Introduction
I have served on the board of directors of a sports club. I talked with one of the senior professors when I attended a leadership mentorship meeting last year in one of Ontario’s busiest cities. He had just retired from holding a successful role as Amazon’s chief executive officer (CEO). With curiosity and desire to know more about his success story, I got more concerned about the skills he had applied in the company.
One evening, while in a conference hall, we discussed the roles and responsibilities of current leaders and how they influence their organizational business practices. Several other managers and team leaders were also attracted to the discussion and joined our table. The critical areas of focus were on the need to maximize the value of shareholders in an organization. The professor quickly told us the story of some plans his organization decided not to undertake.
He repeatedly insisted that his firm had chosen a project with tremendous potential to grow and generate high revenues in his points. However, the acquisition of the target project would mean the firm was laying off most of the employees while selling most of the industry’s investment to harvest both financial and economic value. In addition, by undertaking this project, many communities around the company would experience an immediate economic downturn. Therefore, the CEO did not take up the project due to its overall consequences on the general public.
In this regard, he informed the firm’s board of management, and his senior leadership only made sense of paperwork but did not withstand the ability to offer the current and future values of the firm. If the CEO had considered the potential financial implications only, then the outcome of this project would have been different, and the company’s values would not have been prioritized. This is one scenario that has outstandingly proved the value of understanding Peter Drucker’s five main questions in leadership.
Application
These questions are undertaken through self-assessment practice, which aims to respond to each question’s answers. Therefore, understanding and responding to these questions lead to action plan generation and may lack its meaning when it is not implemented. To meet the needs and succeed in expanding environmental, social, and political environments, firms and business organizations should focus on their missions, offer accountability towards their goals, and ensure they achieve results (Drucker, 2019). The main reasons a company should undertake the self-assessment of these questions is due to the mission, vision, and goals of every firm towards financial prosperity and future growth plans.
What Is the Mission?
Every business mission consistently demonstrates the characteristics of preserving the core purposes and stimulating the business progress for the future. In addition, these missions are guided by values and real prosperity, which is flexible and changes over time (Stern, 2020). The organizational mission should include change, areas of improvement, innovation, and renewed plans for the firm’s success.
Who Is the Customer?
The business has two types of customers: primary and supporting customers. A primary customer is an individual whose life depends on business activities and is changed by the work of business persons. A supporting customer includes the business volunteers, partners, founders, and other employees who must also be satisfied. Therefore, for business effectiveness, there must be a focus on both types of customers and ensure they are all satisfied.
What Does the Customers Value?
Most leaders tend to respond to this question themselves. This question aims to improve the services of the firm, the quality of the projects implemented, how the business relates to the community, and how they improve the community. Therefore, customers are convinced that the company is committed to improving their livelihood and solving most of their problems by doing the right things.
What Are the Results?
The business results are measured based on the company’s ability to change people’s lives and conditions regarding behavioral and social standards. In addition, the business should be able to improve the health, hope, competence, and capacity of the community around the business environment. Hence, each firm should concentrate on providing services that, when appraised, ensure results.
What Is the Plan?
Through an assessment process, business design plans that provide a summary of the future purpose and direction of the business. The company plan includes the company’s mission, goals, visions, and objectives (Rousseau, 2020). In addition, the budget and appraisal of the firm are also contained in the plan. Wherever a firm intends to change its mission and set long-term goals, there should be consideration of opportunities, commitment, and competence. Hence, the plan should respond to the purpose and what the business intends to do in its action plan.
Conclusion
While assessing the application of Ducker’s five questions, the management of the various organizations must consider what they are doing, why they are doing them, and what can be done to improve their firm’s performance. Wiley (2015) presents Peter Drucker’s five important questions, highlighting the importance of understanding and applying these questions to respond to business challenges. Therefore, based on this understanding, the self-assessment of Drucker’s questions responds to five basic questions: What is the mission? Who is the customer? What do customers value? What are the results? Moreover, what is the plan?
Therefore, from learning these five questions, I will undertake two critical actions on how to value customers and focus on strengthening and prioritizing policies for improving business results. As a CEO, I would adopt various strategies of collaborating with customers’ needs and neighboring community targets in our business goals and vision to improve the economic and living standards of the community.
References
Drucker, P. (2019). The five most important questions you will ever ask about your non-profit organization. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Web.
Wiley. (2015). Peter Drucker’s Five Most Important Questions [Video]. YouTube. Web.
Rousseau, D. (2020). Making evidence based-decisions in an uncertain world.Organizational Dynamics, 49(1), 100–756. Web.
Stern, G. (2020). The Drucker foundation self-assessment tool: Process Guide(Revised edition). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Web.