Who came up with the phrase, the balanced scorecard?
Bob Kaplan and I had this research group that we were leading and it started with the objective of finding a better way to manage. US companies in particular, and Western companies in general, were getting really beaten badly by the Japanese, and there was a lot being written about short-term America and how we’re doing it to ourselves with this quarterly focus on financials. That was the front-of-mind problem. We were looking for a better way. Our first conclusion was that you can’t throw away the financials – that is the lifeblood – but you’ve got to somehow make it long term as well as short term. Balancing just came naturally to describe that. We’re balancing long term and short term, we’re balancing lead indicators with lag indicators, so it was a natural outcome. I can’t remember seeing a flash of light nor did it happen in the shower in the morning. What about the international responses to the balanced scorecard. When you took it out on the road and introduced people to it, did
