The Five Most Important Questions
What are the most important questions you should ask yourself as go-getting leader at work in 2015?
Well, many years before the age of Blackberrys (2008 to be exact) a management guru called Peter Drucker wrote a little 100-pager book called The Five Most Important Questions You Will Ever Ask About Your Organization. The book has now been rewritten for 2015 with some pretty kickass #bossladies as the new co-writers. One of them is Millennial Expert, international speaker and leadership expert Joan Snyder Kuhl, the founder of Why Millennials Matter.
So What Are These 5 Most Important Questions?
What Is Our Mission?
Who Is Our Customer?
What Does The Customer Value?
What Are Our Results?
What Is Our Plan?
Sometimes, we tend to overlook the most important questions because they seem to obvious. And while the questions in the book do seem simple enough, the answers themselves are not. But this concise book does answer them all quite thoroughly.
“Never subordinate the mission in order to get money. If there are opportunities that threaten the integrity of the organization, you must say no.” - Peter Drucker, Author of The Five Most Important Questions
I love that the book discusses the process of self-assessment to transitioning towards leadership and explores answers from a diverse group of leaders representing a wide array of sectors.
5 Most Important Questions also features (very important to me) opinions of thoughts on leadership from many female leaders, and includes expanded observations from Drucker along with anecdotes from other management heavyweights such as commentary from six distinguished management gurus, including Jim Collins (of Good to Great book fame), Judith Rodin (Rockefeller Foundation president) and Frances Hesselbein (chairman of Leader to Leader Institute and former CEO, Girl Scouts of the USA).
I suppose it's true - great things do come in small 100-page packages (that's hundreds of pages less than Vogue's some fashion magazine's September issues, FYI) so it would be a short but worthwhile read. 5 Questions is available easily on Amazon or Barnes & Nobles.
PS : Joan Kuhl will be speaking on June 4th in NYC about "Moving From Achieving To Leading At Work".
Click Here For More Info.
Comments are closed.
Thanks for sharing this nugget of information, Heidi. I am sure a lot of people will benefit from the book, especially those aspiring to lead. I myself will check this book out.
I’ve actually read the (original) first edition of this book a couple of years ago when I was newly promoted to a higher management position in the same company I am working now. This book by Peter Drucker offered strategic planning frameworks for businesses and nonprofit organizations alongside the 5 Most Important Questions for effective leadership. ‘Tis a highly recommended book!
This sounds like a great book. Thanks, I could really benefit from this. I’ve read other books by Peter Drucker, I think it was about the Effective Executive and I’ve learned so much from it about getting things done right. 5 most Important Questions will surely be a helpful resource for every one.
This looks and sounds like an interesting book. I’m sure a lot of us would learn something about leadership and proper management skills. I will definitely read this.
These questions posed would really make us think about how we lead and serve the company we are working for or working at. I’d better get this book really soon!
Enduring Wisdom for Today’s Leaders – this really sounds promising! Peter Drucker was a great leadership author and I’ve read one of his books before, and I have been impressed with his dedication to providing innovative entrepreneurial skills to all aspirants and business leaders.
5 basic questions whose answers will help us feel empowered in the business world. This I gotta read and contemplate. Thanks for sharing this Heidi.
This is a great book, I’ve read this a couple months ago, really engaging and eye-opening, basically what aspiring leaders need!
I have actually read the earlier edition of this book, about 3 years ago and it’s solid effective and helpful to the leaders of tomorrow. Very eloquent anecdotes and words of inspiration. A must read!
Right, just when you think you were asked those simple questions, you will soon realize the answers aren’t forthcoming and and don’t seem simple at all!
Great questions to ponder on. I’d love to read this book and become aware of the possibilities. Thanks for sharing this.
Sorry I missed Joan Kuhl’s speaking engagement. I heard so much about her and her motivation speeches. It would have been quite an experience to listen to her. Thanks for the share!
these questions are quite basic yet when you think about it, you can’t really come up with a viable answer. Thanks for sharing this, it makes me think about my vision towards good governance and leadership.
I know someone in my office who will really benefit from this book. Thanks for sharing the link to Amazon, I’ll gladly check it out and give this to my boss 🙂
Will check on this and read the questions and the whole book. I’m sure I’ll learn a lot from one of the world’s business experts.
I love reading books authored by women, about books that feature empowering women in the business. This would be a great read, indeed!
Sounds like a great book! I’ll be adding this to my To-Be-Read list.
Such simple questions that can only be answered when you have set a goal like establishing a company that would last long term. What is my mission? To be able to provide quality service to our customers so they can leave the premises satisfied and with smile on their faces. The other questions, I don’t have definite answers yet, but thanks for pointing these out, because I get to think and study more about my business proposition.
I’ll definitely read this book, thanks for recommending it.
Thanks for the heads up. Been meaning to read books about leadership and establishing organization. This will surely help me.
It’s great to read books about women empowerment and success stories from woman authors. I am sure this will be a very valuable and helpful book.
I read this already and it’s really good. Talks about envisioning your company’s challenges and success as you go along the way. With great valuable tips, too!
By the way, I remember I’ve watched Joan Kuhl speak in a conference sometime ago. She really is an effective speaker!
This is the perfect book/gift to the young leaders and aspiring entrepreneurs of the future. A lot of the values and lessons contained herein will surely help build leadership and possibly strong governance.
This is perfect motivation for my upcoming leadership seminar. I’d gladly read this with my colleagues.
I agree, this book is a worthwhile read!
This is nice. A great read that als involved female authors who have strong leadership skills 🙂
These questions are basically the most important ones that entrepreneurs and leaders should always ask when establishing a new business venture.
I’ve read the first edition too, it was interesting and thought-provoking. Maybe I’ll check this one out then. Thanks for suggesting great leadership books to read, Heidi.
Hmm, well-thought questions like that deserve well-thought answers. And I myself do not know how to answer them. I should be reading this book and see for myself. Thanks!
If I were to ask those 5 questions to myself, I honestly dont think I could come up with an answer at all. This article is fascinating!
I would love to read these book and learn leadership points while devouring the answers to the five important questions for aspiring and successful leaders. Thanks for sharing this tidbit.
Odd, I think I haven’t really asked these questions before when I planned on building a business, except for Who is my customer.. I just started my business a few months ago, so I think I should settle down a minute and contemplate on this matter. Will have to check out the book, too. Thanks!
FInally got the chance to read this, it’s very powerful and stimulating!
These 5 questions are collectively an eye-opener, makes me think about that I’d been missing and should be doing to improve as a leader. Thank you for sharing this post.
I have read this a week ago, my sister told me about this on your post. I’m really grateful because this had helped me with my research papers. Thanks so much for the great books you have suggested.
I don’t have any business yet, nor a company of my own to lead. So I haven’t asked those important questions yet. But this is an eye-opening post, I’d like to forward or share this to my peers who plan to make it big in the industry, so they can be guided accordingly. The book will prove to be quite helpful to them.
i am still teenager but when i grow up i wanna be a single woman in big city with sucessfull work
I’d like to be honest here, I haven’t really asked those questions before when my (then) husband and I were planning to start up a business of our own in the 90s. Things were a bit uncomplicated then. But the emergence of technology seemed to have made our business plans go down the drain, plus we both didn’t have the right attitude and pertinent questions like the mission and vision to go with our guts. Thanks for shedding some light to this.
I very much like the sound of this – If there are opportunities that threaten the integrity of the organization, you must say no… Very well said! We shouldn’t always agree on something just because we thought it was ok for our own self but not for the company as a whole. Thanks for sharing this book info!
This is a must read for me. Thanks for sharing this book, I will surely learn a lot from it.
I’ve read this book before (the original edition) and it contained insightful pieces of advice and trove of information for the leaders of today. I highly suggest this to all up and coming entreps. You’ll really learn from the experts!
I can’t believe I haven’t read this. Thanks for sharing this info and the link, I would love to learn more as I am on my journey to becoming a leader of my team.
Leadership goals!! Thank you for sharing this. I am looking for books like this to help me up with my journey to being a future leader and having my own company. This book might just be the one I need.
Shauna, I hope that the book had what you were looking for! I think it has so much potential to unleash the inner leader within you!
I’ve read this and it contains a lot of important answers to all our business inquiries and also contains nuggets of wisdom. Really a great book!
Oh wow, I’m not even aware of the questions that need to be asked when establshng new business. Thanks so much for this!
My friends and I plan to start our own business right after we graduate in college. I understand these questions you posted above are basically what we need to learn as we build our empire. Thank you for posting this! I am going to read the book, too!
I have to read this book, I know I can learn a lot from it! Thank you!
I’ve read and I can attest to its credibility and strong influence for young entrepreneurs. A must read for the future leaders of tomorrow!
I got this book from my boss two years ago when he was mentoring me and other colleagues about stepping up the ladder of success. A very effective book for people who have potential in leadership and company building. the Five Most Important Questions is definitely a must read!