David Norton biography and books

David Norton - Toolshero

David Norton (1941-2023) was a financial management guru and founder of the Palladium Group. David Norton was also one of the co-founders of the famous Balanced Scorecard model.

The biography of David Norton

David began his academic career at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute. There, he obtained his BSc. Degree in Electrical Engineering.

He obtained an MSc. in operations research from the Florida Institute of technology, an MBA from Florida State University and a doctorate in business administration from Harvard Business School.

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Norton’s best-known work is his contribution to the Balanced Scorecard which he co-developed with Robert Kaplan. In addition to his research work and lecturing, he has written numerous papers about the Balanced Scorecard.

With Robert Kaplan, he co-authored eight articles that were published in Harvard Business Review (HBR) and six books, the most recent one of which is Digital Context 2.0: Seven Lessons in Business Strategy, Consumer Behavior, and the Internet of Things (2016). His books have sold more than one million copies in 23 languages.

He was voted as one of the world’s 12 most influential thinkers by “Sun Top Media Thinkers 50” in 2007. In 2008, David Norton and Robert Kaplan received the “Champion of Workplace Learning and Performance Award” from the the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD).



The Balanced Scorecard concept was selected by the editors of the Harvard Business Review as one of the most influential management ideas of the past 75 years.

David Norton died on December 6, 2023 at the age of 82 due to complications from Parkinson’s disease.

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Famous quotes

  1. “A company’s ability to innovate, improve, and learn ties directly to the company’s value.”
  2. “Customer-based measures are important, but they must be translated into measures of what the company must do internally to meet its customers expectations.”
  3. “Companies should decide what processes and competencies they must excel at and specify measures for each.”
  4. “A good balanced scorecard should tell the story of your strategy.”
  5. “It is important for management to meet to address short-term operational problems. But it is also important for senior managers to meet to discuss their progress in strategy implementation.”
  6. “A distinguishing feature of the comprehensive management system is its explicit link between long-term strategy and daily operations.”

Books and publications bu David Norton et al.

  • 2016. Digital Context 2.0: Seven Lessons in Business Strategy, Consumer Behavior, and the Internet of Things. BookBaby.
  • 2010. Managing alliances with the balanced scorecard. Harvard Business Review, 88(1-2), 114-120.
  • 2010. The Execution Premium: Linking Strategy to Operations for Competitive Advantage. Journal: Accounting Review – ACCOUNT REV , vol. 85, no. 4.
  • 2008. Mastering the management system. Harvard Business Review, 86(1), 62.
  • 2008. The execution premium: linking strategy to operations for competitive advantage. Harvard Business Press
  • 2006. Why System, Not Structure, Is the Way Toward Strategic Alignment: A Historical Perspective.
  • 2006. Alignment: using the Balanced Scorecard to Create Corporate Synergies. Harvard Business School Press.
  • 2006. How to implement a new strategy without disrupting your organization. Harvard Business Review, 84(3), 100.
  • 2005. Creating the office of strategy management. Division of Research, Harvard Business School.
  • 2004. Measuring the strategic readiness of intangible assets. Harvard business review, 82(2), 52-63.
  • 2004. How Strategy Maps Frame an Organization’s Objectives. Financial Executive, 20(2), 40-45.
  • 2004. Keeping score on community investment. Journal: Leader To Leader , vol. 2004, no. 33.
  • 2004. Strategy Maps: Converting Intangible assets into Tangible Outcomes. Harvard Business School Press.
  • 2001. Transforming the Balanced Scorecard from Performance Measurement to Strategic Management: Part I. Journal: Accounting Horizons – ACCOUNT HORIZ , vol. 15, no. 1.
  • 2000. The Strategy-Focused Organization: How Balanced Scorecard Companies Thrive in the New Competitive Environment. Harvard Business School Press.
  • 1999. The Balanced Scorecard: translating strategy into action. Institute for International Research.
  • 1997. Why does business need a balanced scorecard? Journal of cost management, 11, 5-11.
  • 1996. Strategic learning & the balanced scorecard. Journal: Strategy & Leadership , vol. 24, no. 5.
  • 1996. The Balanced Scorecard: Translating Strategy into Action. Harvard Business School Press, 1996.
  • 1996. Using the balanced scorecard as a strategic management system. Harvard business review, 74(1), 75-85.
  • 1996. The balanced scorecard (Vol. 6). Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
  • 1996. Linking the balanced scorecard to strategy. California management review, 39(1).
  • 1995. Managing benefits from Information Technology. Journal: Information Management & Computer Security – IMCS , vol. 3, no. 5.
  • 1993. Putting the balanced scorecard to work. Harvard Business Review, 71(5), 134-140
  • 1992. The balanced scorecard – measures that drive performance.

How to cite this article:
Van Vliet, V. (2010). David Norton. Retrieved [insert date] from Toolshero: https://www.toolshero.com/toolsheroes/david-norton/

Original publication date: 11/27/2013 | Last update: 03/19/2024

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Vincent van Vliet
Article by:

Vincent van Vliet

Vincent van Vliet is co-founder and responsible for the content and release management. Together with the team Vincent sets the strategy and manages the content planning, go-to-market, customer experience and corporate development aspects of the company.

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