Leaders and Managers

        Based on the readings, I believe that when we discuss about leaders and managers, their effectiveness is the key. As such, if a manager wants to be truly effective in their work, they must be self-aware. Everyone has strengths and weaknesses. Everyone makes mistakes. But, to learn from these mistakes, to personally develop and grow through your errors is the key to success. As a manager, one of your duties is to assess, and evaluate the actions of others. However, it is also important for you to assess your own work and be open to positive and negative feedback from others, because that kind of an introspection helps ensure that your behaviours are consistent with your fundamental goals. To relate back my thoughts to the reading, here is a phrase from Mintzberg’s (1990) article. According to Mintzberg, “the managers’ effectiveness is significantly influenced by their insight into their own work” (p. 173).  Thus, if a manager understands and responds to the pressures of the job, realizes his or her strengths, remedies their bad habits, knows themselves in terms of their performance, then they are engaging in self-awareness to extract the best out of themselves. This step eventually leads them to become great managers and develop successful careers as they are prepared for all the opportunities and challenges (Drucker, 2005).

        In his article, Drucker (2005) poses five questions for those who want to be great achievers. Firstly, Drucker asks you to know yourself through your strengths. I believe that I know what my strengths and weaknesses are. Yet, I fail to reflect upon them. I can always make use of my strengths but never work around my weaknesses. For example, I can take negative feedback for my weaknesses and understand when someone points out at them. However, I fail to remedy my weakness and my bad habits even when I know that they exist and are causing me to be ineffective. This eventually leads to my bad performance. Drucker’s second question was about performance. He argues that “different people work and perform differently” (p. 102). Thus, it is important that you realize and know your work style. For me, I am a good listener and a visual learner. Thus, I tend to listen and grasp minute details while remembering and understanding through visuals or facial expressions. But at the same time, when it comes to making decisions, it is usually the weak point for me, because I consider myself as being indecisive. Drucker’s next questions asks about your values. He argues that there is usually a conflict between a person’s personal values and their organization’s value. This happened to me a few years ago when I used to work at a marketing/sales company. The company was completely sales driven which means no sales=no commission or pay. As such employees were expected to make sales even if it means lying to the customers. For me, that was unacceptable as I always believed in honest sales. However, I kept working for that company for a long time before I finally realized that it was against my beliefs. Drucker’s next question was about your belonging. I always wanted to become a police officer. However, I did realize that I do not believe in the cop culture that exists in the cop community. So, I decided to choose a different career. Thus, I at least know where I do not belong. Drucker’s final question asks about your contribution. I think my answer to this question will be incomplete, because I know what the situation is and what it requires from me. I also know how I will use my strengths to achieve what I want for this society. But, I am unsure about the results. I am not sure if the goals I have set for myself are reasonable enough.