The Start

The basic idea – the need for a more professional self-management method – started many years ago, reading the books of Peter F. Drucker on this new group called Knowledge Workers. In the agriculture and industrial age, the source of value was owned by others than those who did the actual work. In the knowledge age for the first time the person who does the work actually owns the source of value: knowledge.

The best companies understood that this required a new way of working, giving more freedom to the professionals. They were ‘empowered’ to make important decisions.

The Worst Boss

This also led to a management gap. With less top-down steering there was a need for another type of management: self-management. However, as we did not have a history in managing ourselves nor the right tools this proved to be a challenge. Seth Godin even outlined that we are the worst boss for ourselves. Increasingly we can see the consequences, growing sickness levels, a burn-out explosion, high staff turnover and disappointing productivity. Of course, poor self-management is not the only cause of these issues, but a person who can manage his/her time and energy well will be more productive (doing more in less time) and more energetic, and therefore less likely to get ill or overworked.

Our Mission

The mission of ForeF is to give professionals simple and powerful tools to boost their self-management capabilities and hence become happier and more successful.