I regularly read Rich Karlgaard’s pieces at Forbes.com, both his
Digital Rules blog and his commentaries. His piece from Monday focused on
Peter Drucker and his take on leadership. Rich calls Drucker “the greatest management thinker of our time” and references his piece called “
Managing Oneself.”
The gist of it is that before you can manage an organization, you need to be able to manage yourself. In the piece, Drucker asks a number of questions:
What are my strengths?
How do I perform?
What are my values?
Where do I belong?
What should I contribute?
This is a great exercise for any leader. You need to understand who you are and what you contribute before you can ask others to follow you. For one thing, you need to know what you’re good at and what you aren’t. Most managers can tell you their strengths. Not as many can tell you their weaknesses. That understanding is key not only to delegating but also to hiring the people who work with you.
While reading this I was also struck by how much it applies to organizations. Most corporate leaders don’t spend enough time analyzing the core competencies of their company. This framework provides a good way to do that. If you don’t know who you are, as a manager or as a company, you can’t know where you’re going.
Jim Davis, Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer for SAS, is responsible for providing strategic direction for SAS products, solutions and services and presenting the SAS brand worldwide. Additionally, he oversees a number of operational units including Publications, Education, and Alliances and Channels. In this blog he writes about the larger issues that affect a global business, and what it takes to be competitive in the 21st century. Read more about Jim.
