Pace University I

Coming home from a month in Panama in 1973,
He was faced with the problem of what to do next.
The bad part of solo consulting is that it is next to
Impossible to perform a job and sell another at the same time.

So he took time to consider his options.
He might throw in with McKinsey or Booz Hamilton,
But that would surely mean considerable travel
And perhaps a difficult and/or international relocation.

That kind of consulting is a younger man's game,
And at 45, how much longer would he be willing to do it?
He really needed to stay with something long enough
To collect a decent pension, if such were available.

Asking himself, what do I really like to do,
The answer came in a flash -- teaching.
So he perused the educator tombstones in the Wall Street Journal,
And found something attractive that popped out of the pages.

Pace University in Manhattan and Pleasantville wanted
A full-time professor of management, a new position,
To introduce and teach courses in business management, and
To develop and expand an undergraduate program in management.

He said, "I can do that!", and fired off a letter and resume.
The first question that the dean asked in the subsequent interview
Was, "What do you know about Peter Drucker?"
"Everything."  So they talked for hours over lunch.

Pace already had scheduled a course in Principles of Management,
At both campuses, with the instructor, TBA, and
A required course for all business majors, called
Management Policies and Practices, whatever that was.

Commuting from Scarsdale to both campuses,
He struggled at first with confusing syllabi,
Then gradually shaped the courses to something resembling
The case method of teaching pioneered at Harvard.

His compensation was exactly half what he had last received
In the private sector, but he hoped to continue consulting on the side.
That didn't happen; he was too busy coping with academics.
Later he eked out more income from extra teaching and administration.