Drucker Mondays

Week 3: Three Fundamental Questions for a Functioning Society of Organizations

Week 3 of 52. Welcome to Drucker Mondays, a 52-week journey through the new book, A Year with Peter Drucker: 52 Weeks of Coaching for Leadership Effectiveness, by Joseph A. Maciariello. Each Monday, we'll feature a Drucker fan and his or her favorite snippet from the week's topic. Click here to subscribe. Dale Torry is our guest writer this week.


Week 3: Three Fundamental Questions for a Functioning Society of Organizations

THE BIG IDEA FROM THE BOOK: Week 3 begins the section titled, “Management Is a Human Activity.” Central to Drucker’s belief in management is that every organization serious about being effective must answer three questions. Here are the big three:

1. What is your business?
2. Who is your customer?
3. What does the customer value?

When these three question focus on satisfying human need, organizations create an alternative to tyranny and a protection against it. And if you think you just answered the three questions in the amount of time it took to read this—you haven’t!

DALE TORRY’S FAVORITE DRUCKER INSIGHTS from Week 3, pages 17-24:
   • Management's primary role is to focus on the big three questions.
   • Drucker: “I teach them management.”
   • “Effective leadership and management of society's organizations is therefore the alternative to tyranny and the remedy for preserving freedom and equality of opportunity.”
   • “By definition the customer buys the satisfaction of a want.”

DALE TORRY’S COLOR COMMENTARY: 
I suggest Joseph A. Maciariello’s next book should be “A Year with Peter Drucker’s Three Questions.” The three questions are simple, I’ve memorized them before, but this time they are enlightened with Drucker’s writings in a fresh and new way. The importance of these questions was magnified when set against the backdrop of Drucker’s conclusions: effective leadership and management is today’s defense against tyranny and the key to the furtherance of freedom.

(Editor’s Note: What a great insight as we honor the work and memory of Martin Luther King, Jr. today.)

THIS WEEK’S QUOTES & COMMENTARY BY DALE TORRY:

Dale Torry, vice president of senior living, CRISTA Ministries, Seattle, Wash., has served in leadership roles over the past 20 years in ministry and non-profit organizations. The majority of this time has been in senior living and long-term health care oriented ministries. Dale is nationally known for random Post-it® Notes left in books circulated by John Pearson in group settings. If you’re fortunate, you’ve read one.

TO-DO TODAY: 
• If you know what your business is and who your customers are, then head out immediately and start asking your customers if they are satisfied. 
• If you can’t answer the first two questions, block out time on your calendar, e-vite your team and start answering them. 
• After you have calendared the sessions, go out and ask your customers if they are satisfied. 
• If you want to find me on Monday, I’ll be walking the campus and asking residents at Crista Senior Living if they are satisfied—and what we can do to satisfy them more. This is a team exercise best modeled by the leader.

NEXT MONDAY:
Jan. 26, 2015 – Week 4: “Education and Management: Keys to Economic Development.”

Watch for the color commentary on the importance of lifelong learning by guest writer, David Schmidt, consulting guru at J. David Schmidt & Associates, Wheaton, Ill.

Week 2: Questions to Ask Before Committing a Portion of Your Life to the Service of an Organization

Week 2 of 52: Drucker Mondays (Jan. 12, 2015). Welcome to Drucker Mondays, a 52-week journey through the new book, A Year with Peter Drucker: 52 Weeks of Coaching for Leadership Effectiveness, by Joseph A. Maciariello. Each Monday, we'll feature a Drucker fan and his or her favorite snippet from the week's topic. Click here to subscribe. Mike Pate is our guest writer this week.



Week 2: Questions to Ask Before Committing a Portion of Your Life to the Service of an Organization - Interview Questions for MBA Students

THE BIG IDEA FROM THE BOOK: In Week 2, Peter Drucker provides great insights for young people (and some older folks too) on how to choose a career position with an organization that is both rewarding and impactful.

Drucker responds to the president of a leading educational institution who asks, “What kinds of questions should MBA students ask prospective employers about leadership and mission as they make a decision to commit to the service of an organization?”

MIKE PATE’S FAVORITE DRUCKER INSIGHTS from Week 2, pages 9 to 14:
   • “You will make much more progress in your career by working to improve your strengths than by trying to turn your weaknesses into strengths.”
   • “The key to managing oneself is to know: Who am I? What are my strengths? How do I work to achieve results? What are my values?”
   • “If you are in the wrong position you must be prepared to move when the opportunity presents itself…”

MIKE PATE’S COLOR COMMENTARY:
Drucker suggests the following questions regarding your future or your current position: “Are you learning enough? Are you challenged enough? Does the organization make use of your strengths or what you can do?”

Your career and life choices are YOUR responsibility! You must be actively managing yourself by knowing your strengths, continue growing, seeking to make a contribution and by being willing to take new opportunities as they come your way.

THIS WEEK’S QUOTES & COMMENTARY BY:


Mike Pate, executive director, Transformation Ministries Camping, also serves as board vice chair of Christian Community Credit Union and chair of his local Municipal Advisory Council. Mike’s passion is to live an extraordinary life and influence people and organizations to be all that God created them to be! Click here to visit Mike's favorite spot on earth.

TO-DO TODAY: 
• Do you know your strengths? Start with the bestselling book StrengthsFinder 2.0. 
• Ask yourself, “Do I know where I can make a significant contribution in my current organization?”

NEXT MONDAY:
Jan. 19, 2015 – Week 3: Three Fundamental Questions for a Functioning Society of Organizations (#1: What Is Our Business?) 

Color Commentary by: Dale Torry, Vice President, CRISTA Senior Living

Week 1: Developing Leaders, Not Functionaries

Week 1 of 52: Drucker Mondays. Welcome to Drucker Mondays, a 52-week journey through the new book, A Year with Peter Drucker: 52 Weeks of Coaching for Leadership Effectiveness, by Joseph A. Maciariello. Each Monday, we'll feature a Drucker fan and his or her favorite snippet from that week's topic. Click here to subscribe.



Week 1: Developing Leaders, Not Functionaries - What Charmers and Dead Mackerels Have in Common

FROM THE BOOK:  “In Week 1, we begin with a consultation Drucker had in early 2002 with senior executives of World Vision International. His subject was ‘What Do Effective Leaders Do to Create High-Performing Organizations?’”

JOHN PEARSON'S FAVORITE DRUCKER INSIGHTS from Week 1, pages 4 to 8:
   • “The only definition of a leader is someone with followers.”
   • “When you do it, do it your way, what works for you. Do not try to be anybody else.”
   • “Leadership is an achievement of trust."

“No two leaders are alike,” Peter Drucker said. “Some are very gregarious, some are very aloof, some are charmers, and others are like dead mackerel. Some are communicators, and some praise, and others many never praise. They all have two things in common: they get things done, and you can trust them.”

JOHN’s color commentary:
Joseph Maciariello, the author of this 52-week coaching gem, asks in his “Practicum-Prompts” for Week 1, “Are you developing leaders in your organization, or are you developing bureaucratic, rule-following functionaries?”

Let’s be honest. Many of us prefer the rule-followers. Perhaps…an over-reliance on rules indicates a culture thin on trust.
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THIS WEEK’S QUOTES & COMMENTARY BY: John Pearson, a board governance and management consultant and is author of Mastering the Management Buckets: 20 Critical Competencies for Leading Your Business or Nonprofit.

GUEST WRITERS: If you’d enjoy blessing your colleagues as a guest writer, buy the book and then email John Pearson for a list of open slots in 2015. Columns are due two weeks in advance of the publication date.

TO-DO TODAY:
Catch someone in the act of developing a leader—and celebrate the moment with a generous Starbucks gift card!

NEXT MONDAY: 
Jan. 12, 2015 - Week 2: Questions to Ask Before Commiting a Portion of Your Life to the Service of an Organization

Color Commentary by: Mike Pate, Executive Director of Camping, Transformation Ministries (California and Arizona)

Welcome to Drucker Mondays!

JOIN US! You're invited to join us here for the next 52 Mondays in 2015...when John Pearson and guest writers will add their insights to the new book, A Year With Peter Drucker: 52 Weeks of Coaching for Leadership Effectiveness, by Joseph A. Maciariello.

Watch for a new post every Monday in 2015:
Jan. 5, 2015 - Week 1: Developing Leaders, Not Functionaries: 
Effective Leaders Get the Right Things Done and You Can Trust Them

Jan. 12, 2015 - Week 2: Questions to Ask Before Commiting a Portion of Your Life to the Service of an Organization