Page 237 - The Drucker Lectures

218 [ The Drucker Lectures

The most difficult period of my lifetime was immediately
after World War II. Practically all the people who ran institu-
tions were absolutely certain that we would have a major reces-
sion after the war. And it was incredibly difficult to change that
mindset when, during the years of the Depression, the goal was
to survive.
And I’m not just talking of business. I joined a major business
school [at New York University] in 1950, and our big problem
was that our dean, who had kept that school together during the
Depression—and it wasn’t easy—could not be convinced that
our enrollment was going up. He just could not believe it, and
it was absolutely clear that we needed a new building, and he
refused, saying, “Well, that isn’t going to last; it can’t.” And he
was fairly typical. After all, every major war since the mid-sev-
enteenth century had been followed by a major recession.
And so there was no precedent for what happened after World
War II. And nobody can explain it to this day. The few who were
willing to accept the facts—like the man who built Sears Roe-
buck, Gen. [Robert E.] Wood—succeeded without even having
to try very hard. But most of the senior management people, and
not just in business but also in education, failed miserably and
were out within 10 years because they could not accept the facts.
They could not change their mindset.
During the 1920s, there was increasing protectionism, in-
creasing isolationism, and an increasing push towards self-suffi-
ciency. And then came the Depression. And around 1950, I was
working quite a bit with the New York banks, and they could not
accept the fact that there was suddenly international banking.
And most of these banks disappeared, very largely because they
could not accept the fact that there was economic expansion and
international business. So this is always a great challenge.
I am also bothered by the fact that so many of my friends
in American business—and European business is worse—have