A Class with Drucker - Headway | Work on yourself

DRUCKER’S PRINCIPLES OF SELF-DEVELOPMENT ■ 235
We then went on to other subjects. As I thought about this later, I realized
that Peter probably considered his conversations <strong>with</strong> others, including
myself, to be part of his personal self-development program. From the
time he was a youth, Peter spent a good deal of time interacting intellectually
<strong>with</strong> visitors in his parents’ home; he said he considered this his real
education. I knew that this aspect of his education and self-development
continued throughout his life.
I spent some time thinking about Peter’s comments. I had enjoyed some
success since I had first met him almost thirty years earlier, and I had
learned a great deal from him. Still, there is no doubt that it was my own
responsibility to make use of the lessons he taught and the wisdom he
imparted. I had applied many of his principles and benefited enormously
from them. However, I realized that the potential was still not fully realized.
Peter did not promote his system of self-development. It may have been
because he, himself, did not realize to what extent he was following one.
Was a system of self-development yet another important gift that Peter had
to contribute? I decided to look again at some of the things I had learned
from him over the years, as well as what he had done, both purposefully
and unconsciously, to develop himself.
<strong>Drucker</strong>’s Basic Premise
Peter thought that all of us have strengths on which we could capitalize
and use to develop ourselves. This was his first principle of self-development.
Weaknesses in all individuals are inevitable; however, so are
strengths. In building an organization, managers need to staff so as to capitalize
on individual strengths, and to make weaknesses irrelevant. He
believed the same about personal development. His beliefs were that you
should concentrate on developing your strengths and, further, that you
must accept responsibility for managing yourself. He did not exclude himself
from this principle.
Once in the classroom someone had the audacity to ask Peter if he ever
had any personal managerial experience. Where others might have considered
this an affront to someone of his accomplishments and stature, he
simply said, “Very little; I was, however, consultant to the president,
almost a dean at Bennington College early in my career as an academic.”
Now, that was something new. I had never thought of <strong>Drucker</strong> as a practicing
manager. His achievements were too great as a management thinker,