Another long gap. And times are tougher still. So what does it take to manage effectively and successfully these days? How do you learn to manage? There is much less training around and you may have to do more learning under your own steam. As I see it, the ability to see things clearly and to be ready for basic assumptions to change is one of the most important aids to learning and survival as a manager these days. This means taking responsibility for your own ideas, looking for evidence, checking things out. I'd say that the time for following the mantras of management, or even the assumptions within your organisation, is over or is certainly going. Increasingly we have to run our working lives as our own business, even when we're in a big organisation. This kind of approach to your work, whether employed or self-employed, can give you a kind of inner security - but it's hard work. I'll develop thee ideas in my next post and will welcome comments.