The Little Book of Beyond Budgeting began life as an appendix to the book that became ‘Present Sense’.

 

But as I was writing, it occurred to me that most people who bought Present Sense would be unlikely to read it if it stayed there. 

 

Also, I realised that there while there were several books on Beyond Budgeting, they were big books, a couple of hundred pages long, aiming to convert people to the ideas with clever words and crafted case studies. And it seemed to me that these books were unlikely to be read by people who simply wanted to understand what Beyond Budgeting was about, especially busy leaders in businesses who have so little free time at work.

 

So, The Little Book of Beyond Budgeting was born. 

 

My goal from the start was to explain in as few words as possible what Beyond Budgeting was about and what it involved in very practical terms. It needed to be small enough in size to slip easily into a pocket or small back, and short enough to be read on a short haul flight – often the only time when busy people are ‘off-line’ and so might read a book.

 

I also wanted to avoid the stories gleaned from ‘leading companies’ carefully selected and edited to support the authors line of argument that, in my view, make many business books slightly dishonest.

 

To be taken seriously I needed to be able explain in simple straightforward terms how Beyond Budgeting works and why it leads to better outcomes than traditional methods. Even better if I could demonstrate how both failure and success can be explained by reference to the ‘laws’ of system science that formed the basis of my doctorate thesis.

 

So, the book proceeds by explaining how traditional Management Models, based on annual budgeting and a ‘command and control’ leadership, creates the many of the problems that businesses grapple with, from bureaucratic processes, through inflexibility and dysfunctional patterns of behaviour.

 

It then proceeds to show how Beyond Budgeting practices use different means to achieve the same purpose. And why and how this means that organisations need to be lead in a different way. 

 

It also explores some implications, for leaders and human resource managers, and those working in development and operations as well as for the finance profession.

 

Finally, some guidance is given about how to set about change using some of the tools described in more detail in the Viable Map Workbook.

 

You can buy the ‘Little Book’ through normal retail channels, direct from the publisher or from my bookstore in physical or PDF form. If you want to buy a large number of books or you would like to personalise it for your organisation, please contact me directly.