The Five Most Important Questions You Will Ever Ask About Your Organization

by Peter F. Drucker, Frances Hesselbein Leadership Institute (Editor)

With Peter Drucker's five essential questions and the help of five of today's thought leaders, this little book will challenge readers to take a close look at the very heart of their organizations and what drives them. A tool for self-assessment and transformation, answering these five questions will fundamentally change the way you work, helping you lead your organization to an exceptional level of performance. Peter Drucker's five questions are: These essential questions, grounded in Peter Drucker's theories of management, will take readers on a exploration of organizational and personal self-discovery, giving them a means to assess how to be --how to develop quality, character, mind-set, values and courage. The questions lead to action. By asking these questions, readers can focus on why they are doing what they are doing in their work, and how to do it better. Designed for today's busy professionals, this brief, clear and accessible book will challenge readers to ask these provocative questions and it will stimulate spirited discussions and action within any organization, inspiring positive change and new levels of excellence, helping all to envision the future of theirs' or any organization.

Genres: Business, Leadership, Management, Nonfiction, Buisness, Self Help, Audiobook

144 pages, Paperback

First published September 24, 1993

About the author

Peter Ferdinand Drucker was a writer, management consultant and university professor. His writing focused on management-related literature. Peter Drucker made famous the term knowledge worker and is thought to have unknowingly ushered in the knowledge economy, which effectively challenges Karl Marx's world-view of the political economy. George Orwell credits Peter Drucker as one of the only writers to predict the German-Soviet Pact of 1939.

The son of a high level civil servant in the Habsburg empire, Drucker was born in the chocolate capital of Austria, in a small village named Kaasgraben (now a suburb of Vienna, part of the 19th district, Döbling). Following the defeat of Austria-Hungary in World War I, there were few opportunities for employment in Vienna so after finishing school he went to Germany, first working in banking and then in journalism. While in Germany, he earned a doctorate in International Law. The rise of Nazism forced him to leave Germany in 1933. After spending four years in London, in 1937 he moved permanently to the United States, where he became a university professor as well as a freelance writer and business guru. In 1943 he became a naturalized citizen of the United States. He taught at New York University as a Professor of Management from 1950 to 1971. From 1971 to his death he was the Clarke Professor of Social Science and Management at Claremont Graduate University.

Reviews

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

The five most important questions are as follows...

1. What is our mission?
2. Who is our customer?
3. What does the customer value?
4. What are our results?
5. What is our plan?

Here are some of my favorite thoughts from it...

"You cannot arrive at the right definition of results with our significant input from your customers - and please do not get into a debate over that term. The danger is in acting on what you believe satisfies the customer. You will inevitably make wrong assumptions. Leadership should not even try to guess at the answers, it should always go to customers a systematic quest for those answers."

"Planning is not an event. It is the continuous process of strengthening what works and abandoning what does not, of making risk-taking decisions with the greatest knowledge of their potential effect, of setting objectives, appraising performance and results through systematic feedback, and making ongoing adjustments as conditions change."

"If you have quick consensus on an important matter, don’t make the decision. Acclimation means nobody has done the homework. The organizations decisions are important and risky, and they should be controversial. Nonprofit institutions need a healthy atmosphere for dissent if they wish to foster innovation and commitment. nonprofits must encourage honest and constructive disagreement precisely because everybody is committed to a good cause."

"Open discussion uncovers what the objections are."

"Your commitment to self-assessment is a commitment to developing yourself and your organization as a leader. You have vital judgments ahead: whether to change the mission, whether to abandon programs that have outlived their usefulness and concentrate resources elsewhere, how to match opportunities with your competence and commitment, how you will build community and change lives. Self-assessment is the first action requirement of leadership: the constant reshaping, constant refocusing, never being satisfied."

Question 1: What is our Mission?

"Changing lives is always the starting point and ending point. A mission cannot be impersonal; it has to have deep meaning, be something you believe in- something you know is right. A fundamental responsibility of leadership is to make sure that everybody knows the mission, understand it, lives it."

"The effective mission statement is short and sharply focused."

"Every board member, volunteer, and staff person should be able to see the mission and say, 'Yes. This is something I want to be remembered for.'”

"If a great opportunity does not fit your mission, then the answer must be 'Thank you, but no.'"

"No matter how much the world changes, people still have a fundamental need to belong to something they can feel proud of."

Question 2: Who Is Our Customer? ~Peter Drucker

“'Who must be satisfied for the organization to achieve results?' When you answer the question, you define your customer as one who values your service, who wants what you offer, who feels it’s important to them."

"The primary customer is the person whose life is changed through your work." S

"Customers are never static. Their needs, wants, and aspirations will evolve. There may be entirely new customers you must satisfy to achieve results - individuals who really need the service, want the service, but not in the way in which it is available today. And there are customers you should stop serving because the organization has filled a need, because people can be better served elsewhere, or because you are not producing results."

"Often, the customer is one step ahead of you. So you must know your customer - or quickly get to know them."

"Nobody can guarantee your job. Only customers can guarantee your job. The best companies don’t create customers. They create fans. Our business is not to casually please everyone, but to deeply please our target customers."

"An old Chinese proverb says, 'If you cannot smile, do not open a shop.'"

Question 3: What Does The Customer Value?

"Many organizations are very clear about the value they would like to deliver, but they often don’t understand the value from the perspective of their customers."

Customers value an organization that seeks their feedback and that is capable of solving their problems and meeting their needs. Customers value a leader and a team who have the ability to listen and the courage to challenge the 'business-as-usual' environment, all in service of the yearnings of the customer."

Question 4: What Are Our Results?

"Each organization must identify its customers, learn what they value, develop meaningful measures, ad honestly judge whether, in fact, lives are being changed."

"To abandon anything is always bitterly resisted. People in any organization are always attached to the obsolete-the things that should have worked but did not, the things that once were productive and not longer are. Abandoning anything is thus difficult, but only for a fairly short spell. Rebirth can begin once the dead are buried: six months later, everybody wonders, 'Why did it take us so long?'"

Question 5: What Is Our Plan?

"The mission transcends today but guides today, informs today. It provides the framework for setting goals and mobilizing the resources of the organization for getting the right things done."

"To further the mission, there must be action today and specific aims for tomorrow."

"Goals are overarching and should be few in number. If you have more than five goals, you have none. Goals flow from mission, aim the organization where it must go, build on strength, address opportunity, and taken together, outline your desired future."

"Appraisal will be ongoing. The organization must monitor progress in achieving goals and meeting objectives, and above all, must measure results in changed lives. True self-assessment is never finished. Leadership requires constant resharpening, refocusing, never really being satisfied."

"Planning is the process of translating the organization’s strategic or mission goals to a set of actionable programs, and tracing the path of how those within the organization would meet the goals. A plan, is the action agenda that is aimed at reaching the goal."

[Moshe Mikanovsky · Rating 3 out of 5]

Even if you know this already, not a bad reminder.

[Carol Sente · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a wonderful concise and focused book guiding leaders of organizations on the five most important questions to ask of themselves and their organizations -

1. What is our mission?
2. Who is our customer?
3. What does the customer value?
4. What are our results?
5. What is our plan?

It is written by the Leader to Leader Institute which was originally founded by management guru Peter Drucker. The current CEO is the most impressive Frances Hesselbein (amazing record of accomplishment with the Girl Scouts of America), and has contributions from names renown in leadership and business circles like Jim Collins, Philip Kotler and Jim Kouzes plus two I didn’t know Judith Rodin and V. Katsuri Rangan.

The book is perfect for a quick refresher, for start-ups, for organizations who have lost their way due to changing environments, for leadership teams to discuss and for those new to leading organizations. There is no excuse not to read this 96 page book.

I gave this book 4 rather than 5 stars only because it is so short and for those individuals who have been students of management and leadership for decades, it leaves the senses just a bit underwhelmed. Maybe because I have read several of these contributors’ full books and they provide so much more depth. Definitely an important read, particularly for the reasons listed above.

[Jakub Brudny · Rating 4 out of 5]

już od pierwszych zajęć na studiach parę lat temu, moja (jak się później okazało) Pani Promotor polecała nam książki Druckera, ale oczywiście komu chciałoby się czytać książki związane z jego kierunkiem, right? No więc, jakiś czas później nadrobiłem część z nich, między innymi tą i faktycznie Drucker pisał w sposób bardzo wyróżniający się od „rynku”. Co do samej treści merytorycznej to trudno się do czegokolwiek przyczepić. Niestety nie mam własnej organizacji ale gdybym kiedyś był wystarczająco szalony żeby ją mieć to zastosuje te pięć pytań

[Ashraf Bashir · Rating 2 out of 5]

Can be summarized in a blog post, not worth a full book! Just focus on your customer and start with a customer-first mentality, this is the core message.

[David Pulliam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great read and foundation for discussion and reflection if you’re in a non-profit. I would still read his other works as well because this book, since the scope is narrow, misses some really helpful concepts like decision-making and people decisions, budgets, what is management.

[Ryan Rodriquez · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great little tool for any leader to take a step back and self-evaluate their organization and it's priorities. It's a REALLY quick read and a tool that leaders will have on their bookshelves to reference from time to time.

[Pavel Annenkov · Rating 4 out of 5]

О ЧЕМ КНИГА:
Друкер дает нам фреймворк из пяти самых главных вопросов, которые должна задать себе любая фирма. Эти вопросы очень простые. Но чтобы найти на них ответы надо проделать большую работу. Друкер, как всегда, видит самую суть проблемы и помогает нам её решить.

ГЛАВНАЯ МЫСЛЬ КНИГИ:
Компания - это постоянно меняющийся механизм. Выдающиеся компании живут в будущем. Они предвидят изменения рынков и предпочтений клиентов.

ЗАЧЕМ ЧИТАТЬ ЭТУ КНИГУ?
Чтобы напомнить себе о ценности пяти главных вопросов для вашей компании.

МЫСЛИ И ВЫВОДЫ ИЗ КНИГИ:
- Планирование - это не событие, а процесс, который ставит задачи для компании сегодня.

- У лидера бизнеса нет другого выбора, как предвидеть будущее и планировать, как его формировать внутри компании.

- Миссия компании показывает, что вы делаете, а самое главное, что не делаете.

- Три главных вопроса для формулировки миссии:
1. Какова наша цель?
2. Почему мы делаем то, что делаем?
3. В конечном итоге, чем мы хотим запомниться?
Третий вопрос очень важный, так как он показывает, какой должна стать наша компания.

- Лучшие компании создают не клиентов, а фанатов.

FIVE ELEMENTS OF EFFECTIVE PLANS
- Abandonment: The first decision is whether to abandon what does not work, what has never worked—the things that have outlived their usefulness and their capacity to con tribute. Ask of any program, system, or customer group, "If we were not committed to this today, would we go into it?" If the answer is no, say "How can we get out—fast?"
- Concentration: Concentration is building on success, strengthening what does work. The best rule is to put your efforts into your successes. You will get maximum results. When you have strong performance is the very time to ask, "Can we set an even higher standard?" Concentration is vital, but it's also very risky. You must choose the right concentrations, or—to use a military term—you leave your flanks totally uncovered.
- Innovation: You must also look for tomorrow's success, the true innovations, the diversity that stirs the imagina tion. What are the opportunities, the new conditions, the emerging issues? Do they fit you? Do you really believe in this? But you have to be careful. Before you go into something new, don't say, "This is how we do it." Say, "Let's find out what this requires. What does the cus tomer value? What is the state of the art? How can we make a difference?" Finding answers to these questions is essential.
- Risk taking: Planning always involves decisions on where to take the risks. Some risks you can afford to take—if something goes wrong, it is easily reversible with minor damage. And some decisions may carry great risk, but you cannot afford not to take it. You have to balance the short range with the long. If you are too conservative, you miss the opportunity. If you commit too much too fast, there may not be a long run to worry about. There is no formula for these risk-taking decisions. They are entrepreneurial and uncertain, but they must be made.
- Analysis: Finally, in planning it is important to recognize when you do not know, when you are not yet sure whether to abandon, concentrate, go into something new, or take a particular risk. Then your objective is to conduct an analysis. Before making the final decision, you study a weak but essential performance area, a challenge on the horizon, the opportunity just beginning to take shape.

- I encourage you especially to keep asking the question, What do we want to be remembered for? It is a question that induces you to renew yourself—and the organization— because it pushes you to see what you can become.

ЧТО Я БУДУ ПРИМЕНЯТЬ:
Понравился тезис о том, что планирование - это всегда оценка и принятие на себя рисков. Слишком консервативные компании, которые не рискуют, могут потерять хорошие возможности для роста и развития. Нет точной формулы для оценки рисков, но решения принимать надо.

ЕЩЕ НА ЭТУ ТЕМУ:
Алан Лафли "Игра на победу. Как стратегия работает на самом деле"

[Seemy · Rating 3 out of 5]

While the book is simple, quick and concise read — I think the message can be overlooked. So many people out there do things without defining why and how they will do it ( among the 5 questions) — this might seem common sense but serves as a good reminder to align and focus on your organisations mission and purpose to ultimately achieve it — you can’t reach your destination without first deciding where your going, why and how … amongst the “5 questions”…😉

To Our Continued Success!
Seemy
Waseem.tv/Blog

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[Ashik Uzzaman · Rating 3 out of 5]

I came up with 9 rules for cross functional collaboration in large projects while thinking to solve a particular problem in office. Do you think these are too many or too few? Please share if you have any recommendations to change.

(1) Identify Teams – key stakeholders and participants like product, engineering, UX, business/customer
(2) Define Goals – follow a goal setting framework (OKR, SMART Goals, V2MOM) to set target for project
(3) Establish Communication Channels – daily standups, weekly meetings, slack channel, status update emails, documents and notes
(4) Set Timelines & Milestones – divide into multiple phases and set deadline for each milestone
(5) Define Dependencies – list out dependencies on other teams and communicate those
(6) Assign Accountability – follow RACI for each deliverable so everyone knows who will do what
(7) Foster Culture of Collaboration – encourage open communication, celebrate success, establish feedback loops
(8) Monitor Progress – regularly monitor progress adjust collaborations as needed
(9) Evaluate When Finished – evaluate the success, identify areas for improvement, document and share the learnings

Source: https://ashikuzzaman.com/2023/04/05/9...

[Mark Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent resource for pastors and church leaders. You can use it with your church board, deacon board, elder team, or vestry. However, it is not linked in any way with the Bible, so you will need to supply Scripture where you think it best fits.

For instance, I took my team through the five Great Commissions given in the four gospels and in Acts 1:8. Then we worked on the mission portion of the workbook.

My only pick, and I'm dropping a star for it, is sometimes I do not like the layout of the worksheets. Drucker's people have published other versions of this tool for the business community. In those the worksheet layout is superior. But when I work with teams, I purchase this one because it's 1/2 the cost and still works well.

This is an excellent tool. Every pastor should take their team through this material. Add in the Scripture and make certain your team feels free to be honest. If possible, bring in a facilitator to do the job and you, pastor, just participate.

[Leah Sciabarrasi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This quick read is one of Peter Drucker's most referenced frameworks. Like some of my accreditation discussions last week, this book is all about company self-assessment. It's a method for assessing what you are doing, why you are doing it, and what you must do to improve an organization's performance. The five essential questions include:
1. What is our mission?
2. Who is our customer?
3. What does our customer value?
4. What are our results?
5. What is our plan?
This framework forces organizations to focus on their mission and narrow their activities to meet their mission and what the customer ACTUALLY needs. This might include identifying what NOT to do, as well.

Things to remember: "Planning is not an event. It is a continuous process of strengthening what works and abandoning what does not, of making risk-taking decisions with the greatest knowledge of their potential effect, of setting objectives, appraising performance and results through systematic feedback, and making ongoing adjustments as conditions change." (p. 4)

[Margaret Klein · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a short, quick book that I read as part of an assessment of a non-profit board I serve. I didn't think I would like it. Too business focused for the non-profit world--especially synagogues and other Jewish institutions. BUT I think it was exactly the right book. 5 questions:
What is our mission?
Who is our customer?
What do our customers' value?
How do we measure results?
What is our plan?
These are questions we all need to ask--especially in these turbulent times. Flexibility, creativity, being nimble, all important but need to go back to what do your customers, members, associates want, need and value.
While this is a short book (120 pages), it will have a lifetime of impact.

[Niels Philbert · Rating 2 out of 5]

I will recommend reading some Drucker. It's a must, if you are working in a an organisation in modern society. Just skip this one.

The book is part Druckers words and part reflections from five "thought leaders". The Drucker part is good. The thought leader part is too decoupled from the main text.

I was curious to see if this short book would be a good introduction to Druckers work to recommend to new readers. It is not.

Read "The Effective Executive" and/or "Managing Oneself" instead.

[Brad · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short and sweet. How do we know how we are doing? It depends on the answers you give.

1. What is our mission?
The tension between continuity and change. When to change. What not to change.
2. Who is our customer?
Take care of your customer instead of taking care of everyone.
3. What does the customer value?
The most important thing is creating value.
4. What are our results?
No plan can be considered complete until it produces measurable outcomes.
5. What is our plan?
What is a good plan and how to get feedback.

Five easy yet difficult self-assessment questions.

B. Grizenko

[M · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good book about organizational self assessment to ensure its success. The idea is to ask the following 5 questions:
- what's our mission?
- Who's out customer?
- What does our customer value?
- What are our results?
- What's our plan? (has 5 elements: abandon, concentration, innovation, risk taking, analysis)

[Felicia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Simplifying a difficult job

When I think about trying to get my business started, running successfully and pleasing my clients, it seems daunting. This booked simplified the process for me. It consolidated it into a nice, tidy package. You just take one question at a time.
It’s not a book you should try to rush through and I can see I’ll return to it as I grow my business.

[Vishalkumar · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting book. Authors talk about 5 basic questions every employee/associate of an organization must ask or brainstorm while working.

Though the questions look simple; however the context and answer of the questions might be complex. Exploring these questions will help to identify future direction, strategy and operations modification.

[Groot · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is kind of a bait and switch. Drucker is listed as the author, but he died. They quote him often, but it written by others. Definitely not Drucker.

Mercifully short, it seems obsessed with non-profits, but is remarkably disappointed with them, their holier-than-thou attitude, their disdain for their beneficiaries, and lack of concern for actually improving their lives.

I don't recommend.

[kanchan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This isn't written by Drucker. Rather it is 5 other leaders taking Drucker's 5 questions and applying them to different sectors/fields. There is a strong focus on non-profits and health care. Information and delivery is very dense with minima fluff, providing a good overview of many key leadership and organizational concepts.

[cypher · Rating 5 out of 5]

that thing about asking what your mission is and assessing what you do to make sure you're on track, and that thing about being flexible and encouraging constructive criticism and debate that most big companies these days do, mission, goals tracking, feedback, brainstorming...they were apparently in this little book from '93.

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

What amazes me about Drucker is his foresight of business progression dating back to the 1940's. Everything he's written can be applied to modern day business strategy. The five questions will challenge everyone to look at their organizations through a different lens.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good overview of the strategic planning process in simple and concise explanations. Good questions. I especially like the focus on understanding what your “customers” value in the work of your organization.

[Aksena · Rating 5 out of 5]

Одна із найкращих і найбазовіших книг про управління. П‘ять базових питань дозволяють тримати кістяк організації і фокус. Найважливіше - думати про клієнтів і цінність, яку ми їм даємо. Прекрасна книга яку варто прочитати кожному менеджеру і менеджерці.

[Ghuraify Alawi]

this book is an excellent reading for anyone who wants to understand how to run an organization. It offers key principles though the five questions which any boss how to answer. Knowling the answers to these five questions is the foundation of moving forward with a high certainty of success.

[WR · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought it was useful to provide the questions as well as the additional perspectives from experts. But would add that it is VERY difficult to do this well.

[Stephen · Rating 5 out of 5]

READ MAY 2017

While this is geared to non-profit organizations, the five questions apply to any organization.

[Kelly Ann Meegan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book was a quick read. Made some good points and I enjoyed it

[Maïkel Vandorpe · Rating 4 out of 5]

A decent book about mission and values

[Eldon Phukuile · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good questions to help define your vision, purpose and strategy