1. Summarize the famous management consultant and writer Peter Drucker's position on "ignorance." Do you agree?

2. Comment on the statement that Zoe Cruz's demise at Morgan Stanley was because of the way she mishandled colleagues as from the way she misjudged financial risk.

3. Do you agree with the Druckerism that "Popularity is not leadership; results are"?

4. Based on your reading of this chapter, how would you have coached Zoe Cruz to be a more effective leader?

Organizational Behavior Case: The Puppet

Rex Justice is a long-term employee of the Carfax Corporation, and for the last several years he has been a supervisor in the financial section of the firm. He is very loyal to Carfax and works hard to follow the company policies and procedures and the orders of the managers above him. In fact, upper-level management think very highly of him; they can always count on Rex to meet any sort of demand that the company places on him. He is valued and well liked by all the top managers. His employees in the financial section have the opposite opinion of Rex. They feel that he is too concerned with pleasing the upper-level brass and not nearly concerned enough with the needs and concerns of the employees in his department. For example, they feel that Rex never really pushes hard enough for a more substantial slice of the budget. Relative to other departments in the company, they feel they are underpaid and overworked. Also, whenever one of them goes to Rex with a new idea or suggestion for improvement, he always seems to have five reasons why it can't be done. There is considerable dissatisfaction in the department, and everyone thinks that Rex is just a puppet for management. Performance has begun to suffer because of his style and leadership. Upper-level management seem to be oblivious to the situation in the finance section.