The Management Mythbuster

A 2009 survey revealed that a fifth of British teens believed Churchill was a fictional character. More than a quarter thought Florence Nightengale was a mythical figure. But two-thirds thought King Arthur was a real person. We need a similar survey showing what management systems are mythical and which provide valuable and enduring benefits in any organization. David Axson is the perfect person to provide feedback; he’s the author of The Management Mythbuster.

Interview Highlights

Doses needed for healthy skepticism
The search for a quick management fix
What happened to TQM, Six Sigma, Reengineering, and other management tools?
Finding the right tools for the right job
The risk of overdosing on the wrong management systems
The reason David still gets royalty checks for The Management Mythbuster
A better understanding of reputation risk
Sixteen chapters – how did you decide, and which tools got left out?
David’s book started as two books, not one
The myth of accounting cost allocations
“The job of a consultant is not to be a good consultant. It’s to help your clients to be more successful.”
Regarding metrics, “We can make anything look good with the right numbers.”
David’s favorite client with 320 KPIs
No love lost for EBITDA, but lots of love for cash flow metrics
“Budgeting is the biggest waste of time in the corporate world.”
The original Beyond Budgeting Roundtable was ahead of its time twenty-plus years ago
David’s explanation of managing against the actuals
Mark’s Lightning Round: collecting and manipulating data, analytic value, calendar-driven reporting, just-in-time data, and performance pay
On reading 117 books in 2022

We don’t need more metrics; we need better and more focused metrics. Perhaps we should add a new metric that measures the mean time to make a decision.
Axson, David A. J.. The Management Mythbuster (p. 184). Wiley. Kindle Edition.

Bain’s Top 10 Management Tools

About every two years, Bain publishes its Top 10 Management Tools based on surveys. Since we brought this up on the show, I wanted to show what the 2017 grid looks like. In the static image below, notice that the Balanced Scorecard made the Top 10 in 2010, 2012, and 2014, but it fell out of the Top 10 in 2017. There is a link in the caption below that will take you to the interactive grid.

The source is Bain & Company, and you can access the grid here.

Favorite Books

I ask every guest about their favorite books. David did not disappoint after he mentioned he read nearly 120 books last year. David likes the business classics, and here are his five favorites:

Other books mentioned on the show: