Managing Oneself

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.

What are my strengths? How do I perform? and, What are my values? And then they can and should decide where they belong.

Taking responsibility for relationships is therefore an absolute necessity.

Organizations are no longer built on force but on trust.

And one gets the same reaction—without exception, in my experience—if one continues by asking, “And what do I need to know about your strengths, how you perform, your values, and your proposed contribution?”

Conversely, it is the marketing vice president’s responsibility to make sure that all of her coworkers understand how she looks at marketing: what her goals are, how she works, and what she expects of herself and of each one of them.

First-rate engineers, for instance, tend to take pride in not knowing anything about people

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. Taking responsibility for relationships is therefore an absolute necessity. It is a duty. Whether one is a member of the organization, a consultant to it, a supplier, or a distributor, one owes that responsibility to all one’s coworkers: those whose work one depends on as well as those who depend on one’s own work.

For example, a planner may find that his beautiful plans fail because he does not follow through on them.

Second, work on improving your strengths.