Drucker’s advice on accomplishing the impossible

Drucker was a genius who thought and did things differently to anyone else. He felt that managers should make their decisions "from the gut", not ignoring economic analysis or the importance of numbers, but neither depending on them solely, or even considering them primary in any decision.

The most frequently heard admonition from Drucker in the classroom was the comment that what everyone knew, or believed, was usually wrong. From believing that the earth is flat or that man cannot fly to the belief that it is impossible for the human body to attain the speed necessary to run a mile in four minutes. What everyone knew, including countless doctors and kinesiology scientists, was eventually proved wrong.

The four-minute barrier to human speed was disproved in 1954 by English neurologist Roger Bannister. He ran the mile in 3:59.4 minutes. The four-minute barrier has since been broken by more than 1,400 athletes, many in high school. Once it was understood that what everyone "knew" about the barrier was wrong, the barrier almost magically disappeared. It required only one individual to show that it could be done.

My effort at breaking barriers

As a reserve Air Force officer, I was selected to attend a 10-month educational program given by the Industrial College of the Armed Forces in Washington along with selected mid-career, active duty officers from all four US Military branches. Three Air Force reservists were invited to attend, and I was one of them.

Twice during the year there was a physical competition. Volunteer students undertook every fitness test that was required by all four branches of the armed forces. A student successfully completing the minimum exercise requirements of all four branches would receive a t-shirt proclaiming this accomplishment. If a student failed in the fall, he or she got a second chance in the spring.

There would also be awards for the top three scores overall. Although oldest among the 240 officers at nearly 50, I worked out regularly. I thought I might win my t-shirt, but it would be a close thing. The more I thought about it the more I wanted that t-shirt. However, being the old man in the class, few thought I could meet all the requirements of Army, Navy, Air Force and the Marine Corps, and I had some doubts myself.

The first event was two-minute sit-ups. The second was two-minute pushups. Both required that you performed as many repetitions as you could during a two-minute period. Next came the maximum number of pull-ups that you could do, with no time limit. The final requirement was a three and a half mile run in the best time you could manage. If you completed all four events and met the minimum requirements set by each service, you received your t-shirt.

There were only about two months to prepare in the fall, but I was determined to do my best at my first attempt and not have to go through it again in the spring if I failed, so I trained hard. Surprising everyone, including myself, I not only got my t-shirt but finished in third place among all those who competed. Right behind me in fourth place was a good friend. He was in my section and was a champion runner. He told me that, friends or not, he intended to move up to third place and be one of the top three who would receive awards.

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My training for the spring physical fitness tests

I knew that finishing for the year in third place would not be easy. My friend was in terrific shape and ten years younger and he would beat my running time. Moreover, another good friend from the army was also a champion runner and he was in second place. A Marine was in first place overall. I had never thought it possible previously to finish in one of the top three slots. It was the total score from all four exercises that counted however, not just running.

I trained with both weights and running but no one, including me, considered that I could do much better than I had already. Although when I thought about it, I remembered Drucker’s comment that what everyone knew should be disregarded. I had also learned the importance of the mind in both physical and mental accomplishments. I thought that I might be able to do it if I worked hard enough.

I did a lot of research and found that while the physical was important, the mental was more so. I discovered that there was a power in belief. For the mental training I saw myself winning, and if I was going to win, why number three? Instead, I saw myself winning first place. Of course, I had to build my strength so that I could do a lot better than I had in the fall but I decided that my age was unimportant.

The wild card in my plans was my back. I had sustained a back injury some years earlier. If my back gave me issues, as it usually did once or twice every year, I suffered intense pain, sometimes for several weeks. Not only would I not be able to run, but I would also barely be able to walk or do any exercise. Even if my back got better before the competition, I would lose several weeks of training and slip back in my strength and conditioning. Of course, if this happened at the time of the competition it would eliminate me entirely.

I consulted with several fitness experts and doctors. All advised that I was in good enough shape not to hurt myself, but with regard to winning, all of them tactfully declined to predict my chances and pointed out that I had already gotten my t-shirt.

I increased the number of workouts to five, one-hour workouts every week and hoped my back would behave. I was as careful as I could be. I spent three days on the push-ups, sit-ups and pullups and two days running, building up my long distance and speed running. I ran through the snow and ice of a Washington DC winter and ran with my wife, Nurit, two times on these ice and snow jaunts when she visited me from California. I grew stronger and stronger, and all was going well until early March when, two weeks before the class was to depart on a major visit to NATO in Europe, disaster struck. My back ailment returned, and I had to stop all workouts. I could barely attend class.

What to do? Should I give it all up? I had already passed the tests once. I had my t-shirt and did not need to put myself through any more torture. I could honorably call it off, however, I reviewed the mental exercise research. I discovered that many who applied the mental technique I was using recommended that you not just tell yourself you are going to win, but actually perform the complete exercise, going through all events mentally. Others wished me well, but probably wrote me off. I had no alternative.

Instead of my normal workouts, every day I sat in a corner of my bedroom after class and mentally did every exercise and performed every repetition in my mind. I could not run, but I could mentally go through the entire three and a half mile run and the other exercises in my mind. I did these mental exercises not just five days a week, but seven days a week, as if I were doing them in reality rather than in my imagination. I spent the same time sitting on the floor with my eyes shut imagining my workouts as I had in the gym or running on the banks of the nearby Potomac. After about a month, my back pains abated, and I returned to my former actual physical training.

Surprisingly, while I had not increased my strength or endurance during the break in my training, I had not lost anything either. When the day of the competition came, I was at my peak and went all out. My competitors had gotten stronger and increased their scores, but so had I. I was able to do 40 pull-ups, 104 two-minute pushups, 94 two-minute sit-ups and completed the three and a half mile run in 24 minutes and 40 seconds.

I was only first in pull-ups, but I was high enough in everything else. I won the trophy for the highest overall score for the year. There was no question that this was due to the mental technique I had applied and what Drucker had taught me about groupthink being wrong. It enabled me to succeed, just like when the four-minute mile was successfully run by Dr. Bannister despite numerous scientists and doctors on radio and television saying that the human body could not achieve this.

Years later, I suffered a stroke which paralyzed me such that I could not walk or talk. I was able to both regain my speech and my ability to walk, using the same technique and a lot of hard work. The lesson here is that you probably can do a lot more than you think, even if everyone else is certain you cannot.