PART I

Executive Agenda

Management texts stress managing others. Few talk of managing oneself. But managing others is always “iffy.” Does it really work? One can, however, always manage oneself, or at least try.

Managing others is most effectively done by example rather than by preaching or policy. If the example is lacking, the most moving sermon and the wisest policy rarely work. “Do as I tell you and not as I do” is the motto of the outsider, the consultant. Effective executives know that their associates will do as the boss does, and not necessarily as the boss says.

Hence the first section of this volume on the executive and his changing world appropriately deals with the executive, his or her performance, his or her tasks and roles. And since executives are paid to perform and to make sure the right things are done, a keynote is sounded in the second chapter by a piece on managerial performance and its measurement and on the organized feedback needed for continuous learning and self-development in an executive.