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Peter F. Drucker
PUBLICATION DATE: January 01, 2005
Best of HBR 1999.
Peter F. Drucker is the Marie Rankin Clarke Professor
of Social Science and Management (Emeritus) at
Claremont Graduate University in Claremont, California.
He was an Austrian-born American
management consultant, educator, and author, whose
writings contributed to the philosophical and practical
foundations of the modern business corporation.
He was also a leader in the development of
management education, he invented the concept
known as management by objectives, and he has been
described as "the founder of modern management"
Throughout history, people had little need to manage their careers--they were born into their stations
in life or, in the recent past, relied on their companies to chart their career paths.
But times have drastically changed. Today we must all learn to manage ourselves. What does that
mean? As Peter Drucker tells us in this seminal article first published in 1999, it means we have to
learn to develop ourselves. It may seem obvious that people achieve results by doing what they are
good at and by working in ways that fit their abilities. But, Drucker says, very few people actually
know--let alone take advantage of--their fundamental strengths.
He challenges each of us to ask ourselves: What are my strengths? How do I perform? What are my
values? Where do I belong? What should my contribution be? Don't try to change yourself, Drucker
cautions. Instead, concentrate on improving the skills you have and accepting assignments that are
tailored to your individual way of working. If you do that, you can transform yourself from an ordinary
worker into an outstanding performer.
Today's successful careers are not planned out in advance. They develop when people are prepared for
opportunities because they have asked themselves those questions and rigorously assessed their
unique characteristics. This article challenges readers to take responsibility for managing their futures,
both in and out of the office.
1. What are my strengths?
2. How do I perform?
3. What are my values?
4. Where do I belong?
5. What should I contribute?
Responsibility of relationships
The Second Half Of Your Life
Success in the knowledge economy comes to those who know
themselves-their strengths, their values, and how they best
perform
History great achievers have always managed themselves.
That is what makes them great achievers
We will have to learn to manage ourselves
We will have to develop ourselves
We will have to place ourselves where we can make the greatest
contribution
We will have to stay mentally alert and engaged during a 50-
year working life, which means knowing how and when to
change the work we do.
Know what you are good at. A person can perform only from
Strengths. One cannot build performance on weaknesses, let
alone something one can not do at all.
It is easier to know what we are not good at- than to know
what are we good at.
A person can perform only from strength
Discover your strengths through feedback analysis.
Feedback Analysis is the only way to identify your strengths.
Write down expected outcomes for your key decisions and
actions. 9 to 12 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
1. Concentrate in your strengths (put yourself where your
strengths can produce result)
2. Work on improving your strengths (improve your skills or
acquire new ones)
3. Discover where your intellectual arrogance is causing disabling
ignorance and overcome it (remedy your bad habits)
As any personality trait – How a person performs is a given, just
as what a person is good at or not good at.
Different people work and perform differently
Too many people work in ways that are not their ways.
How one performs is unique: matter of personality
Do not try to change yourself (too much) – instead, work harder
to improve the way you perform
A reader, like American president Kennedy or Sec McNamara,
prefers reading reports before press meetings or discussions
A listener, e.g. president Roosevelt, likes facing it, and talking
the matter out aloud instead of reading and writing
A reader can not fully become a listener – and vice versa
A person may learn by reading, writing, doing, talking, listening
to, or with a combination thereof
One must always employ the methods that work
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
In other words, values are, and should be, the ultimate test for your
compatibility with an organization
Mathematicians, Musicians and Cooks are usually mathematicians,
musicians and cooks by the time they are four or five years old
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
Or where I do not belong…
A big or a small organization?
Yes, I will do that”
If I am not a decision maker I should have learned to say no to a
decision maker assignment.
When we answer to the three previous questions, I can and
should decide where I belong.
A knowledge worker’s quest on contribution involves:
What does the situation require?
Given my strengths, methods, and values, what is ‘the’ great
contribution to what needs to be done?
What results have to be achieved to make a difference?
It is 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
Define course of action: What to do; where and how to start; and what
goals, objectives and deadlines to set
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
Organizations are built on trust between people – not
necessarily meaning that they like each other – but that they
understand one another
Managing oneself increasingly leads one to begin a second
career:
Start one (move to another organization
Develop a parallel career
Social entrepreneurs (another activity, usually a nonprofit)
People who manage the second half of their lives may always be
a minority
The majority may “retire on the job
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
Managing oneself requires new and unprecedented things from
the individual – to the point where each knowledge worker
thinks and behaves like a CEO
" Success in the knowledge economy comes to those who know
themselves- their strengths, their values, and how they best
perform."
"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."“
"Taking responsibility for relationships is therefore an absolute
necessity. It is a duty."
(1) use "feedback analysis" to discover and focus on your strengths.
(2) determine how I best perform, as a reader or as a listener,
determine how I learn, and determine if I work well under stress or want
highly structured, predictable environments.
(3) know what my values are, and align my organization with them.
(4) build relationships, and communicate clearly, effectively, constantly
within them, and
(5) after 20 years, most high-performing people will seek out or start
a 2nd career, and planning for it or developing it while in the 1st one is
most successful.
•What are my strengths?
•How do I perform?
•What are my values?
•Where do I belong?
•What should I contribute?
