Captain’s log, stardate 20210203
In his book The Practice of Management, consulting legend Peter Drucker declares there is only one purpose of a business:
“The purpose of business is to create and keep a customer.” - Peter Drucker
Drucker goes on to say:
“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.”
To me, this is the most useful way to think about the purpose of a business because:
Without this higher aim, our progress as a civilization would trend toward small optimizations of what already exists, and away from groundbreaking game changers that create a new reality.
Yours,
—J