Drucker's Theory Of Managing Yourself

Peter Drucker (1999), in an excerpt from his book Management Challenges for the 21st Century, discusses the concept of managing oneself. He believes that "success in the knowledge economy comes to those who know themselves-their strengths, their values, and how they best perform" (p. 65). Since very few people work by themselves, part of the job of managing yourself requires taking responsibility for relationships. Drucker states it has two parts. First, one needs to accept the fact that other people are as individualistic as yourself. They have both strengths and weaknesses and to be effective we have to know what they are, their modes of operation and their values so we can make the best use of them. The second part of relationship responsibility is "taking responsibility for communication" (p. 72). We need to know what others do and the importance of what they do. He observes that it is common not to ask these questions because

"Consequently, the first step to becoming a SuperLeader is to become an effective self-leader" (p. 23). When we become more effective in our own self-leadership, we gain greater insight and empathy for others who struggle to make good choices and improving themselves. As a result, we serve as a model of someone who has struggled with being personally effective but has found a way to do so and therefore we are in a better position to help others find their own way. (Manz, 2001). Jesus Christ spent a lot of time developing leaders who would continue His work on earth. He chose, called, taught, mentored, commissioned and empowered them. In doing so, He transformed a group of very ordinary (somewhat raw and sometimes unreliable) followers into the nucleus who would turn society upside down. Jesus was the epitome self-leadership and his example inspired those men and women and continues to do so