Profit Measures the Past—Agility Predicts the Future

Abstract

Trevor Jones set up a meeting with Michelle Williams. They are plant managers in a large manufacturing business; both run the same operation at different locations. Trevor has been to Michelle’s plant several times but hadn’t really paid close attention to what they were doing there. He of course knew they made the same products, but it’s difficult to rationalize the gap in performance between the two sites.

Even though profit and market share are fundamental measures of performance, the lenses used to examine, analyze and evaluate business success have become increasingly sophisticated. Yet many of our current people management practices are outdated and ineffective.