"Anything that does not add value is waste."

That is one of the maxims I learned from a fellow CMA who was my boss at a subsidiary of Noma Industries Limited (a fascinating public company that no longer exists). It's amazing how many organizations take issue with that statement!

The fellow was bright, having been awarded the Board of Governors Medal by the Society of Management Accountants of Canada (now CMA Canada), for attaining the highest mark nationwide for writing his final exam before qualification. Here are some other frighteningly accurate observations of his, that have stood the test of time:

• "Once you have the answer, it becomes very easy to frame the question."
• "If it looks wrong, it probably is." (That's the converse of an old engineering phrase.)
• "If it can be written down logically on a piece of paper, it can be programmed."

I hear he's now retired. The business world has thereby lost a most interesting character.