Common Sense Leaders

It is the last week of the year, and therefore a time when many of us intentionally take time to reflect on the last year and plan our goals for the next year. This may be something that you are doing in your personal life, or it may be something you are doing in your organization, but either way it is likely a time when you are analyzing where you are and asking questions as you prepare for 2017.

So it seems to be good time of the year to turn my attention to a book I read a couple of month ago, called Peter Drucker’s Five Most Important Questions. I realize this is an older book (and this version is actually a reprint that includes additional thoughts from other leaders), but it is still an apropos book for the end of the year. In his little book, Drucker explains and illustrates five important questions that every organization ought to be asking of itself:

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?

These may seem like obvious questions, but often it is the obvious questions that are missed, so the book is a tremendous reminder of the basic important questions that should be revisited on a regular basis. If you haven’t asked these questions in a while, it’s time do so.

On a personal level, these same questions could be modified to match your life: knowing your personal mission, identifying the people you impact and who are a part of your life, understanding what matters to those people, examining how you are affecting their lives, and intentionally determining how to get better at making a difference in your relationship with them. Ultimately, your family is more important than your job, so I pray that you are being just as purposefully in those relationships as you are with your profession.