We live in an age of unprecedented opportunity: with ambition, drive, and talent, you can rise to the top of your chosen profession regardless of where you started out.



But with opportunity comes responsibility. Companies today aren't managing their knowledge workers' careers. Instead, you must be your own chief executive officer. That means it's up to you to carve out your place in the world and know when to change course. And it's up to you to keep yourself engaged and productive during a career that may span some 50 years.



In Managing Oneself, Peter Drucker explains how to do it. The keys: Cultivate a deep understanding of yourself by identifying your most valuable strengths and most dangerous weaknesses. Articulate how you learn and work with others and what your most deeply held values are. Describe the type of work environment where you can make the greatest contribution.



Only when you operate with a combination of your strengths and self-knowledge can you achieve true and lasting excellence. Managing Oneself identifies the probing questions you need to ask to gain the insights essential for taking charge of your career.



Peter Drucker was a writer, teacher, and consultant. His thirty-four books have been published in more than seventy languages. He founded the Peter F. Drucker Foundation for Nonprofit Management, and counseled thirteen governments, public services institutions, and major corporations.

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Today, knowledge workers outlive organisations and are mobile. The need to manage oneself is therefore creating a revolution in human affairs. Drucker gives advise on the management of ourselves. We need to ask ourselves the following questions: What are my strengths?; How do I perform?; What are my values? The authors provides advise on how to answer these questions> Once these questions are answered we need to find out where we belong and what we should contribute. According to Drucker, "we will have to place ourselves where we can make the greatest contribution." But because we need to work with others we also need to take responsibility for our relationships. This requires us to accept other people as much as individuals as ourselves and take responsibility for communication. The author also identifies that most knowledge workers are not "finished" after 40 years on the job, "they are merely bored". He identifies three ways to develop a second career: (1) start one; (2) develop a parallel career; or (3) be a social entrepreneur. And managing the second half of your life requires you to begin with it before you enter it.

Great article by the Master of Management on how we can manage ourselves. He recognizes the latest trend whereby knowledge workers are outliving organizations which result in them having/creating second careers. He provides advise on where to locate yourself based on your strengths, performance, and values. This article is an exerpt from his 1999-book 'Management Challenges for the 21st Century'. As usual Drucker uses his famous simple US-English writing style. Highly recommended, just like all his articles.

20 of 20 found the following review helpful:

Self Help for People on the moveFeb 03, 2008
By Munawar Ali "Munawar - blog.munawarali.com"
On par with George Leonards "Mastery", this is one of those books that you can set your career too. 50 Pages of high level information on obvious, common sense aspects to career building, that most of us forget, or never focus on.

I couldn't put this one down, and gleamed much wisdom from it. I would almost call this book "Drucker's personal insight on how to manage your life"

3 of 3 found the following review helpful:

Excellent for Self ExaminationJul 04, 2009
By W. Simon
Drucker is one of the bests at challenge his readers to a new way of thinking. I know I read this article several times already and will refer to it again.

I highly recommend it.

2 of 2 found the following review helpful:

Great article on self life managementMay 16, 2009
By Emil B "Emil"
This is not a book in the true sense, but an article printed in form of a small book. The size should not diminish in any way the quality of the writing. This is a small gem that one has a look at in a time of reflection. If you read it you will learn something from it because it has that ability to stir your mind and discover a fresh view.

In essence the principles of self management are: know your own strength, know how you perform (method of learning and delivery) and personal values. You also have to know where you belong. This seems simple but it is difficult to realise that knowledge in practice.

One other aspect discussed in this book is the question of personal contribution that you bring to the organisation, a favourite topic for Peter Drucker. Following from that, it is interesting to consider one's responsibility for managing the relationship with others.

Finally, I found valuable the consideration for a career in the second life half. Now that I read that it makes sense to me. The discourse is short, sharp and practical. I think it is very useful for people who consider a second career in their life as a planned venture not as a move to better employment opportunities

Overall, great article, but I give it four stars because it is not a book. It should be made clear in the introduction somewhere that it is just that.


1 of 1 found the following review helpful:

Pamphlet not a bookNov 14, 2010
By ChadKnowsLaw
I enjoy Drucker's work and writings and usually have no complaints. However, this is a pamphlet, not a book. It is a mere 57 pages and it actually fits in my back pocket. I didn't read the description very well and thought I was getting a great deal -- a Drucker tome for under $10.
This is definitely good, high-quality Drucker -- just in bite size.

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