I am doing a research degree on German anti-Semitism and just finished reading an essay on the compliance of the German people to increasingly macabre laws and censures. They did this in order to maintain their unique membership and familial connection to a socio-political safe house. The essay outlined the cost of fitting in. The current business management style is becoming similarly bizarre
This brings to mind the MBA mantra of management: IF YOU CAN'T MEASURE YOU CAN'T MANAGE IT!
The theory is that through comparing other organizations or other individuals performance to a baseline of acceptable metrics, one's position in the business world social economic grid is measurable. Like an ancient Mariner's method of dead reckoning, one's position on earth is only relative to observable known landmarks on land and then extrapolated using time and distance to get a fix. When there are no other means for navigation, this is what upon which one must rely.
Once the charts (maps) got better, the timepieces got better and the sextant was invented navigation became much more reliable. The modern invention of Loran C [long-range radio trends location] and digitized charts became popular and available, the need for a basic understanding of time and space became unnecessary and with the introduction of affordability of GPS, the sextant parallel rules and chart were subjected to the museum.
So it is with business intelligence. The dead reckoning of one's past performance and achievable goals have been replaced by the reliance on industry metrics gathered and summarized by non-interested third parties were once position is measured by industry norms and performance-based computer extrapolation models.
So where am I going with this? Is this not progress? What is the point?
If the financial/strategic planning function has become so reliant on the short-term gains promised by prepackaged performance metric-based business intelligence models, they will not question their navigation tool even though they hear the breakers beating on the shore while their Business Intelligence software screams that they are in deep water and are in no danger of grounding. The ship's crew will follow the navigators prescribed directions to steer the ship on the Mad skipper's course.
Around the "navigation station we hear: "We've had a 20% growth for the last two years and we are a 'motivated startup' with a 'strategic plan' that is a 'no-brainer' for the venture capitalist. Therefore our sales forecast this year should be 60% growth! We will be lowering expenses, minimizing our investment and maximizing our tangible assets which puts us in the upper right quadrant of entrepreneurial high-risk leverage the venture capital success module."
Here is truth. Who are your clients? Are you giving them more than they want or what they bargained for? Are your employees excited by their personal contribution to the enterprise for which they work? If the answers to these questions are unclear it's time to break out the sounding line, the binoculars, and start listening for surf or foghorn.
