Santa Claus, PMP®

GTIM Nation may be getting tired of my pushing back on the Asset Managers’ axiom, that the point of all management is to “maximize shareholder wealth,” but I think that many business model pathologies have their genesis in this notion. From the 1970s-era idea that “GM is in the business of making money, not cars,”[i] to having to endure those insufferable project portfolio analyses predicated on the guessed-at estimated Return on Investment, those three words’ impact have been felt all across the management sciences landscape, and if I have to be the lone dissenting blogger left standing in the breech, well, so be it.
Seeing as how ProjectManagement.com’s theme for December, philanthropy, fits nicely into the Holiday’s “Season of Giving” motif, I thought it would be fun to bring in an unlikely ally in exposing the moral and intellectual vacuousness of MSW: good ol’ Saint Nick himself. Now, I don’t take this approach lightly – some years back I was asked to review a PM-themed novel set at the North Pole, where Santa, preparing for his yearly present delivery run, was being left anonymous notes about the problems in his toy manufacturing apparatus. I really disliked it, and told the author as much. Never heard from him again.
For the record, I will NOT be discussing the historical Saint Nicholas of Myra, but his extremely fanciful derivative character, the one who lives at the North Pole, and every Christmas Eve sets out in a flying reindeer-propelled sleigh to deliver toys to all the good boys and girls around the world. For just a moment I would like to invite GTIM Nation to close your eyes, take a deep breath, and remember a time when you believed the mythology surrounding Santa Claus, and think about all of the joy that brought to your young life. Now think of the character of Ebeneezer Scrooge, from Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, and the amount of frustration and grief he brings to those around him prior to his three-spirit-induced epiphany. Quite the contrast, no? But the basics of each one’s business model is easy to discern:Santa Claus amasses an enormous amount of assets (the toy industry in the United States alone is estimated at over $40B annually[ii]), only to dissipate them in their entirety, with absolutely no material recompense. I would argue that this places Santa firmly in the PMI® business model, since PM seeks to deliver on the customers’ expectations of Scope, Cost, and Schedule. Scope? It’s to bring joy, so, check. Cost? Santa’s visits are free (to the kids, anyway), so, check. Schedule? It all happens on Christmas Eve, so double-check.
Scrooge, on the other hand, aggressively acts to maximize his wealth, as shown when he heatedly rejects the two gentlemen who come to ask for a donation to help London’s impoverished, and maintains such poor working conditions in his office that the badly-treated Bob Cratchett is refused in his request to add more coal to the cold rooms’ fireplace. Also, upon encountering the ghost of Jacob Marley, Scrooge tells him that he was “always a good businessman,” which could only be taken as true as long as the point of his business was not to bring happiness to others, which Marley’s ghost quickly (and emphatically) points out. Also consider what happens to Scrooge as he encounters the three spirits, Christmas Past, Christmas Present, and Christmas Yet-to-Be. Does he become more attuned to maximizing shareholder his wealth? No, rather, he turns into the opposite of his formerly miserly self, and becomes far more generous and others-oriented.
Also consider the contrast between Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer, and Bob Cratchett. Each are valuable members of their respective teams. But whereas Bob Cratchett is treated poorly by Scrooge himself, until after the visits of the three spirits, and then (and only then) Scrooge finally treats him better. Rudolph is also treated poorly, but by the other reindeer. It’s Santa himself who steps in to elevate Rudolph to the point position on the flying reindeer team, and he didn’t need supernatural intervention to convince him to do so.
Finally, I can understand why PMI® might be reluctant to award an honorary Project Management Professional® certification to a quasi-fantasy/literary character, being a serious professional society and all. But compare and contrast what Santa does with the 2023 PMI Project of the Year Award Winner, Caterpillar: Prototype Battery Electric Large Mining Truck. This was, of course, a very impressive project. But I must point out that the Cat 793 XE Early Learner does not fly, nor is it known for bringing joy to millions of boys and girls around the globe by delivering toys. Consider also that, while there are over one million PMPs® across all of the continents, there are none hailing from the North Pole. For geographic diversity’s sake, Santa should qualify.
For these reasons, I think PMI® should grant Santa Claus an honorary PMP®. Also, it will frustrate those who push that whole maximize shareholder wealth nonsense.



[i] Retrieved from https://www.fi-magazine.com/311147/the-90s-called-they-want-their-presentations-back on December 8, 2025, at 18:23 MST.
[ii] Retrieved from https://www.statista.com/topics/1108/toy-industry/ on December 8, 2025, at 18:46 MST).