Managing Oneself (Harvard Business Review Classics)

by Peter F. Drucker

First and foremost, concentrate on your strengths. Put yourself where your strengths can produce results.

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

bulldozers move mountains; ideas show where the bulldozers should go to work.

It takes far more energy and work to improve from incompetence to mediocrity than it takes to improve from first-rate performance to excellence.

writers do not, as a rule, learn by listening and reading. They learn by writing.

The conclusion bears repeating: Do not try to change yourself—you are unlikely to succeed. But work hard to improve the way you perform.

Organizations, like people, have values. To be effective in an organization, a person’s values must be compatible with the organization’s values.