The transformation of Birmingham Midshires

Many who start off their career with a grounding of operational research, later move into general management. Mike Jackson is one such person. He now heads a building society, which from relative obscurity, has moved into the limelight, receiving widespread critical acclaim that has led to this society being named ‘The UK Service Excellence Company of the Year’ by Unisys/Management Today in September 1996. This article reveals how a young man with an analytical bent became a successful business leader and change agent. Throughout his career Jackson has thought about the issues in hand in terms of a model of the business; once the model is understood, the problems and challenges can be measured and improvement can begin. He attributes his belief in the value of models to the lectures he attended on operational research.