Take a moment to reflect of this question, for behind this question is a cascade of unexplored assumptions.
Our current world view is built on the numbers. Measurement. Comparison. Growth. Budgets. Forecasts.
Business and personal….how much you have, how much you earn, how many friends, how much time, how much you weigh, how many targets you meet, how old you are, how much influence, how fit, how fast…it goes on and on.
In my life I have started a few businesses. I remember the first one, when I opened a Chiropractic Clinic and borrowed $120k from the bank. I was 24. I was advised to put together the business plan. With a budget.
I remember thinking at the time that the budget was in some part numbers pulled from the sky. (A bit like our money) Sheer conjecture. But it was what the bank needed. (We also know that when a women does a business plan (or CV) she is usually conservative. But a man will inflate the numbers quite considerably. Again, pie in the sky.) Why? Because no one can tell how we will do when we open for business. No one. All the best strategies will not guarantee anything. We can only guess. Yet on the basis of this guessing, business deals are done.
Silly strategy. For all players.
What do we miss when we focus only on numbers?
Hmm…how about trustworthiness? Perseverance? Resourcefulness? Being your word? Kindness? Love? Respect? Gratitude? Joy? Sovereignty? Connection? Well being? Community? Knowledge? Wisdom? Partnering?
How do we put numbers on these? And should we be including these in our bottom line when we look at our business and life?
How about a finance partner who is invested in the whole, and not just the numbers? They know the business, and they want it to succeed. They engage for many more reasons than the numbers. Actually they engage because of all the other reasons and then there are the numbers. Because without these…without passion, commitment, resourcefulness, courage, tenacity, endurance, love and sheer bloody determination, no amount of numbers will cover the gaping hole in the business plan.
Ask anyone who has lost it all…or lost a loved one, or lost their health….will tell you…it’s not the numbers, it was never the numbers…
It was always the other stuff…love, and health, and family, and friends…
How have we forgotten this in business?
It’s time to bring the heart and soul back to business.
What do you think?And how addicted are you to a life of measurement?
Photo credit: Mykl Roventine via Compfight
