Monomaniacs with a missionPeter Drucker was a leader in management education. Born in Vienna, he became a legendary management consultant who passed away at the age of 95 in 2005. When he spoke, the business world took notice. Forbes magazine deemed him “the founder of modern management”. One of my favourite Drucker quotes appears in his autobiography, Adventures of a Bystander. “The single-minded ones, the monomaniacs, are the only true achievers. The rest, the ones like me, may have more fun; but they fritter themselves away. Whenever anything is being accomplished, it is being done, I have learned, by a monomaniac with a mission.” We’re all too often guilty of loading too much on our plates. We waste time on Twitter and LinkedIn. We binge-watch episodes of Clarkson’s Farm (yes, I watched the first four episodes late last night!). Or we spread ourselves too thin when we decide that we’re going to renovate the garden, and train for an Ironman and learn Italian – all within the next 6 months. Bottom line… Drucker’s advice is prudent. If we really want to accomplish something that’s important to us, whether it’s building our careers or building a business, we would be better served if — instead of ‘frittering’ ourselves away — we focused our time and energies on that one “mission”. Only when we’re focused and diligent — can we succeed.
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