Management Science

At the Management Science site ‘12manage’ they ask you to select your Management Interest Group. Some are listed below.

Of course, everyone uses CAGR, EBITDA, and P/E Ratio every day. How many others do you know?

It is important to recognize these as mostly tortured rhetorical flourishes rather than useful techniques.

Remember, management science, methods and formulas have nothing to do with leadership. In fact, it is critical to break-free from the analytic reductionism of 20th Century Management. Rather, focus of 21st Century Leaders is to Create the Future.

If you can conduct an interesting, authentic conversation with employees, partners, and customers, you will be a better manager and leader than a 6σ Black Belt. Forget about lofty baloney like ‘disruptive innovation‘ or ‘big data.’ Rather, learn how to create and delight customers!

Your Colabria Action Research Networks are fluent in all these techniques, of course. It is precisely why we focus on leadership versus management.

Remember, the best firms are customer-led not managed. Dramatic failures of ‘well-managed’ yet under-led firms are legion. Management Science may be the mother of all business oxymora. It’s mostly a distraction.

Anyway, for fun and nostalgia, see how many techniques you remember from b-school. Also, try to imagine how many are focused on creating and keeping customers (the purpose of business). Gee, guess what? Most of them are arcane and obsolete. Beware!

Don’t fret. The first step to becoming a better leader is to unlearn so-called ‘management science.’

Management Interest Groups