This is the third segment in the book review for Blaine McCormick’s “Ben Franklin’s 12 Rules of Management.” In total I will be posting twelve as I discover the rules and extract tidbits from the book. I encourage you to pick up a copy of the book and read along as I will be omitting portions in the interest of keeping the integrity of Blaine’s work.

Franklin’s third rule of management is ‘Seek to manage yourself, then to manage others.” The major idea behind this chapter is that it is important to set a positive example by managing yourself. After you have are able to do this, than managing others should be no problem whatsoever.

You are in charge of being your own manager. In life and work you are in charge. The book contains an excellent quote on the subject, “If you never learn to manage yourself, somebody else will always be managing you.”

While this chapter is much lighter than the first two, the message is still equally as valid. Seek to improve what you do on a regular basis before trying to motivate those under you. The chapter ends with a great statement on benefit of getting self managed people on your workforce. “Rather than eliminating the need for managers, self-managing workers actually change the role of the manager’s job. Managers are liberated from the role of motivator and scorekeeper and can concentrate more on such activities as growing the business and building up external contacts”