This book offers a strategic planning framework for nonprofit organizations. It can help board members set the direction by asking five questions:

What is our mission? The mission must reflect opportunities, competence, and commitment. Drucker cautions: “Never subordinate the mission in order to get money. If there are opportunities that threaten the integrity of the organization, you must say no.”

Who is our customer? “The primary customer is the person whose life is changed through your work... Primary customers may be infants, or endangered species, or members of a future generation.” Drucker notes that customer needs evolve. “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.” Philip Kotler adds, “Our business is not to casually please everyone, but to deeply please our target customers.”

What does the customer value? “Leadership should not even try to guess the answers but should always go to the customers in a systematic quest for those answers… People are so convinced they are doing the right things and so committed to their cause that they come to see the institution as an end in itself. But that’s a bureaucracy.”

What are our results? “Look at short-term accomplishments and long-term change… One of the most important questions for leadership is, Do we produce results that are sufficiently outstanding for us to justify putting our resources in this area?”

What is our plan? “The plan begins with a mission. It ends with action steps and a budget … If you have more than five goals, you have none… Goals make it absolutely clear where you will concentrate resources for results… Goals flow from mission, aim the organization where it must go, build on strength, address opportunity, and taken together, outline your desired future.” The board should set the direction, but not micromanage: “The board must not act at the level of tactical planning, or it interferes with management’s vital ability to be flexible in how goals are achieved.”

“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?’… Planning is not an event. It is the continuous process of strengthening what works and abandoning what does not.”

Peter Drucker wrote the first edition in 1993. This edition is supplemented with chapters by Jim Collins, Philip Kotler, James Kouzes, Judith Rodin, V. Kasturi Rangan, and Frances Hesselbein. There is also a section with more detailed questions organized in subcategories under the five main questions. In total the book is about 100 pages.

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.

A short read so I read this on a short plane trip. Although it is aimed at non-profits the concepts still apply to for profits. They are 5 important questions that your really ought to know the answers to and tis a great short read and a reminder to jog your memory and ensure that you have the answers, ideally also to build this into your corporate process to ensure it never gets forgotten.

Peter F. Drucker has been an incredible influence on me. Not only am I an admirer of his seminal work in management but also the good he advocated in his consulting service with many social sector institutions. This most recent edition of his "The Five Most Important Questions You Will Ever Ask About Your Organization" is like having Drucker sitting right next to you, offering his sage advice on effectiveness. In addition to Peter's writings, are chapter insights offered by leadership experts such as Frances Hesselbein, Jim Collins, and James Kouzes among others.

Drucker's Five questions are: What is our mission? Who is our customer? What does the customer value? What are our results? And, what is our plan? Though they may seem simple, an adequate answer to each should take much time and thoughtful consideration among your organizations leadership, staff, board, and customer response. All answers should also lead to action and then again assessment, asking more questions, and more answers with action and so on. The distinction between primary and secondary customers and discussion on measuring changed lives quantitatively and qualitatively is far worth the price of the book for anybody who works in the nonprofit world.

I have used these questions to direct the birth of my first organization this year as a catalytic leader, and also as a consultant and coach to several first time business owners. I have family in politics, peers in ministry, and entrepreneurial friends, all of which have benefited from working through the self-assessment process this book offers. As Drucker states; "Properly carried through, self-assessment develops skill, competence, and commitment. Active and attentive participation is an opportunity to enhance your vision and to shape the future" (p. 85).

Excellent book, especially for our nonprofit board!!

I found this self-assessment tool refreshingly easy to read with laser focus on the five most important strategic questions: 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?. Each of the five questions is first tackled by Drucker, followed by a brief expansion by one of the co-authors, who are management buffs in their own right. While the questions are universally applicable, much of the text and examples focus on non-profits. This really doesn't matter, because the text paints a broad enough picture to see how this applies regardless. Reading this book makes it abundantly clear WHAT to ask, but leaves it up to the reader to figure out HOW to implement or actionize the findings. All in all a valuable "fog-lifter" to be revisited regularly to evaluate if your daily activities are still in line with your mission. The brevity and organization of the book allow for time-efficient checkups.

This is a short and easy read that mostly focuses on the non-profit section of business, which is not often discussed in business classes. This book often a good new perspective to business and is great for a general introduction into areas of business that are very important in order to be successful. At the end it offers a guide to prompt continuous learning by giving a list of in depth questions that people should always be asking about their organization. Some concepts might need further explanation but are still a good staring point for people that have some basic knowledge of business. I would suggest this to people in the non-profit section of business since this book focuses on it.

This. Little Book gives much insight into how to run an exceptional business and do it as an exceptional leader.

This is a really worthwhile read. You can get through it in less than an hour, but its ideas might help to shape your thinking for a life time. Refreshing to revisit big ideas simply put.

It's wonderful...

社会組織が自身に何を問うていくべきか、を簡潔にまとめたドラッカー最晩年の一冊。

コトラー他、多数の著名な学者との共著となる。本来は非営利組織の運営者に向けて書かれた本だが

すべての組織や個人にも当てはまる原則が書かれており、誰にとっても有意義な読書になろう。

ここでの組織は、なにかしら社会的なミッションを有しているものを想定して書かれている。非営利の

組織であれば、よりよい社会を実現してくことを目的とし、営利組織であっても社会的な存在意義を問う。

個人も同様であろう。営利組織にも社会的な存在意義を必須としているのは、近年のコトラーの著書

Marketing 3.0: From Products to Customers to the Human Spiritでも主張されていた。

時代的にコトラーが本書の影響下にあるといって差し支えなかろう。

問いかけは5つで構成される。

1、我々の使命は何か？

2、我々の顧客は誰か？

3、我々が提供する価値は何か？

4、結果はなにか？

5、計画はなにか？

これを一回だけでなく、常に自分の組織の問い続ける継続性が、何よりも重要なことなのだという。同様に本書も

節目ごとに繰り返しの読書が大事と感じる。

今回の読書で個人的にもっとも感じいったのは、答えよりも問うこと自体が何よりも大事、というドラッカーの言葉。

5つの質問に究極的に答えはなく、それを問うていくことが組織の人生そのものなのだろう。また自らに問うことをやめたら

その組織（個人も）は終わりなのだろう。

同じく自ら問うことを複数のタームで定義していること。

変わらないミッション、変えていくべきミッション、共有すべきビジョン、実現のためのゴール、具体的な目的、計画、結果まで

常に模索すべしとしている。個々にはしごく当たり前のことなのであろうが、ドラッカーが改めて整理してくれたことに説得力がある。

今自らがおかれている状況がどこにあるのか、何を変えていくべきか、このフレームワークを活用したい。

文量は少なく、100ページ程度の非常にシンプルな本で、週末の読書にもぴったりである。しかし個々の質問は深い考察を要する。

ただ読み流すだけでなく、自分の属する組織や自分自身を想定して本書の問いかけを問うてみると、思いのほかエキサイティングな

思考実験になるであろう。ドラッカーが晩年にたどり着いた枯山水のような澄み切った境地を感じさせる味わいが本書から感じられた。

Frances Hesselbein wrote in the Foreword: 'If Peter Drucker were with you and your organization today, we believe he would ask the same questions of you that he asked more than fifteen years ago:

What is our mission?

Who is our customer?

What does the customer value?

What are your results?

What is our plan?'

Peter Drucker passed away on November 11th, 2005, eight days before his 96th birthday.

He started to focus on these questions already more than fifty years ago when he published his classic book 'The Practice of Management' (1954).

In his Chapter 5 'What is a Business?' he explained 'The Purpose of a Business

If we want to know what a business is we have to start with its purpose. And its purpose must lie outside of the business itself. In fact, it must lie in society since a business enterprise is an organ of society. There is only one valid definition of business purpose: to create a customer.' (Pg. 37).

On page 38 Peter Drucker wrote:

'The first man to see marketing clearly as the unique and central function of the business enterprise, and the creation of a customer as the specific job of management, was Cyrus McCormick. The history books mention only that he invented a mechanical harvester. But he also invented the basic tools of modern marketing: market research and market analysis, the concept of market standing, modern pricing policies, the modern service-salesman, parts and service supply to the customer and installment credit. He is truly the father of business management. And he had done all this by 1850. It was not until fifty years later, however, that he was widely imitated even in his own country.'

In Chapter 8 'Today's Decisions for Tomorrow's Results' he described the essence of planning while 'Making Decisions' is explained in Chapter 28.

Very often only the vocabulary is changing ' purpose becomes mission, decisions for tomorrow's results becomes planning ' while the essence is the same.

'Managing for Results' published by Peter Drucker in 1964 'was the first book to describe what is now widely called 'business strategy' and to identify what are now called an organization's 'core competencies'' (see 'Management' revised edition by Peter Drucker revised and updated by Joseph A. Maciariello, published in 2008 Pg. 539).

For further details about Cyrus McCormick I refer to the following books:

'Cyrus Hall McCormick ' His Life and Work' by Herbert N. Casson in 1909 and

'The Century of the Reaper' by Cyrus McCormick, his grandson, published in 1931;

The beauty of this small book "The Five Most Important Questions" combined with the 'Participant Workbook ' The Five most important questions Self-Assessment Tool' published in 2010 is its simplicity and 'ease of use'.

Whenever a business start-up is initiated or an existing business is reviewed, the start should be 'The Five Most Important Questions you will ever ask about your organization."

Starting with these key questions and answering them sufficiently before entering into comprehensive strategic planning will save your very valuable time and money.

Henry Mintzberg in his excellent book 'Rise and Fall of Strategic Planning' published in 1994 wrote the following: 'In effect, the strategy making process, whether its strategies are formulated deliberately or just form emergently, must be seen as an impenetrable 'black box' for planning as well as for planners, around which, rather than inside of which, they work." Pg. 331.

Consulting firms and consultants like to elaborate widely and deeply on analyses outside and around the black box called 'Strategy Formation' which is the central task of entrepreneurs and top management.

With Drucker's 'The Five Most Important Questions' you are immediately working within the 'black box' on 'Strategy Formation' without getting lost in endless studies.

Concise but insightful book, a must-read for any leader in a charity of non-profit organization