‘Do the Math!’ is one of those conversation ending remarks that we have all been on either end of at one time or another. It is a more polite form of – “Are you stuck on stupid?”
There are two kinds of ‘math’ in the world of business. The first is the most obvious and as tactically important as it is strategic – an accounting system that works. An accounting system’s mixed aims are problematic regardless of business size. In larger organizations the conflicted aims are always between operations and finance functions. Operations is always trying to figure out what is going on – and finance is trying to disguise or spin what is going on with the accounting system as the common ground. In smaller businesses the problem is more simplistic – just getting the data into the system, and the impediment is always the burden of ‘too many hats’.
A second kind of business ‘math’ is the strategic translation of feelings (your gut) using facts. Your gut is always going to be an indispensable part of any decision making process – you will never have all the facts. But forward looking ‘math’ with the facts you do have in hand, and reflective ‘math’ during the on-going auditing of decisions is most often dysfunctional in organizations regardless size. Without a defined and disciplined ‘process’ of strategic thinking and implementation the future of a business falls on the fate of chance rather than risk. When the ‘math’ either works or it doesn’t is a pivotal point that is either seized and understood or lost and awaits the analysis of hindsight. ‘Doing the math’ is a continuous process and, in business, is a determinant of success or failure.
