Harvard Business Review Leader's Handbook

6.

Leading Yourself

Successful careers are not planned. They develop when people are prepared for opportunities because they know their strengths, their method of work, and their values.

—Peter Drucker

Because leadership creates significant impact through the work of others, we’ve devoted much of this book to what you need to do with and for your organization. That’s not to say, though, that a focus on yourself is unimportant. Indeed, organizational impact ultimately rests with you, and if you are not equipped to handle it, success will be hard to find. To lead others successfully, you must also lead yourself.

In this chapter, we thus turn our ...