A Class with Drucker - Headway | Work on yourself

DEVELOP EXPERTISE OUTSIDE YOUR FIELD ■ 79
<strong>Drucker</strong>’s Approach to Becoming a Strategic Leader
The program I came up <strong>with</strong> for developing strategic leaders is not complicated,
but like many simple but important tasks, it is not necessarily
easy, either. However, the good news is that you can implement this program
on your own. There are only one main and two supporting elements.
The main component I have already introduced to you. It is to follow
<strong>Drucker</strong>’s exhortation to take the time to become an expert outside of your
main profession. For my more cynical readers, I would suggest that the
game of golf does not qualify. The two supporting elements will help you
in many ways, not only in developing this second field of expertise, but
also in broadening and sharpening your thinking.
To become a strategic leader, you need to become proactive and take
action starting now. The object is to start to think and act strategically,
and to handle the increased complexity resulting from the necessity to
integrate numerous elements that are, in some cases, far removed from
your basic expertise and experience. This process, as <strong>Drucker</strong> taught,
requires you to develop expertise outside of your current thinking. This
is the main element.
This is a good opportunity to pick up on some interest that you may
have ignored in order to focus on the main aspects of your career. It doesn’t
matter too much what this field of expertise is. You need to become an
expert in something far removed from whatever it is you do for a living.
At first, this may feel a little unnatural. You may have spent so much time
and energy in becoming the best at what you do in your profession that
you are going to feel guilty about taking time away from this focus. Also,
as you got better and better at one thing, knowing more and more about
less and less, you may have come to the point that, <strong>with</strong>in your profession,
nothing really challenges you for very long. You could lead, in most
instances, almost in your sleep.
You are so competent at what you currently do that anything new that
you learn in your present field can be related to dozens of other elements
in the same general arena about which you are familiar. This is not going
to be the same when you decide to become a real expert in a totally different
discipline. For the first time in years, you are probably going to feel
inept, and less confident. Stay <strong>with</strong> it.
The fact that you learned so much in one field means that you can
repeat it in another. Your confidence in what you do now is beneficial to
that extent. You are supposed to feel uncomfortable as you learn something