימוס בחיל האויר האמריקאי, בעל תואר דוקטור בניהול מאוניברסיטת קלרמונט. כתב למעלה מ- 50 ספרים שתורגמו ל- 22 שפות בנושאי ניהול ומנהיגות. ביל כהן שימש כיועץ בעמדות בכירות וכמרצה באוניברסיטאות הטובות בארה”ב בינהן ביה”ס לניהול באוניברסיטת קלרמונט וב-UCLA. בנוסף, הוא מעביר הרצאות וסמינרים בנושא מנהיגות בכל זרועות הצבא האמריקאי ובאקדמיה הצבאית וזכה בפרסים על הרצאותיו בעולם. מעבר להיותו גנרל בצבא ארה”ב, ד”ר כהן הנו בעל דרגת רב סרן בחיל האויר הישראלי והשתתף בקרבות אוויר במלחמת יום כיפור. שימש בתפקידי ניהול בכירים במספר חברות וכיהן כנשיא של שתי אוניברסיטאות פרטיות. ביל כהן היה חבר דירקטוריון במספר מועצות מנהלים ומועצות סחר עירונית, ממשלתיות ושל תאגידים שונים.ביל כהן היה תלמידו הישיר לדוקטוראט של פיטר דרוקר אבי תורת הניהול המודרנית שאמר עליו בין היתר כי ” ביל כהן היה סטודנט אשר אני והקולגות שלי למדנו ממנו לפחות כפי שיכולנו ללמד אותו”.

ד"ר ביל כהן הוא נשיא המכון לאמנות המנהיגות, מייסד ונשיא לשעבר של המכון ללימודי ניהול מתקדם בקליפורניה CIAM וחבר בצוות המומחים של קבוצת ד"ר עדנה פשר שות'

קבוצת ד"ר עדנה פשר ושות' היא הנציגה הבלעדית של תוכנית CIAM בישראל

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