Peter Drucker on Managing Oneself

Peter Drucker 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.”[i] Unfortunately, we lost him in 2005.

In his article featured in the Best of Harvard Business Review 1999, Managing Oneself, there are fantastic takeaways I completely agree with and discuss with my clients:

1.       “Success in the knowledge economy comes to those who know themselves – their strengths, their visions their values, and how they best perform.

2.       It takes for more energy to improve from incompetence to mediocrity than to improve from first-rate performance to excellence.

3.       The first secret of effectiveness is to understand the people you work with so that you can make use of their strengths.

4.       There is one prerequisite for managing the second half of your life - you must begin doing so long before you enter it.”

[i] Harvard Business Review