The following contains excerpts from the book, Five Most Important Questions (Peter Drucker).
As a musician and artist, it is critically important to understand the reasons we do what we do. At our music school in Odessa, Texas we insist that each student personally answer that question. Each student will have a different answer, but not to ask the question is already a failure.
This book was written specifically towards ‘non-profit’ organizations, to help them clarify their vision and strategic planning. He attempts to utilize techniques found in the business world adapted to organizations that do not function so much as merchants with a tangible product, but still with a need for realistic goals for their function in society.
The five questions are: 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?
Drucker states in his introduction, “Self-assessment is the first action required of leadership…Great leaders think of the needs and the opportunities of the organization before they think of their own needs and opportunities.” Quoting John Adams, “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, you are a leader.”
At our music school in Odessa, Texas, we start from the standpoint of honestly assessing each student’s potential and ability. Starting from truth is the only way to build towards success.
In the chapter “Why Self-Assessment?” Drucker states, “The ninety million volunteers who work for nonprofit institutions- America’s largest employer- exemplify the American commitment to responsible citizenship in the community. Indeed, nonprofit organizations are central to the quality of life in America and are its most distinguishing feature…For years. Most nonprofits felt that good intentions were by themselves enough. But today, we know that because we don’t have a bottom line, we have to manage better than for-profit business. We have to have discipline rooted in our mission…you cannot have the right definition of results without significant input from your customers- and please do not get into a debate over that term. In business, a customer is someone you must satisfy. If you don’t, you have no results…The danger is in acting on what you believe satisfies the customer. You will inevitably make wrong assumptions. Leadership should not even try to guess at the answers; it should always go to the customers in a systematic quest for those answers.”
Regarding the encouragement of constructive dissent, he writes, “If you have quick consensus on an important matter, don’t make the decision. Acclamation means nobody has done the homework. The organization’s decisions are important and risky, and they should be controversial. There is a very old saying- it goes all the way to Aristotle and later became an axiom of the early Christian Church: In essentials unity, in action freedom, and in all things trust. Trust requires that dissent come out in the open.”
What Is Our Mission?
“A mission cannot be impersonal; it has to have deep meaning, be something you believe in- something you know is right. A fundamental responsibility of leadership is to make sure that everybody knows the mission, understands it, lives it…The effective mission statement is short and sharply focused. It should fit on a T-shirt. The mission says why you do what you do, not the means by which you do it…To have an effective mission, you have to work out an exacting match of your opportunities, competence, and commitment. Every good mission statement reflects all three…Look at the state of the art, at changing conditions, at competition, the funding environment, at gaps to be filled.”
“One cautionary note: Never subordinate the mission in order to get money.”
“We start with the long range and then feed back and say, ‘What do we do today?’ The ultimate test is not the beauty of the mission statement. The ultimate test is your performance.”
“Your core mission provides guidance, not just about what to do but also equally about what not to do. Social sector leaders pride themselves on doing good for the world, but to be of maximum service requires a ferocious focus on doing good only if it fits your mission. To do the most good requires saying no to pressures to stray and the discipline to stop doing what does not fit.”
We endeavor to help students in our music school in Odessa, Texas to focus on the essentials and to minimize distractions to their goals.
“Recently, we completed a large study on the relationship of happiness and meaning with both organizational and personal satisfaction with life…By happiness we are referring to your personal enjoyment of the process itself, not just the results. In other words, at the high end of the scale, you love what you are doing. By meaning we are referring to the value that you attribute to the results of your work. At the high end of the scale, you deeply believe that the outcome of what you are doing is important…No one can tell you what makes you happy, and no one can tell you what is meaningful for you. These answers have to come from your heart…What did our research show? The only way to have high degrees of satisfaction with life at work and at home was to engage in activities that simultaneously produced happiness and meaning…Make sure that the process of achieving your mission is a process that you love. Life is short. Unless you goal is to be a martyr, do what makes you happy.”
Who Is Our Customer?
“I ask, ‘Who must be satisfied for the organization to achieve results?’ When you answer this question, you define your customer as one who values your service, who wants what you offer, who feels it’s important to them.”
“Social sector organizations have two types of customers. The primary customer is the person whose life is changed through your work…Supporting customers are volunteers, members, partners, funders, referral sources, employees, and others who must be satisfied…the primary customer is never the only customer, and to satisfy one customer without satisfying the others means there is no performance.”
“The primary customer is not necessarily someone you can reach, someone you can sit down with and talk to directly. Primary customers may be infants, or endangered species, or members of a future generation. Whether or not you can have an active dialogue, identifying the primary customer puts your priorities in order and gives you a reference point for critical decisions on the organization’s values.”
“Customers are never static…Their needs, wants, and aspirations will evolve.”
We teach students in our music school in Odessa, Texas to be perceptive to the ever-changing stylistic desires in current musical culture. Being willing to listen and perceive new artistic directions will help the aspiring artist stay at the forefront of developments in his career.
“An old Chinese proverb says, ‘If you cannot smile, do not open a shop.’ So in the end, we must master our knowledge of who the target customers are, who and what influences them, and how to create highly satisfying customer experiences. Recognize that today’s customers are increasingly buying on value, not on relationship. Your success ultimately depends on what you have contributed to the success of your customers.”
“Organizations, big and small, old and new, global and local, have to think of their businesses as in service to the customers and build their value proposition around it…for instance, you are not buying jet engines to power the airplane anymore; you are buying fuel efficiency. You are not buying a lightbulb but rather durability…Value, therefore, has to be translated from the mind-set of the product to the mind-set of the customer.”
The perceptive musician will realize that music is not about music at all, rather it is about things that are deeper and broader, such as community and relationships. We teach students in our music school in Odessa, Texas to always ask the ‘Why’ questions.
“The supporting customers of the future are groups like these independent contractors living so-called mosaic careers. As networking tools proliferated, the market of short-term engagements is exploding. Companies adept at tapping these growing pools will harness their volatility into a strong source of innovation. Only by recognizing the needs and motivations of collaborators will you create a system that propels forward the mission (and primary customers) that inspired you in the fist place.”
We want to encourage students in our music school in Odessa, Texas to see their value to their community as enriching relationships, providing spiritual, mental, and emotional health, and pointing to the realm of the ‘unseen,’ not just the materialistic view of our human existence.