The Practical Drucker

CHAPTER  |  THIRTY-TWO

The Purpose of Your Business Is Not to Make a Profit

Peter Drucker said and wrote a lot of things that on the surface sound absolutely outlandish. Perhaps this is what made him so “eminently quotable.” That was all the more so when his seemingly ridiculous claim turned out to be true. Such was the case when he said one day that the purpose of a business was not to make a profit! Oh, come on, Peter—get real! If the purpose of a business is not to make a profit, then what is it? Everyone knows the very basic “fact” that the purpose of any business is to make money. That is to say, to make a profit. This “fact” leads to a corollary: that the goal of any business is to make as much profit as possible. That is, profit maximization. ...