Peter F Drucker - Managing Oneself - a synopsis, Harvard Business Review, career management

1. A S Y N O P S I S F R O M T H E O R I G I N A L A R T I C L E
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2. MANAGING ONESELF –
Article © 1999 Harvard Business Review OnPoint
4444
Published by Peter F. Drucker March-April 1999
M A N A G I N G O N E S E L F – B Y P E T E R F D R U C K E R 2
 What are my strengths?
 How do I perform?
 What are my values?
 Where do I belong?
 What should I
contribute?
 Responsibility of
relationships
 Summary
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ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

3. WHAT ARE MY STRENGTHS?
Feedback Analysis:
 Feedback Analysis is the only way to identify your strengths.
 Write down expected outcomes for your key decisions and actions. 9 to
twelve months later, compare them with the results.
 Action plan:
 Put yourself where your strengths can produce results
 Work to improve your strengths
 Avoid intellectual arrogance – acquire skills as required
 Remedy bad habits; have no lack of manners
 Know what not to do – identify incompetence areas and avoid them
M A N A G I N G O N E S E L F – B Y P E T E R D R U C K E R 3
Know what you are good at –
A person can perform only from strengths. One cannot build
performance on weaknesses, let alone something one cannot do at all.

4. HOW DO I PERFORM?
As any personality trait – How a person performs is a given, just as what
a person is good at or not good at
Am I a “reader” or a “listener”?
 A reader, such as the US President Kennedy or Secretory McNamara, prefers
educating oneself by reading reports before press meetings and discussions
 A listener, such as the US President Roosevelt, likes to face it and talking the
matter out aloud instead of preparatory reading or writing
 A reader can not fully become a listener–and vice versa
How do I learn?
 A person may learn by reading, writing, doing, talking, listening to, or a
combination thereof
 One must always employ the methods that work
M A N A G I N G O N E S E L F – B Y P E T E R D R U C K E R 4
Do not try to change yourself too much –
instead, work harder to improve the way you perform

5. WHAT ARE MY VALUES?
The mirror test: Ethics require that you ask yourself, “What kind of person
do I want to see in the mirror in the morning?”
Personal value system should be compatible with that of the
organization’s. The typical conflicts to avoid are:
 Organization’s commitment to new vs. old employees
 Incremental improvements or risky breakthroughs
 Emphasis on short-term results vs. long-term goals
 Quality vs. Quantity, and Growth vs. Sustenance
M A N A G I N G O N E S E L F – B Y P E T E R D R U C K E R 5
In other words, values are, and should be, the ultimate test for your
compatibility with an organization

6. WHERE DO I BELONG?
Highly gifted people must realize early where do they belong, or rather
where do they not belong
Successful careers are not planned,
 Successful careers develop when people are prepared for opportunities
because they know their strengths, their method of work, and their values
 Knowing where one belongs can transform an ordinary person – hardworking
and competent but otherwise mediocre – into an outstanding performer
M A N A G I N G O N E S E L F – B Y P E T E R D R U C K E R 6
Mathematicians, Musicians and Cooks are usually –
mathematicians, musicians and cooks by the time they are four or five
years old…

7. WHAT SHOULD I CONTRIBUTE?
A knowledge worker’s quest on contribution involves:
• What does the situation require?
• Given my strengths, methods, and values, what is the great
contribution that I can make to what needs to be done?
• What results have to be achieved to make a real difference?
It’s rarely possible to look too far ahead – 18 months should be planned
to–
• Achieve meaningful results and make a difference
• Set stretched and difficult goals that are reachable
• Gain visible and measurable outcome
M A N A G I N G O N E S E L F – B Y P E T E R D R U C K E R 7
Define the course of action –
What to do; where and how to start; and what goals, objectives,
deadlines to set

8. RESPONSIBILITY FOR RELATIONSHIPS
Bosses are neither the ‘title’ on the Org chart nor the ‘function’ –
to adapt to what makes the boss more effective is the secret of
“managing the boss”
Working relationships are as much based on people as on work –
co-workers are as much human and individuals as you are
Taking the responsibility of communicating how you perform
reduces personality conflicts
M A N A G I N G O N E S E L F – B Y P E T E R D R U C K E R 8
Organizations are built on trust between people – not necessarily
meaning that they like each other – but that they understand one another

9. SUMMARY
In the knowledge industry,
 Mostly, success is at best an absence of failure
 Knowledge workers outlive the organizations
 Knowledge workers are mobile, and may not stay put
 The need to manage oneself is therefore creating a revolution in
human affairs
M A N A G I N G O N E S E L F – B Y P E T E R D R U C K E R 9
Managing oneself requires new and unprecedented things from the
individual – to the point where each knowledge worker thinks and
behaves like a CEO

10. M A N A G I N G O N E S E L F – B Y P E T E R D R U C K E R 10
Sources and further reading –
Go to the detailed article on HBR website:
Managing Oneself (HBR Paperback)
Go to Amazon.com for books by Drucker:
Author Peter F. Drucker on Amazon
More on Drucker and his active life:
Peter F. Drucker – wiki biography
Original article © 1999 Harvard Business Review
Presentation © 2010-2017 - http://blog.mindgap.in - All Rights Reserved