Peter Drucker (1909-2005) is one of the best-known and widely quoted thinkers on business and management theory. He wrote a gazillion books, and I believe that most business books on the market today are largely variations of his books. He put it out there, and we’ve been working with his ideas ever since.
Drucker most famously said,
Because the purpose of business is to create a customer, the business enterprise has two–and only two–basic functions: marketing and innovation. Marketing and innovation produce results; all the rest are costs. Marketing is the distinguishing, unique function of the business.
We resist the marketing. We aren’t even thinking about innovation.
Our position—distinguishing ourselves from other businesses by thinking of ourselves as a “profession”—worked well when there wasn’t any competition from real businesses. That changed. Now we’re competing with businesses focusing on marketing and innovation.
What’s the plan?
We’re collectively working on the marketing, although we mostly compete against each other and not against the new entrants. We’re grabbing for our piece of a shrinking pie.
We’re mostly ignoring the need for innovation while others fill the void.
- What are we waiting for?
- What can we be doing?
- What experiments are you running?
- What can you offer that meets the market’s needs?
- How well do you know the customer?
- What products and services, at what prices, do the people want, and how can you meet their requirements?
- Are you innovating?
- Are you waiting for someone else to do it first?
- Is your head in the sand?
- What’s the plan?
