It is hard to believe that Michael Hammer, Mr. Reengineering, is gone. Yes, I knew he was in serious condition the last two weeks after an accident while vacationing in the Berkshires. (His website had posted such a note since Aug. 25.) But today’s death notice was still shocking.
He was only 60, and he had many more years to contribute to his calling since the mid-1980s: teaching businesses how to become far more productive through process change and information technology. More important, he was a devoted family man, and his wife and four kids have suffered an enormous loss.
Mike taught many of those who had the fortune to know him (including me) the importance of relentless questioning of conventional wisdom, deep research of innovative practices in businesses to understand what really works (rather than research by literature search or shallow survey instruments), crystal clear communication, and personal integrity.
Michael Hammer was the most brilliant consultant and best business speaker I have ever met. To my knowledge, his approach to researching and developing management concepts – which enabled him to become the thought leader of the business world in the first half of the 1990s -- has never been studied. It needs to be, for two reasons. First, because his impact on the business world has been immense. Second, because I have not seen any professional services firm come anywhere near to replicating his approach to thought leadership R&D (which, in short, was in-depth, case study research comparing leaders and laggards on a very specific business issue). (Mike’s approach to thought leadership will be studied very soon; check back with this blog space in the next week.)
I started to get to know Mike when I joined Index Group in June 1987. (To be sure, I was not close to Mike then or since, but we probably met 20-30 times over the last 20 years to discuss marketing issues. I am honored to say I ghostwrote a couple of articles for him in his early consulting years.)
In his days with Index, he had his own company, Hammer & Co., which was basically Mike and a couple of assistants to run his conferences and book his speeches. His office was located within the offices of Index at 5 Cambridge Center in Cambridge, Mass. He and Index were partners in a research business called PRISM (Partnership for Research in Information Systems Management), which was sponsored by more than 100 companies at its apex around 1993.
It’s actually unfair of me to call Mike “Mr. Reengineering,” even though I believe the concept is largely what he’ll be known for. It’s unfair because reengineering was only part of Mike’s thought leadership portfolio. To be sure, it was his blockbuster. But he had many other intriguing ideas that I saw during his research partnership with Index Group. Even still, reengineering does – and will – live on. Whether it’s called reengineering or another name, many companies worldwide continue to apply Hammer’s principles of cross-functional, IT-enabled process change.
My memories of working with Mike as a ghostwriter will never leave me. He was the only consultant I know who could sit down with you for 30 minutes, tell you the article he wanted you to ghostwrite for him, talk the piece out, and have the thinking nearly 90% polished while he was telling it to you. That is, a transcript of the discussion was nearly ready to publish. Not an extraneous thought, no ideas out of order, no debatable assertions unsupported. Uncanny.
If there is ever an award for thought leadership in the 20th century consulting world, Michael Hammer would have to be among the finalists. My deepest sympathies to his family and friends. Rest in peace, Mike. You will truly be missed.
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2 comments:
I had a conversation with Mike earlier this year, and I was struck by his assertion that business reengineering had only just begun - that there was another 30 or 40 years to go before it was fully realized.
I think that's a hallmark of truly disruptive change. Whether it was the advent of the railroads in the US, the Internet or Reengineering, they all had way too much hype in the beginning, short-term impact was way overestimated and lots of moeny was poured into projects (and companies) that went bust.
On the other hand, the impact of all three over 50 years was underestimated. They all changed the business landscape enormously. Whatever the scepticism about reenginerring after the honeymoon was over in the mid-nineties, everyone talks about business processes today as though we aleways have.
Mike was pivotal in opening our eyes to the process dimension. The change he unleashed will go on for some decades yet. And his legacy will live perhaps forever.
It's interesting how we are finally recognized for who we really are and what we really accomplish only after we pass. Michael Hammer's impact on the way we do business, both in the commercial as well as the government sectors, will be felt for a generation or more.
I have taught and consulted with hundreds of organizations around the world for over 20 years and have yet to see a situation where Hammer's focus on process was not only relevant, but critical to their success. With all of the talk that Reengineering is dead, long live six sigma, we have missed the point. Reengineering was never the point, performance improvement was. Reengineering was never solely about IT, but most relegated it to the offices of the CIO. As Hammer said on so many occasions, it's about giving people more of what they need to become better at what they do!
I will miss his limitless drive to improve our work and our lives. We have lost a true warrior!
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