KNOWING YOURSELF
Carlyle once described the saying ‘know thyself’ as an impos-
sible precept. He felt that to ‘know what thou canst work at’
would be better advice. Therefore, the starting point in career
management is what you can do – your strengths and your
weaknesses. This means developing self-awareness by analysing
your achievements, skills and knowledge and by assessing your
own performance.
Achievement, skills and knowledge
The questions to ask yourself are:
- What have I achieved so far? Answer this question by looking
back on your life and list the key events, happenings, inci-
dents and turning points that have taken place. Whenever
you have succeeded in doing something new or better than
ever before, analyse the factors which contributed to that
success. Was it initiative, hard work, determination, the
correct application of skills and knowledge based on a
searching analysis of the situation, the ability to work in a
team, the exercise of leadership, the capacity to seize an
opportunity (another and better word for luck) and exploit it,
the ability to articulate a need and get into action to satisfy it,
the ability to make things happen – or any other factor you
can think of? - When have I failed to achieve what I wanted? You do not want to
dwell too much on failure but it can be treated positively, as
long as you analyse dispassionately where you went wrong
and assess what you might have been able to do to put it
right. - What am I good or bad at doing?What are your distinctive
competences? Consider these in terms of professional, tech-
nical or managerial know-how as well as the exercise of such
skills as communicating, decision making, problem solving,
team working, exercising leadership, delegating, coordi-
nating, meeting deadlines, managing time, planning, organ-
izing and controlling work, dealing with crises. - How well do I know my chosen area of expertise?Have you got
the right qualifications? Have you acquired the right know-
how through study, training and relevant experience?
82 How to be an Even Better Manager