No one ever made a decision because of a number. They need a story.
……Daniel Kahneman, Nobel Prize winner in economics, as quoted in The Undoing Project by Michael Lewis.
Keep this quote in mind when presenting your financials to your Board, investors or others.
And as I used to tell new hires at my startups, “You’re joining a decision machine, you’re going to be making more decisions in less time, ,with less information than ever before in your life. No ones bats 1.000, so don’t be afraid to make a decision. Keep in mind that no decision, is still a decision.”
You can learn a lot about how people make decisions from The Undoing Project, a highly informative and entertaining read. For a deeper dive into the decision making process, read Kahneman’s Thinking, Fast and Slow.