Peter Drucker ' s Five Most Important Questions: Enduring Wisdom for Today ' s Leaders

Citation

Rory McDonald (2016), "Peter Drucker ' s Five Most Important Questions: Enduring Wisdom for Today ' s Leaders", Leadership & Organization Development Journal, Vol. 37 No. 2, pp. 305-306. https://doi.org/10.1108/LODJ-12-2015-0281

The distinctions between our knowledge and wisdom are not always clear, and certainly in everyday application these words are wielded interchangeably despite that they hold very different definitions. Whilst knowledge relates to the accumulation of facts and other data, wisdom takes this further involving an active sense of judgement and deliberation to draw wider meaning from our body of experiences and information. With the field of management science ever growing as a behemoth within leadership and organisational thinking, and a veritable flood of authors pitching their own interpretation and insight, there is a great need for a wisdom based approach to leadership that roots itself to the very fundamentals of great individual practice. Peter Drucker’s Five Most Important Questions looks to provide such a touchstone, utilising a practical wisdom-led opening to the heart of great leadership.

The book itself is a reimagining of Peter Drucker’s early writing – the first posthumous publication of his work – that is designed as a strategic and organisational level self-assessment. Five Most Important Questions looks to pull together the prevailing wisdom of critical leadership and organisational practices across sectors to answer the fundamental questions at the heart of organisational thinking. These questions (“What is our mission? Who is our customer? What does the customer value? What are our results? What is our plan?”) cut to the bone of successful practice, removing extraneous details to produce as clear an insight as is possible. This insight is deeply personal, and as a result of self-assessment can provide a review and development strategy for the readers practice. This process is centred throughout on the transformational leadership perspective. The real value of the text lies in the accessibility of these fundamentals regardless of the reader’s background or expertise. A seasoned veteran of organisational practice or a layman to the world of leadership can equally benefit from the laid bare foundations of critical organisational thinking and experienced practical framing.

Five Most Important Questions is a loyal continuation of the work of Peter Drucker through collaboration with many experienced leaders and thinkers from organisations such as West Point Military Academy, the Kellogg School of Management, and General Electric. Drucker’s was always a distinct voice within organisational writing and the contributing authors, corralled by editor Peter Economy, adapt Drucker’s work for the modern organisational stage very successfully. Whilst Drucker is a popular source of reference and adaption within leadership and organisational writing Five Most Important Questions manages to capture his direct and elementary approach for the millennial audience. Above all else the style of writing, a direct address to the reader, demands an active reading and reflective experience for practical benefit. In an age where so many organisational texts read as passing briefings devoid of effortful engagement the applicability and specificity of Five Most Important Questions truly shines.

In the text’s 122 pages and nine chapters Five Most Important Questions manages to outline a simple yet effective method of self-assessment that spans sectors and aptitude. The objectivity and accuracy of the arguments raised would be hard to disregard, a benefit of the fundamentals first attitude adopted throughout. Some may criticise the simplicity or thoroughness of the work which neglects some specific modern interpretations and approaches to organisational thinking, but overall this itself is another symptom of the predominant focus on core issues.

In all Five Most Important Questions provides an interesting, if not ground breaking experience of rudimentary organisational practice. The text maintains an objectivity largely due to the disparate backgrounds of the contributing authors and the keen editorial presence of Economy. The provenance of the Drucker’s approach, paired with well structured and accessible presentation aids comprehension. The text is approachable by all readers interested in organisational thinking, though more expert readers may find little in the way of new conceptualisation. As a resource that returns organisational thinking to basics – a useful idea should we neglect where we have come from – this text is a singular example of the value in clear and purposeful organisational literature.