THE MANAGEMENT OF YOU

In my career I was very lucky. I had the opportunity to work directly with businesses in a number of countries and with a great number of excellent executives. I was also exposed to a number of executives who did not perform well. While there were a number of reasons why these poorer executives did not perform at a high level one trait I noticed was of most interest to me. Many of these executives were equally poor at managing themselves as they were at managing others. On the other hand, most of the high performing executives were very adept at self-management. This observation remained with me as I began to teach courses in global management. The ability to be a good self-manager manifested itself in two ways. First, the good self-managers were skilled at fulfilling their potential and achieving high levels of advancement in their company. Second, these same people were very proficient in the management of others.

THE BIGGEST DISCONNECT

The biggest disconnect I observed in my travels was the expectation by poor managers that others should perform different from them; perform to different standards; or perform via different rules. The old adage: “Do as I say not do as I do” described the poor managers. In many cases the biggest deficiency was often the trigger point for the disconnect from the employees. It was as if the poor managers expected their employees to cover for their deficiencies. Managers who exhibited little personal self-control were least tolerant of those employees who exhibited the same trait.

HIGH ACHIEVERS

Good self-managers excelled at becoming high achievers. They were the most adept at fulfilling their potential. In my book “Theory You” I make the observation that the first half of a career is spent getting raises and promotions based upon what one is able to do. The self-managers succeeded in the first half of their career because they were able to manage themselves to perform work at a high level and excel versus competition. They put themselves in good position to move up the organization until they achieved the level of management. They did this based upon their ability to utilize their personal assets to outperform their competition in the company.

MANAGING OTHERS

The good self-managers became good managers of others once they reached the level of management in the second half of their career in large part because they were able to shift their learning and skills from managing themselves to managing others. They knew what worked and were prepared. The transition is challenging but the self-managers have a huge lead and advantage over those who arrive at management unprepared for that big step. Everyone is not the same, and a rigid management style will not be effective in managing a large group. However, an understanding of what has worked in managing one’s self and what has not worked gives the self-manager a huge advantage as they shift their attention to others.

JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER

John D. Rockefeller said: “Good management consists in showing average people how to do the work of superior people.” If we all have humility and consider ourselves “average” then good self-management is the tool that propels us to become superior. And knowing how we managed ourselves to become a superior worker is the key to managing other average people to become superior. If it starts with us it is simply a transition to manage others. Self-management and self-mentoring can be important keys to a successful career.