The Five Most Important Questions You Will Ever Ask About Your Organization (J-B Leader to Leader Institute/PF Drucker Foundation) (Paperback)

by Peter F. Drucker (Author), Leader to Leader Institute (Formerly The Drucker Foundation) (Editor)
Key Phrases: supporting customers, San Francisco, Participant Workbook, Self-Assessment Tool (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

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:

• What is our Mission? with Jim Collins
• Who is our Customer? with Phil Kotler
• What does the Customer Value? with Jim Kouzes
• What are our Results? with Judith Rodin
• What is our Plan? with V. Kasturi Rangan

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.

From the Back Cover

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.

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

"The Leader to Leader Institute has done a great service in bringing us this monograph. Good leaders come up with answers, but great leaders ask the right questions—and this wonderful work helps all leaders do exactly that."
—Jim Collins, author, Good to Great and the Social Sectors

"An amazing resource that can help even the most successful organizations become more successful!"
—Marshall Goldsmith, author, What Got You Here Won't Get You There, winner of the Harold Longman Best Business Book of 2007

"Peter Drucker's Five Most Important Questions continue to be the indispensable questions an organization must ask itself, regardless of size or sector, if it is determined to be an organization of the future."
—Kathy Cloninger, CEO, Girl Scouts of the USA

"At a time when the need for more effective management and more ethical leadership is the moral equivalent of global warming, Drucker's common sense and courage should be modeled by everyone."
—Ira A. Jackson, dean, Peter F. Drucker and Masatoshi Ito Graduate School of Management, and board member, The Drucker Institute

"Nobody, not even Socrates, has ever asked better questions than Peter Drucker. All the personality, all the wisdom is here to make your work dramatically more effective."
—Bob Buford, author, Halftime and Finishing Well, and founding chairman, Peter F. Drucker Foundation for Nonprofit Management

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Jossey-Bass (April 18, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0470227567
• ISBN-13: 978-0470227565
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.4 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #21,546 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Planning Is Not an Event, May 3, 2008

By	John W. Pearson "John Pearson Associates" (San Clemente, CA, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The first edition of Peter Drucker's self-assessment tool for organizations arrived in 1993 and introduced these five key questions: 1) What is our mission? 2) Who is our customer? 3) What does the customer value? 4) What are our results? and 5) What is our plan?

This supplementary tool (just 101 easy-reading pages) includes expanded observations from Drucker along with color commentary from six distinguished management gurus, including Jim Collins, Philip Kotler, James Kouzes, Judith Rodin (Rockefeller Foundation president), V. Kasturi Rangan (Harvard Business School), and Frances Hesselbein (chairman of Leader to Leader Institute and former CEO, Girl Scouts of the USA).

Referring to Question #5 on planning, Drucker comments, "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."

Peter Drucker says that one benefit of a self-assessment process is that you can evaluate how you match opportunities with your competence and commitment. And he adds that the time to do a self-assessment is when you are successful, not when your leading indicators are lagging.

This is a helpful new resource for all of us. If you've ordered my new book, Mastering The Management Buckets: 20 Critical Competencies for Leading Your Business or Non-profit, be sure to read the first four chapters (buckets) that expand on the five Drucker questions: the Results Bucket, the Customer Bucket, the Strategy Bucket and the Drucker Bucket.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Leadership Pearls, November 13, 2008

By	Steve P. Sanders (USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

A deceptively small book full of powerful ideas promulgated by the late Dr. Drucker. A must read for anyone seriously considering, or engaged in leading organizations. One of the best management books I've read.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An intelligent and effective approach to leadership, October 13, 2008

By	Sara B (Boston) - See all my reviews

Drucker has the ability to make complex organizational concepts understandable by detailing a step by step thought process that leads to precise action steps. This is an invaluable tool for any manager who wishes to maximize the effectiveness of their team. It helps you translate your organization's vision into dynamic reality.