Mike Bourne

Mike is Director of the Centre Business Performance at Cranfield University’s School of Management in the UK. Before his academic career, Mike spent 15 years in business, spanning the valve, paper & board, building materials, machine tool and airline catering industries. He held a number of positions, with roles in production management, strategy and acquisitions, IT, HR, commercial and general management, including directorship positions in subsidiary companies. He gained his PhD from the University of Cambridge in 2001, researching the design and implementation of balanced performance measurement systems.

He has spent the last fifteen years working with companies supporting senior management teams through the process of designing, implementing and using their balanced scorecards and related performance management techniques. He has worked with, and consulted to, a number of organisations including Accenture, Amadeus, BAE Systems, DB Schenker, European Central Bank, Lloyds TSB, McCormick Europe, NHBC, Oki Europe, PWC, Schering, Thales, Tube Lines, Unilever and Wolseley.. He has authored over 100 publications and is co-author of several books including Balanced Scorecard - Instant Manager, Getting the Measure of your Business , Change Management in a Week and the Handbook of Corporate Performance Management. Mike is a Chartered Management Accountant and a Chartered Engineer

Q&A

Q: What do you wish someone had told you when you were starting out?
A: Learn how to learn from your experience. If you can do that quickly you can survive in any situation

Q: What is the best advice you’ve ever been given?
A: If there is a change planned then there is a period during which the consultation occurs. This is the chance you will have to get involved and influence the change. But once the decisions have been made you only have two choices, fully support the implementation of the change, or leave the organisation. The organisation has the right to remove those who don’t support the change whole-heartedly

Q: What is the most underrated skill in business?
A: Being able to think and manage under extreme pressure

Books by Mike Bourne in this series

Successful Change Management in a Week: Teach Yourself