Chapter 1. The Fundamental Decision Determining the Business of the Organization

A major responsibility of any leader, according to Peter Drucker, is to determine the real business of an organization. I learned this lesson even before I met Drucker and became his student. I was a young manager, but although I had held management and executive titles in several business situations, I knew very little about business management. As a West Point graduate who had served in the Air Force, I knew something about leadership, but I hadn't sufficiently applied those skills to business management.

Shortly before meeting Drucker, I became director of research and development for a small company producing life-support equipment for military aviators as well ...

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