Deciding by Faces, Not Just Numbers

Let me record my final check when a management decision hangs in the balance. I examine the numbers, of course — market size, margins, risk; management without numbers is gambling. But when the numbers are all in and I still waver, the last thing I look at is faces. If we do this business, whose face will smile?

Employees', their families', customers', partners'. Ventures where a specific someone's smile comes to mind usually grow, even against tough numbers. And there are ventures with splendid numbers where no smile surfaces — profitable-sounding, yet unable to explain whom they make happy.

Those we decline, however good the figures: experience says hearts break midway, because numbers contain no fuel for the hardest stretches. Beyond the trillion I see faces, not figures — this is not poetry but practice: whether a face comes to mind is the most practical test of whether you can see a business through.

Whose face rises from your work today?

What do you work for?