HBR's 10 Must Reads Big Business Ideas Collection (2015-2017 plus The Essentials) (4 Books) (HBR's 10 Must Reads)

Your Scarcest Resource

by Michael Mankins, Chris Brahm, and Gregory Caimi

MOST COMPANIES HAVE elaborate procedures for managing capital. They require a compelling business case for any new investment. They set hurdle rates. They delegate authority carefully, prescribing spending limits for each level.

An organization’s time, in contrast, goes largely unmanaged. Although phone calls, e-mails, instant messages, meetings, and teleconferences eat up hours in every executive’s day, companies have few rules to govern those interactions. In fact, most companies have no clear understanding of how their leaders and employees are spending their collective time. Not surprisingly, that time is often squandered—on long e-mail chains, needless conference calls, ...