Happy to be back. And I can’t think of a more appropriate subject to begin with than how we think about our work and how we organize our lives so we have satisfying work. It’s a challenge to make it all come together.
In our quest, we make much of Mr. Drucker’s recommendation to “reinvent yourself.” One colleague has even suggested that the idea itself has become something of a cliche.
Not from where I sit.
The whole topic of moving forward, of bringing one’s self into an energizing and rewarding career – even if it means rearranging what one has previously been doing – is talked about a great deal among people I know, and recently that idea, long attributed to Peter F. Drucker, fell a little more neatly in place.
Reading The Daily Drucker on a regular basis is something of a tonic for many folks, and I’m among that group. And, as I say, since several of us have been speaking about the whole idea of reinventing one’s self, I was delighted to discover that the Drucker reading for January 25 is, yes, the one about his recommendation that we go in this direction.
Captured for that date is this (from Drucker on Asia, published by Butterworth Heinemann in 1995):
“People change over such a long span. They become different persons with different needs, different abilities, different perspectives, and, therefore, with a need to ‘reinvent themselves.’ I quite intentionally use a stronger word than ‘revitalize.’ If you talk of fifty years of working life – and this, I think, is going to be increasingly the norm – you have to reinvent yourself. You have to make something different out of yourself, rather than just find a new supply of energy.”
So since I’ve been away from these posts, has Mr. Guy been reinventing himself?
As usual, it depends on your perspective but I will mention that my professional life has broadened and now includes an important commitment to academic work. After tipping my toe into that (not totally unfamiliar) community as we developed the curriculum and began delivering courses to students for Columbia University’s M.S. in Information and Knowledge Strategy program, I find myself very happy about what we are doing. I now have three roles in this work: I teach, I serve on the program’s advisory committee, and I’m an adviser to the program. Just delighting in this new experience.
The company where I’ve been employed for nearly 30 years – SMR – continues to satisfy (there’s more about SMR here). In addition to my contribution to the delivery of our company’s products (management consulting and strategic learning), I’m lucky to be able to continue occasional blog posts for our clients and colleagues (and apparently for many others who pick up on what I’m writing via numerous LinkedIn knowledge management groups). It’s our intention to have the posts appearing on a weekly basis, written either by me or guest bloggers, so watch for and respond to what we have to say. Our posts appear here.
We’re also continuing our occasional SMR Special Reports (the latest are here and here). And if you’re not reading Guy St. Clair’s Knowledge Services Newsletter, let me invite you to do so. It’s my free monthly newsletter, just started. I hope to provide a couple of comments or thoughts each month, together with a reference to another site or two. Sign up here. Just insert your e-mail address at the space in the upper right-hand section of the screen. You’ll be automatically subscribed, and you can opt out at any time.
So we’re probably going to see some mixing of Mr. Guy’s professional interests with his personal life, since they’re so closely connected anyway. This blog will continue with comments and references to just about anything that interests me, including my professional activities. A lot of attention will focus on my life in New York (as with the following, about one of our great musical leaders in the city) and on what I’m reading, how I’m entertaining myself, the people I’m interacting with, and just about anything else I want to write about.
I look forward to again sharing comments and thoughts with you, and to your comments about what I have to say.