Book Review: HBR: On Managing Yourself

I picked up this Harvard Business Review's 10 Must Reads: On Managing Yourself this summer while at the Harvard Coop. I thought it fitting. I actually had two semi-strange experiences while in the Coop. We walked in and I practically walked right to a front facing copy of Donald Kagan's The Peloponnesian War. (I'm a big Kagan fan and have that book queued up.) The same thing happened with OMY.

I have read most of the articles collected in this book. But the editors did an excellent job of curating this collection. This is a book I will reference again and again. I have already recommended it to several people. This is a book to turn to when you need to reset. I find that I get off track from time to time. I believe I was off track when I serendipitously looked up and saw this book in a book store far far away, yet one I went to often when I lived in Boston.

It is hard to pick a place to start here. The "bonus" selection is Clayton Christensen's "How Will You Measure Your Life?". It is a perfect choice. He asks three questions:

1. How can I be sure that I can be happy in my career?
2. How can I be sure that the relationship with my spouse and my family become an enduring source of happiness?
3. How can I be sure I will stay out of jail?

Christensen references Frederick Herzberg: "the most powerful motivator in our lives isn't money: its the opportunity to learn, grow in responsibilities, contribute to others, and be recognized for achievements."

Yes. 

Possibly the main theme of OMY is RESOURCE ALLOCATION. Christensen kicks it off. 

The second piece is by Drucker. Know your strengths. Know where you can have a positive impact. Measure. Solicit feedback. Honest feedback. 

Daniel Coutu's piece on Resilience is included: "How Resilience Works". 

Resilient people possess three defining characteristics: They cooly accept the harsh realities facing them. They find meaning in terrible times. And they have an uncanny ability to improvise, making do with whatever's at hand."

I love it.

The next piece is "Manage Your Energy, Not Your Time" by Schwartz and McCarthy. Like Jen Sertl says, you only have so much "wattage" in a given period of time. It is how you choose to allocate that energy that makes all the difference. There is that resource allocation theme again.

I love the inclusion of "Overloaded Circuits". The author, Edward M. Hallowell calls out ADT. Attention Deficit Trait. A very real phenomenon that happens when we are forced to process too much information over time. I think this is what I mean when I say "reset". I find that from time to time, I get a little - "lost". I lose sight of myself. I get caught up in the "grind." I get caught up in just moving from task to task to task. I stop doing the things that I should be doing just to check boxes.

I also love the next piece - "Be a Better Leader, Have a Richer Life". It calls out four of life's domains: work, home, community and self. I remember reading this in 2008. It kicked me down a path of trying to find balance. And that might even be too easy of a statement. It started me down the road of measuring performance int those domains. I have added others since then but the foundation is excellent. Over the last few months, I have formalized this into a monthly review. A balanced scorecard review if you will. I have a formal score card that I use. I track progress against several domains. I don't always accomplish everything. But the mere fact of tracking forces me to pause almost day to day and check myself.

That brings me to Robert S. Kaplan's "What to Ask the Person in the Mirror".

I have learned that a key characteristic of highly successful leaders is not that they figure out how to always stay on course, but that they develop techniques to help them recognize a deteriorating situation and get back on track as quickly as possible. 

And there it is. He talks about managing time. He talks about soliciting honest feedback. Again with the recurring themes.

Seriously, go buy this book. Mine is already highlighted, dog-earred, covered in post it notes. I am going to pick this up again and again. I'm not perfect, but I think I am a little farther down the path than I was yesterday.