Degrees of Freedom
Where should judgment live in an organization, and how much consequence should be allowed to follow it?
Read essay →Brian Manwaring
Manufacturing executive
I began my career as a mechanical engineer and have since worked across engineering, operations, sales and marketing, general management, and multi-site manufacturing leadership.
About →Selected Essays
Learning Starts With “I Don’t Know”
An accurate “I don’t know” tells us where knowledge ends—and what needs to happen next.
Read essay →All Work Is Noble
On dignity, capability, economic value, purpose, and the obligation to make difficult judgments without confusing performance with human worth.
Read essay →
Wally’s Dogs
Discover Why the P&L Changed—and Where to Start Asking Questions
Wally’s Dogs is a short, practical book for non-financial managers who need to understand what changed on a P&L and where to begin investigating why.
Using a simple ballpark hot-dog stand, it follows operating decisions through Revenue, Material, Labor, Manufacturing Overhead, and Gross Profit.
The book grew from a recurring problem I have seen in operations: capable managers can often report that a financial result changed without yet knowing how to investigate why.