"A highly accessible collection of essays on contemporary thinking in performance management. Readers will get excellent overviews on the Balanced Scorecard, strategy maps, incentives, management accounting, activity-based costing, customer lifetime value, and sustainable shareholder value creation."

"Gary Cokins demonstrates in this book that performance management is not a mysterious black art, but a structured, process-oriented discipline. If you want your performance management system to be a smoothly-running analytical machine, read and apply the ideas in this book-it's all you need."

"Drawing on a deep reservoir of knowledge and experience gained from hundreds of customer engagements around the world, Gary Cokins offers an authoritative examination of the major dimensions of performance management. Cokins not only paints a rich and textured view of the major principles and concepts driving performance management implementations, he offers a nuanced look at the important subtleties that can spell the difference between success and failure. This is an informative and enjoyable text to read!"

"Very insightful book, the view of an integrated performance management framework with a goal to link various operational activities with business strategy, is an excellent approach to manage and improve business. Gary's explanation of risk based performance management, for providing capability to achieve long term objectives with reliably calculated risks, is definitely thought provoking."

"Gary Cokins is clearly one of the world's thought leaders in the area of performance management, and the need for integrated performance management, improvement and execution is clearly at a premium in these challenging economic times. . . . This book is a must read for CEOs, CFOs and management accountants around the globe seeking higher levels of sustainable business performance for their stakeholders."

"In his most recent book, Gary Cokins shows he has successfully been able to expand his base thinking into a contemporary and useful read. In recognizing the importance of enterprise risk management to today's organizations-and integrating it into the broader content message-this book makes a leap forward for 21st century business practices."

"Gary Cokins has cracked the code to improving performance by producing a comprehensive body of knowledge which focuses on the implementation of the strategy. A unique feature of Gary's work is that he provides an integrated framework that incorporates Governance, Risk and Compliance, as well as Customer Value Management. This is a must read for every executive who intends to show performance growth."

"Gary Cokins is one of those gurus who not only is a recognized expert but truly gets it. He is the first expert to truly link performance management to customer value management in a way that makes sense for the 21st century. Because of that, mark my words here, this book will make a serious difference to the conduct of business in the workplace."

"Gary's latest work on Performance Management continues his thought leadership on the topic. He crystallizes the broad array of performance measurement tools into a holistic approach to better and higher level performance management. His emphasis on learning from others, behavioral change, making choices, focusing, and using reliable fact-based data are all sound pieces of advice that should help organizations deal with tough times and keep on the winning track."

"Gary Cokins has been a proven thought-leader ever since he was the lead author of the popular An ABC Managers' Primer book published in the early 1990s. With each of his successive books Gary has raised the bar to help practitioners with concepts and implementation issues related to managerial accounting and performance management. This book is written in a lighthearted way that anyone can understand and describes the integration the many possible solutions that an organization can use to improve their performance and also avoid implementation pitfalls."

"Gary Cokins has succeeded in creating a must have resource for anybody either in the midst of or even just considering a performance management project. This book contains valuable content from the basics to advanced performance management 2.0 capabilities. Gary's book will be helpful for first time analysts trying to jumpstart their initiative to seasoned project management experts looking to advance their knowledge-base to a higher level."

"Gary's performance management expertise comes to light with increasing clarity in his newest book, Performance Management: Integrating Strategy Execution, Methodologies, Risk, and Analytics. His writing style is direct. His examples and predictions are colorful and often uncomfortably true. On a personal note, readers will appreciate Gary's accessibility and his willingness to help when needed."

"Despite knowing Gary for some 20 years, I continue to be amazed at the depth and clarity of his thoughts and arguments. This book presents a vision for performance management and how that discipline integrates with other key management processes. But most importantly for readers, Gary tells us how to achieve this, not just what and why, and that makes this book that much better."

"Many organizations attack the parts. In this book Gary, a consensus thought leader in the performance management community, shows how to align organizational gears for maximum effectiveness."

"Gary Cokins offers powerful insights and practical counsel for all who are seeking to manage effectively in these turbulent times."

"Performance Management provides a bridge between high-level strategies and practical implementation. Gary's book is required reading for all executives serious about building shareholder value. Think of it as a survival guide for managing in these tough times."

"Gary Cokins has been pioneering performance management endeavors. His new book shows that he's still not only following but leading thought processes when it comes to further developing performance management strategies. It's a must-read for everyone who wants to learn about how to improve organizational performance."

"As always, Gary sheds light on a vast array of complex issues with an ease that I always found amazing. In particular, his effective use of analogies draw great parallels with the many points he is bringing across. Just as an example, his use of the brain to illustrate the distinct contributions of transactional systems versus BI and performance management information is simply brilliant."

"Improving and organizing performance requires the right balance of quantitative and qualitative decision making. Gary Cokins's past writings have explained in easily understood language how to achieve the right balance of the quantitative and qualitative. In this book, Gary educates, entertains, and inspires readers who are interested in improving their organizational decision making."

"Performance measurement and management are at the center of current corporate concerns. Gary Cokins has been a global leader in this field for decades and this new contribution provides an integrated approach that is a must read for corporate leaders interested in improving business performance."

"Cokins uses a holistic, action-oriented approach to explain performance measurement. His framework calls for managers to conduct measurements to support strategy implementation. Thus, alignment with strategy defines the performance measurement process and its role in the managerial decision-making process."

"It takes a lot of experience and wisdom to discuss a comprehensive business concept such as enterprise performance management in a conversational way, which Cokins does in his new book. Gary has strong opinions, with which you may agree or disagree, but reading this book will make you reflect on your own beliefs."

"Gary Cokins has been at the forefront of championing one of the most comprehensive visions of performance management in the industry for many years. Performance Management: Integrating Strategy Execution, Methodologies, Risk, and Analytics is the culmination of this vision and will join his long list of writings that are mandatory reading for anyone in the field who wishes to understand state of the art in current thinking on this topic. Heartily recommended!"

"Performance Management provides invaluable insights into what it takes to achieve outstanding organizational performance by taking a very broad view of what performance management really means. Going well beyond the establishment and monitoring of metrics, Gary Cokins successfully links topics such as strategic planning, cost management, predictive analytics, business intelligence, enterprise risk management, and organizational change management. Whether you are new to the topic of performance management, or a well seasoned practitioner looking for new insights, this book is a must read."

"Gary has moved the dials of the evolving architecture of performance management. A brilliantly landscaped mosaic. The chips of the performance management fitting into a circuit of a visionary class."

"Organizations have been struggling for decades, arguably for centuries, on how to improve their performance. Gary Cokins is an internationally recognized thought leader on this topic and active contributor to professional societies such as my organization. With this book and its deep and rich insights, Gary has set a high-level mark that other experts will be challenged to exceed."

"In a very important chapter on customer value management, Gary Cokins rightly views the customer as a business entity with an asset life value and a dedicated profit and loss (measure). Gary addresses the real cost to serve the customer with an activity-based management approach that is essential to maximize the business performance of critical customers."

"Gary Cokins' clear writing is derived of clear thinking about performance management. Performance management is about nothing less than how to run an enterprise. Gary cuts through the jargon and explains what performance management is, why it is important, and how to do it. This book is invaluable for any businessperson."

"Gary is always focused on how technology can help manage and improve an organization's performance-not just measure or monitor it. Performance management the way Gary describes it in this new book provides the essential linkage between corporate strategy and operational decision-making. Gary's brand of performance management should be on every executive's to-do list."

"Using company strategy as a point of departure, Gary clearly articulates the 'strategy as hypotheses' connections between business functioning and the intelligence/analytics measurement/feedback loop. This scientific approach to measuring and managing business performance, a logical but important extension to the Balanced Scorecard, provides a clear (though not necessarily simple) prescription for businesses that wish to be managed nimbly from evidence and facts."

"Gary writes with a seldom encountered clarity that is conversational and collegial, but that also has a distinct tone of challenge and urgency for the reader to 'get it.' With a complex subject, he consistently engages you to work out the challenge of PM in all its implications and potential rewards. His central notion that many organizations are 'over-managed, but under-led' is one that should keep many executives up at night. A thoroughly stimulating read."

"An excellent book whose insights into cost control and performance management are more relevant than ever in light of current economic conditions. Gary Cokins has spent a career focusing on how companies can improve performance and cost management without simply resorting to cost cutting. This both fun and serious book continues his numerous contributions to the study of performance management."

"Our working association with Gary Cokins spans more than two decades, including his invaluable services as Advisory Board member for the journal Cost Management. Several times, Gary could have made the choice to rest in 'emeritus' status. Instead, his uncanny talent for targeting the next developments in performance and cost management-subjects covered in this volume such as sustainability effects on CFOs and social and environmental performance management-drives forward both the professional discipline as well as its receptive practitioners. Gary's inability to remain satisfied with the immature aspects of current practice has made him both reviled (to the immature) and revered (by those ready to receive his message). In these times, we opt for maturity."

"Gary has done a terrific job of pointing out that Performance Management is about Performance Improvement rather than just Performance Measurement. His emphasis that Performance Management consists of a variety of methods that must be integrated in order to successful execute strategy is critical. His focus on predictability rather than after-the-fact reporting is exactly what every organization needs to do."

"Gary's years of experience, expertise, knowledge, and creative personality flow in this new book like a torrent! Gary's insights and use of humor get better all the time; this new book is like having a chance to peek inside the mind of Yoda, really! A smartly written book with loads of examples and experiences for leaders and managers at all levels."

"Once in a while there emerges from a cloud of conflicting three-letter acronyms, poor definitions and misconceptions a ray of light that makes everything so much clearer and as a consequence so much more useful. Gary's book on Performance Management burns away the mists. His emphasis on strategy execution over strategy formulation-in other words actually moving the business forward-is supported by his advice that Performance Management has to change from monitoring the dials to actively moving them and thereby improving performance."

"Gary Cokins is the consultants' consultant for performance management. His detailed knowledge of the subject and its role in the management of the enterprise, combined with comprehensive coverage, creates an invaluable reference guide for those in pursuit of performance improvement."

"Concise and backed by real-life expertise! The idea of integrating hindsight (BI) and foresight (predictive analytics) is a powerful approach to Performance Management for organizations. We have always found Gary Cokins's inputs value adding to our solutions and service offerings on Performance Management."

"No one can explain performance management concepts better than Gary Cokins, and that has never been truer than in this compilation of his recent articles and blogs. The format and conversational style of the book not only make it an enjoyable read, but they enable Gary to present the issues in a variety of ways and from many different perspectives. This book is a must for anyone who really wants to understand performance management."

"I've had the pleasure of knowing and working with Gary for over 20 years. During that time I know of no one that has been in better position to observe, document, and refine best practices in the arenas of ABC and business performance management. In this book he deals with the much more subtle, and equally important, ways in which we accomplish the many faceted challenges of management to support these practices."

"Gary Cokins does in this book what he does so eloquently each time I see him-makes it startlingly obvious just how extensively performance management weaves through the most important systems and processes of moving an organization from where it is to where it's planned to go. He boldly and honestly admits that the field of performance management is broad and relatively immature, and tackles this daunting fact head-on with a collection of practical and insightful articles that do what I've seen no other work in this field do: give performance management a complete, clear, and compelling identity, above and beyond the individual notions of scorecards, dashboards, budgeting, performance appraisals, and the rest. This book is every performance management facilitator's reference manual."

"Having known Gary since his first book, having travelled and seen him present throughout Europe for years, I have grown to respect Gary's endurance of spearheading and constantly re-inventing his views on performance management. Until this book, people unfamiliar with Gary have only read his serious side. Those of us who have enjoyed him present know, however, that Gary sometimes promotes his ideas by pinches of humor in the manner his latest book now does it. The future will tell if some of those stories of this book will become industry classics."

"Leaders should not promise change. Change can either be good or bad. Instead, organizations need improvement. Gary Cokins's book is loaded with practical principles and methods every manager can use to improve their organization."

"Gary is a gifted communicator and in this book he brings together decades of practical experience and scholarly expertise. The book is a useful starting point for managers grappling with modern challenges of performance management. It is also a valuable resource for the experienced manager, integrating recent advances in diverse management disciplines (e.g., strategy, marketing, operations, and accounting systems) to present an integrated view of performance management."

"For many years, Gary Cokins has been a globally recognized thought-leader who translates complex management concepts into understandable insights that help managers drive breakthrough results. His latest book distills the principles of performance management into practical nuggets of wisdom that will guide managers in fulfilling their most important responsibility-strategy execution."

"Gary Cokins, a renowned consulting expert, has just added a brilliant piece of work to his already long list of accomplishments. His new book provides conceptual frameworks and operational guidelines for a fully integrated performance management, which are much needed for a company to 'intelligently' perform."

"Gathering reams of information has no value. Information only has value when it is used to support decision-making aimed at increasing shareholder value. This is the major lesson to be learned from (my long-standing colleague) Gary Cokins's new book on performance management. Gary has drawn upon his many years of experience to provide the reader with practical frameworks for deciding what information is meaningful to collect and how it can be leveraged to drive improved customer value and business performance."

"Gary's book is a thoughtful work on performance measurement and management. He is an author with deep experience in the accounting arena. Written in a very accessible writing style."

"This text combines a sound and original critique on the contemporary performance management discussion with a constructive and practical summary of some essential of its concepts. The format and content of the book provide the reader with a variety of perspectives on performance management. Together these form a rich and much needed addition and even alternative to some of the 'generally accepted performance management principles' found elsewhere."

"Already a proven author, Gary has done it again. The engaging style with which Gary handles the various concepts will give this book an appeal well beyond the consultants and practitioners who help design and implement performance management systems. In fact, I could easily see his material having a place in graduate business education."

"During my marketing professional and academic activity, the Performance Management domain has become critical, not only regarding customer and market value, but also in the holistic vision of execution, strategy monitoring, and Return on Marketing Investment. Gary Cokins soon became an obligatory author regarding Activity Based Management and a reference as a speaker in lectures in various points of the globe, including Portugal. Gary Cokins´s skills and knowledge are a reference for leveraging and increasing my business vision and my marketing performance."

"Gary Cokins, who is well known in the practitioner circles around the world, outlines the strategic importance of performance management and the methodologies to provide executives and managers the basics and insight to adapting their organizations and management to reach their full potential."

"Gary Cokins brings to light the fact that performance management goes well beyond a set of software towards the convergence of change management and the execution of corporate strategy. With his first-person examples and use of satire, Performance Management: Integrating Strategy Execution, Methodologies, Risk, and Analytics reads like a novel, making it an enjoyable read and accessible to everyone interested in making performance management a reality within their organizations."

"Gary Cokins is a solid and visionary thought leader in the field of Performance Management. Through his deep research and field experience, he's generated perspectives that are guiding this sector forward. Decision teams exploring ways to take Performance Management to the next level should pay close attention to the ideas in this book."

"Early in his book, Gary Cokins addresses the confusion in the marketplace (and for that matter in our organizations) about the term performance management and suggests Googling the term to see what he means. I did. I got more than 59 million hits, ranging from definitions of the term, to software products, to goal setting, to career development, to strategic planning, to metrics and statistics, to risk analysis. Gary brings Performance Management all together in this book and is a must read for those responsible and accountable for managing the performance of their organizations. By Gary's definition, that's all of us."

"From my first encounter with Gary more than 10 years ago, he has had an incredible knack of making difficult concepts appear simple. This is again demonstrated in this book, this time demystifying Performance Management. Organizations in Asia will gain tremendously from his insights which effectively clear up their misperceptions about performance management."

"When you are driving with a GPS instrument and you make a wrong turn, the GPS's voice chimes in to tell you that you are off track-and it then provides you with a corrective action instruction. . . . The performance management framework includes a GPS. This is just one example of Gary Cokins's use of simple analogies to cut through the jargon and buzz-words which surround the various methodologies that make up performance management. The result is a very readable and useful book for anyone interested in implementing all or any of these methodologies as part of an integrated performance management system."

"Gary has created what is sure to be an important book on performance management. Well illustrated, and often very entertaining, he provides deep insights into the interrelationships of performance management tools such as The Balanced Scorecard, Enterprise Risk Management, and Activity-based Costing. I will be adding Gary's Performance Management to the select list of books that we recommend to our seminar attendees on this topic."

"Any book in these times with the title "Performance Management" and a subtitle that touches ALL the key bases including "Integrating Strategy, Execution, Methodologies, Risk and Analytics" deserves a look. When it's authored (humorously, no less) by someone with the savvy and vision of Gary Cokins, you should consider buying it. When he promises 'It is possible to tame an organization's dysfunctional behavior,' buy it."

"Read this book to learn how a performance measurement framework can help your organization build value by digging deeper and acting sooner than the competition."

"Strategies are useless if an organization can't execute them, and most organizations can't. Gary Cokins's Performance Management will teach you how to improve your organization's ability to execute its strategies. I recommend this book because my firm's performance has improved significantly as a result of what I learned from Gary."

"Gary does a great job in this book of showing the key role of performance management in the execution of an organization's strategy. This is a timely book that effectively brings together and explains clearly the emerging features of performance management, including topics such as strategy maps, predictive analytics, rolling financial forecasts, and customer value management. And the book is enjoyable to read; Gary has a hypothetical interview with a CEO, a letter to Santa, and other dynamic elements."

"Organizations are confused about what enterprise performance management is. Most view it as too narrow. Gary Cokins does an excellent job clarifying what it is, its purpose, and its benefits."

"Gary's ideas, covered in Performance Management: Integrating Strategy Execution, Methodologies, Risk, and Analytics, will inspire you to reexamine your Performance Management perceptions and initiatives. His performance management framework provides a complete business picture with key insights that are suitable for both my business students and industry clients."

"Cokins's writings on Performance Management represent valuable contributions to better understand why and how performance management is essential in managing in a dynamic business environment. The book enables today's managers and executives to take another critical step forward in realizing the potential operating and strategic improvements that can be derived from a well structured and implemented Performance Management system."

"Gary Cokins is able to share significant insights drawn from his deep experience in the performance management arena. We have applied many of these concepts to our banking, telecommunication, and education clients in Australia and Asia. Gary has advised many of these companies how to integrate these concepts with reporting systems to drive enterprise performance."