Matthew E. May

Internationally recognized thought leader on strategy, culture, and innovation

Matthew E. May counsels executives and teams through custom designed facilitation, coaching, and training using four basic ingredients: strategy, ideation, experimentation, and lean. He’s been counseling for 30 years, a third of it as a full-time advisor to Toyota. He is the author of four books, the latest The Laws of Subtraction (McGraw-Hill, 2013), and is working on his fifth book. His work has been appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Harvard Business Review, and many other publications. May holds an MBA from The Wharton School and a bachelor’s degree from Johns Hopkins University.

Thu, 05/17/2018 - 12:01
A Slice of the Pie How to build a big little business
Thu, 09/20/2012 - 10:33
Nick Sarillo is the founder of Nick’s Pizza & Pub, the sixth busiest independent pizza company in per-store sales in the United States. It boasts margins nearly twice those of the average pizza restaurant and an impressive employee retention…
The Psychology of Team Turnarounds Understanding begins by asking, ‘What are we doing that’s stupid?’
Wed, 08/29/2012 - 11:37
What do the Broadway musical Spider-Man, the Indianapolis Colts, and Domino’s Pizza have in common? They all used the same process to turn around a losing team. Sports psychologists and Washington Post columnists Joe Frontiera and Daniel Leidl…
Happiness First, Success Second To be more productive, try cultivating a few positive moments in your daily schedule
Mon, 08/20/2012 - 13:07
Which comes first, success or happiness? Conventional wisdom holds that if we work hard and perform well, we’ll be more successful. And if we are successful, then we’ll be happy. But according to Shawn Achor, author of The Happiness Advantage: The…
Entrepreneurial Spirit, MIA Mismanaging new thinking with higher budgets, more layers, and lower expectations
Tue, 07/31/2012 - 13:13
Have you heard any of the following lately? “I’m OK with how things are.”
“The timing for this isn’t quite right.”
“Seems like a lot of pain for such little gain.”
“We need more buy-in to do this.”
“That may work elsewhere,…
Eight Stupid Things Managers Do to Mess Up Their Companies What, me manage?
Wed, 07/18/2012 - 10:39
In a business climate where only the best companies survive and thrive, one thing is clear: You must avoid the stupid stuff. You must eliminate the things that leave customers and employees scratching their heads, frustrated, and mystified. The…
The Three Best Books for Getting Things Right Summer reading outside the business basics
Thu, 07/05/2012 - 10:14
Every day, we are bombarded with messages about how to get things done. We hear a lot less, though, about how to get things right. Most waste in business operations come not from doing the right work inefficiently, but simply doing the wrong work in…
The Power of Reflection Effective for police, the after action review enables improvement without blame
Mon, 05/21/2012 - 11:54
Five years ago, at noon on May 7, 2007, I sat in the canteen at the Los Angeles Policy Academy in Elysian Park, just north of downtown Los Angeles, awaiting the arrival of Captain Robert S. Hauck, then second in command of the West Los Angeles…