Numbers and money follow; they do not lead.
– From the Quicken Loans web site
That is absolutely brilliant – and beautifully phrased.
If you let the numbers lead you end up with management by spreadsheet in which all decisions are made for short-term gains with no regards to the fact that workplaces rely mostly on the thoughts, feelings and reactions of human beings who are inexplicably difficult to get to follow the stats.
Humans lead. Numbers follow. I like it.
Businesses are made up of human beings that are complex emotional beings. Numbers are simply a result of the relationship between all of the human beings within any business. Humans lead. Numbers follow. I like it too.
Exactly! So much of what goes on in a company is beyond numbers – it will forever resist being reduced to cells in a spreadsheet.
It sounds so zen-like and profound doesn’t it?
Recently I was helping my daughter with her numeracy homework. Like many people, she struggled and found numbers frightening. I tried to help her see that numbers are just another way of describing the world. An alternative language.
I wish I could have expressed it as clearly as this.
Robert: Our culture has a love/hate relationship with numbers. Only without the “love” part :o)