The Five Most Important Questions
Let's get right to it. What are Drucker's five important questions (Drucker, ix)?
- What is our mission?
- Who is our customer?
- What does the customer value?
- What are our results?
- What is our plan?
Now, we all like Drucker's work. How could we not? The latest edition of his Five Questions text is just icing on the cake. Complexifying his five simple questions might not be a good idea. Let's just suppose, however, that we decided to break the rules. What would we add?
Two additions come to immediate mind. The customer question, basically, "What do our customers think?" could have two additional key points, namely,
- "What do the folks who work here think?" and
- "What do our stakeholders think (after Palermo, Do the Right Things..., 1-6)?"
These questions really read closer to,
- "Would you recommend this company to your friend as a place to work?" and
- "Would you recommend this company to you friend or business associate as a good place to buy goods or services?" Finally, stakeholders are asked something like,
- "Would you recommend our company as an investment (after Palermo, 1-6)?"
Now, as we know, Drucker kept things simple. However, considering things a little bit more closely makes some sense.
Reference
Drucker, Peter F. with Jim Collins, Philip Kotler, James Kouzes, Judith Rodin, V. Kasturi Rangan, and Frances Hesselbein. The Five Most Important Questions You Will Ever Ask Your Organization. Jossey-Bass. 2008.
Palermo, Richard C., Sr. Do the Right Things...Right. It Is That Simple. A Step-by-Step Guide to World-Class Performance. The Strategic Triangle, Inc. 2003.
Palermo, Richard C., Sr. Leadership...A Return to Common Sense. A Leader's Common Sense Playbook for Uncovering the Right Things...and then Doing Them Right! The Strategic Triangle, Inc. 2006.