March 11, 2012, marked the one-year anniversary of the devastation caused by an earthquake off Japan’s northwest coast, which created a tsunami that destroyed several coastal towns. It also triggered the events that resulted in terrible nuclear disaster when the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant got out of control. This disaster led to severe reductions in Japanese power generation and to the world rethinking the future reliance on nuclear power. It was what has often been called a Black Swan event (while known to be possible, considered highly unusual). more

In my previous blog post, I shared how Statoil’s innovative finance organization has eliminated budgets in support of their approach to strategic management. Their case study was part of a contest on management innovation called the Beyond Bureaucracy Challenge being conducted by the Management Information Exchange (MIX) in conjunction with the Harvard Business Review and McKinsey’s M-Prize.

I am excited to report that Statoil is one of seven companies to be declared winners. See the announcement of all the winners here. more

One of the most exciting parts of my work is seeing innovative companies in action. My top five most innovative management teams would have to include energy company Statoil, and their finance organization is certainly one of the key drivers of innovation within the company.

Statoil has not only eliminated budgets but it is in the process of doing away with calendars. more

Last week I was out for an early morning walk. I often leave before dark to get in a few miles before the tasks of the day call. This morning the sun had just broken over the horizon. As it rose in the eastern sky it was the perfect angle so that my body cast a really long shadow. Literally it was 300 feet long. As I looked at it I felt extremely fortunate to enjoy that sunrise as well to work with giants in the finance world who cast equally long shadows. They are men who can teach us all so much.

One such giant of a man was my friend, my colleague, my mentor Jeremy Hope. It is with great sadness that I and the other members of the Beyond Budgeting leadership team inform you that the BBRT co-founder, Jeremy Hope, passed away on the evening of 26 September after a relatively short period of severe illness. Our thoughts and prayers are with his wife and family at this time.

Jeremy was the catalyst that started this column. more

To continue our discussion of Rick Maurer’s cycle of change (see Figure 1 to my August 15, 2011 blog entry), I have a question for you. Do you ever find yourself stuck on getting started?

I often find this to be a common problem with change. Do you ever find yourself perpetually starting a diet (but never quite actually on it yet)? Is there a major clean out (of email, files, or long overdue to do’s) that you always need to tackle but never seem to find the time? Is there a critical project that keeps getting pushed back? more