彼得•德鲁克和女童军教给我的管理课

遵守时间

    我阅读过彼得•德鲁克撰写的每一本著作。1970年，我去宾夕法尼亚州塔罗斯洛克女童军理事会出任CEO的第一天，就在胳膊肘下夹了6本德鲁克的《卓有成效的管理者》（The Effective Executive），打算给每位员工派发一本。1981年，我以美国女童军CEO的身份赶赴纽约州的大学俱乐部（University Club）聆听德鲁克的演讲。我知道，在那种闹哄哄的场合，我是没有法子跟他搭上话的。我在宾夕法尼亚州约翰斯敦长大，因此我懂得，说好五点半就是五点半。但我赶到那里时，大厅里除了两位侍者以外，空无一人。我一转身，发现有个人站在我后面。他说：“我是彼得•德鲁克”。我当时惊呆了，甚至忘了应有的礼仪。我没有问候他一句，就开始滔滔不绝地说道：“您知道您对女童军团有多重要吗？如果您去全美335个女童军理事会中的任何一家，您都会看到您的全部著作——您将看到您的哲学在实际中的鲜活应用。”他说“给我说说看，它有效果吗？”我说：“它简直太奇妙了，我一直在尝试着鼓足勇气，去加州克莱蒙特找您，坐下来跟您好好聊上一小时呢。”他说：“我们两人何必为这个奔波呢？”他告诉我他哪一天会去纽约市。自那以后，他慷慨地腾出时间，为女童军团当起了顾问，成为了我们最最亲爱的朋友。可以说他收养了我们。

不要看轻自己

    德鲁克来我们的董事会演讲时，我带来了美国女童军总部的全体董事和100位工作人员。他对我们说：“你们不要看轻自己。你们还没有意识到你们工作的重大意义，因为我们生活的这个社会一直假装着关爱它的孩子，但其实并不关心。只需一小会，你们就给予了一个小女孩真正成为一个女孩的机会。这个社会迫使小孩成长得太快了。”在那一刻，我们都意识到我们所从事的社会工作跟商业或政府工作同样重要；我们绝不是这个社会的二等公民。

放眼未来

    1990年，我离开女童军团，当时它已经成长为世界上最大的女孩和妇女组织。6周后，我出任德鲁克基金会CEO一职，当时既没资金，也没员工，只有一个强大的愿景。彼得鼓励我们把关注的焦点放在变革上，而这些变革将决定我们所有人能否成为未来的一份子。

    译者：任文科

Be on time

    I had read everything Peter Drucker ever wrote. In 1970, on my first day as CEO of the Talus Rock, Pa., Girl Scout council, I showed up with six copies of Drucker's The Effective Executive under my arm -- one for each staff member. In 1981, as CEO, I went to the University Club in New York City to hear Peter speak, knowing I would never get to talk to him in that mob. Growing up in Johnstown, Pa., 5:30 means 5:30. I was alone with two bartenders, and I turned around and there was a man standing behind me. And he said, "I am Peter Drucker." And I was just stunned -- I forgot my manners. Instead of saying, "How do you do?" I said, "Do you realize how important you are to the Girl Scouts? If you go to any one of our 335 Girl Scout councils around this country, you will see all of your books -- you will see your philosophy alive." And he said, "Tell me, does it work?" I said, "It works so wonderfully that I've been trying to get up enough courage to come to Claremont, Calif., and sit down with you for an hour." He said, "Why should both of us travel?" He gave me a date when he would be in New York. After that, he generously gave his time as an adviser and dear friend to the Girl Scouts. He adopted us.

See yourself "life-size"

    When Drucker came to speak at our board meeting, I brought the entire national board and 100 national staff members. He told them, "You do not see yourselves life-size. You do not appreciate the significance of the work you do, for we live in a society that pretends to care about its children, and it does not. And for a little while you give a little girl a chance to be a girl in a society that forces her to grow up all too soon." What we all realized at that moment was that the work we did in the social sector was as important as business or government; we were not simply junior members of a society.

Look to the future

    When I left the Girl Scouts in 1990, it was the largest organization for girls and women in the world. Six weeks later I found myself CEO [of the Drucker Foundation], with no money, no staff, and just a powerful vision. Peter encouraged us to focus on the type of change that will determine whether or not we are, all of us, a part of the future.