Metrics for Business and LIfe

If you can't trust the numbers

Tina Crouse, Strategist

Saw an interesting ad the other day about 'If you can't trust the numbers, how can you trust the analysis?' Interesting point. Self-evident? No. Lots of people trust numbers while very few can analyze them. Why is that ?

I'm of the opinion that we have been over-sold in the area of numbers. Refusing to believe that 'stacking' and 'fudging' are very common, we blindly read something and then report it as truth, even gospel, as some would say. And yet, how many counter-arguments or reports have we heard regarding statistics ? Cancer rates - climbing or lowering? Crime stats - up or down? Birth rates- shrinking or expanding? Interest rates- increasing or decreasing? Housing rates- sold, lost or built? If we put all the data to the basic test "Can you count it?" without manipulations, formulas or translations, would more people be able to make solid decisions ? Isn't that the point ?

Because I'm a strategist, I use data all the time; I have to, my clients need to make good decisions. And I feel those decisions need to be based on something. I think people should be able to decide, based on true numbers, how to improve their business, where to spend their time and those much bigger questions, when to get a second opinion, how much time do I have ? what will my children live off of ?

Numbers are suppose to help us make decisions and move on with our lives. When they are being manipulated for profit or to obscure the truth, they should be exposed. In small businesses, non-profits and everyday life, I think adding and supplying the truth will garner you more trust, more ease and probably more customers and hence, profit.

When you add that up, I think it's called Truth and Value.