Reading the article “Managing Oneself”, reminded me of Joe Song’s question during our summer MP launch – Should one build from a position of strength or work on a weakness ? , crossed my mind.
Peter Drucker posits the following-“Companies today aren’t managing their employees’ careers; knowledge workers must, effectively, be their own chief executive officers. It’s up to you to carve out your place, to know when to change course, and to keep yourself engaged and productive during a work life that may span some 50 years. To do those things well, you’ll need to cultivate a deep understanding of yourself—not only what your strengths and weaknesses are but also how you learn, how you work with others, what your values are, and where you can make the greatest contribution. Because only when you operate from strengths can you achieve true excellence.”
Do we really know our true strengths and weaknesses ? Our classmate Patrick Daly strongly opined that the millennial generation thinks it has very few weaknesses. This is what Mr. Drucker says – “Most people think they know what they are good at. They are usually wrong. More often, people know what they are not good at—and even then more people are wrong than right.”
So how do we recognize our true strengths and weaknesses ? Again, during class we had multiple suggestions from the class as well as from Prof. Noonan. Mr. Drucker recommends the following in answering that elusive question.
“The only way to discover your strengths is through feedback analysis. Whenever you make a key decision or take a key action, write down what you expect will happen. Nine or 12 months later, compare the actual results with your expectations.”
“Practiced consistently, this simple method will show you within a fairly short period of time, maybe two or three years, where your strengths lie—and this is the most important thing to know. The method will show you what you are doing or failing to do that deprives you of the full benefits of your strengths. It will show you where you are not particularly competent.”
By far, this is the one of the best objective method that I have come across that answers the questions raised in class during our MP launch. I plan to implement this in the coming months and hope what I think my strengths are will match my real strengths.
http://hbr.org/2005/01/managing-oneself/ar/1
This is a great logical way for analyzing your strengths and weaknesses. When I read this I thought it would be interesting to see if this methodology could evolve and you are able to scale your strengths and weaknesses to see where you are most competent and incompetent.