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BOOK SUMMARY: Managing Oneself by Peter Drucker
Great achievers manage themselves. That, in large measure, is what makes them great achievers.
The book asks probing questions to gain the insights essential for taking charge of your career. https://www.reading.guru/managing-oneself-by-peter-drucker/">https://www.reading.guru/managing-...
Great achievers manage themselves. That, in large measure, is what makes them great achievers.
The book asks probing questions to gain the insights essential for taking charge of your career. https://www.reading.guru/managing-oneself-by-peter-drucker/">https://www.reading.guru/managing-...
Key Highlights:
One cannot build performance on weaknesses, let alone on something one cannot do at all.
1/n
One cannot build performance on weaknesses, let alone on something one cannot do at all.
1/n
The only way to discover your strengths is through feedback analysis.
Whenever you make a key decision or take a key action, write down what you expect will happen. Nine or 12 months later, compare the actual results with your expectations.
2/n
Whenever you make a key decision or take a key action, write down what you expect will happen. Nine or 12 months later, compare the actual results with your expectations.
2/n
Concentrate on your strengths.
Put yourself where your strengths can produce results.
3/n
Put yourself where your strengths can produce results.
3/n
It takes far more energy and work to improve from incompetence to mediocrity than it takes to improve from first-rate performance to excellence.
4/n
4/n
One should waste as little effort as possible on improving areas of low competence.
5/n
5/n
It is a law of nature that two moving bodies in contact with each other create friction.
Manners are the lubricating oil of an organization.
6/n
Manners are the lubricating oil of an organization.
6/n
Questions to understand how you perform.
- Am I a reader or a listener?
- How do I learn?
- Do I work well with people, or am I a loner?
- Do I produce results as a decision maker or as an adviser?
- Do I work best in a big organization or a small one?
7/n
- Am I a reader or a listener?
- How do I learn?
- Do I work well with people, or am I a loner?
- Do I produce results as a decision maker or as an adviser?
- Do I work best in a big organization or a small one?
7/n
Do not try to change yourself—you are unlikely to succeed.
But work hard to improve the way you perform.
And try not to take on work you cannot perform or will only perform poorly.
8/n
But work hard to improve the way you perform.
And try not to take on work you cannot perform or will only perform poorly.
8/n
To be effective in an organization, a person’s values must be compatible with the organization’s values.
9/n
9/n
Successful careers are not planned.
They develop when people are prepared for opportunities because they know their strengths, their method of work, and their values.
10/n
They develop when people are prepared for opportunities because they know their strengths, their method of work, and their values.
10/n
Knowing where one belongs can transform an ordinary person—hardworking and competent but otherwise mediocre—into an outstanding performer.
11/n
11/n
Very few of the people who believed that doing one’s own thing would lead to contribution, self-fulfillment, and success achieved any of the three.
12/n
12/n
It is rarely possible—or even particularly fruitful—to look too far ahead.
A plan can usually cover no more than 18 months and still be reasonably clear and specific.
13/n
A plan can usually cover no more than 18 months and still be reasonably clear and specific.
13/n
Managing yourself requires taking responsibility for relationships.
Two aspects:
- The first is to accept the fact that other people are as much individuals as you yourself are.
- The second part of relationship responsibility is taking responsibility for communication.
14/n
Two aspects:
- The first is to accept the fact that other people are as much individuals as you yourself are.
- The second part of relationship responsibility is taking responsibility for communication.
14/n
Organizations are no longer built on force but on trust.
The existence of trust between people does not necessarily mean that they like one another. It means that they understand one another.
15/n
The existence of trust between people does not necessarily mean that they like one another. It means that they understand one another.
15/n
Today, however, most work is knowledge work, and knowledge workers are not “finished” after 40 years on the job, they are merely bored.
Managing oneself increasingly leads one to begin a second career.
16/n
Managing oneself increasingly leads one to begin a second career.
16/n
People who manage the second half of their lives may always be a minority.
The majority may “retire on the job” and count the years until their actual retirement.
17/n
The majority may “retire on the job” and count the years until their actual retirement.
17/n
No one can expect to live very long without experiencing a serious setback in his or her life or work.
In a society in which success has become so terribly important, having options will become increasingly vital.
18/n
In a society in which success has become so terribly important, having options will become increasingly vital.
18/n
Historically, there was no such thing as “success.”
The over-whelming majority of people did not expect anything but to stay in their “proper station.”
19/n
The over-whelming majority of people did not expect anything but to stay in their “proper station.”
19/n
In a knowledge society we expect everyone to be a success.
This is clearly an impossibility. For a great many people, there is at best an absence of failure.
20/n
This is clearly an impossibility. For a great many people, there is at best an absence of failure.
20/n
In effect, managing oneself demands that each knowledge worker think and behave like a chief executive officer.
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