153: Don't Let Numbers Be an Excuse for Inaction

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Too many leaders hide behind financial data, delaying action until every number is perfectly in place. But in reality, execution drives results—not spreadsheets.

In this episode, Steve challenges the mindset that waiting for the “right” data is necessary and explains why intuition, strategy, and decisive action matter more.

If you want to grow and scale, stop using numbers as a crutch and start making moves.

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Episode Transcript

Steve (00:00):
I want financial statements to be in real time, I
want them to be accurate, butdon't you think we, as leaders
or people in business, we haveenough intuition to act in the
meantime, instead of using alack of information as a crutch?
This podcast, boosting yourFinancial IQ, is about business,
financial literacy, strategiesfor profitability and the

(00:21):
principles taught at byfiqcom.
My hope is that you'll applythe lessons learned and that we
can work together soon in mymastery program.
Enjoy the show and don't forgetto subscribe.
One of my main goals with thispodcast is to document my
journey as I'm turning aroundand growing these companies and
to share these experiences withyou so you could take this

(00:42):
information and you could avoida lot of the pitfalls that I run
into, that my clients run intoand that will allow you to be
successful out there in the realworld.
When it comes to boosting yourfinancial IQ, I'm always talking
about KPIs, key performanceindicators, metrics to pay
attention to, reading thefinancials, understanding the
story behind the numbers,spreadsheets, financial models

(01:05):
all these tools in order todrive better performance in a
company.
Here's what I want to talkabout today, because this week
I've had multiple conversationswith CEOs that I work with on
this very topic.
So it's like a theme, and sinceit's a theme, I should probably
share it with the rest of theworld.
Here's the deal when it comesto running a company.

(01:26):
So when I go in to turn aroundor grow a business, one of the
first things I do is I put inplace a strategy.
Okay, that strategy helps thecompany to get very clear on
where it's going to compete, howit's going to compete and,
ultimately, how it's going towin.
That also involves beingcrystal clear on what the
strategic problem is.
Once that problem is identified, we then put in place

(01:47):
initiatives, actions and resultsto go and execute.
And guess what?
We then use key performanceindicators to measure whether or
not that strategy is working.
When it comes to KPIs,oftentimes I feel like leaders
can hide behind the numbers,hide behind the metrics.
In other words, they canjustify not taking action

(02:08):
because maybe they don't havethe data sliced and diced in a
certain way, or they don't haveaccess to a certain report, or
maybe they're working throughsome accounting issues and they
need to understand the numbersexactly before they can actually
go out there and execute.
But guess what?
Execution drives everything.
I was talking to a CEO thismorning and I said look, here's

(02:31):
the deal, if we talk in sixmonths and you came back to me
and said Steve, our numbers area mess, we need your help
cleaning up our books becauseaccounting just went completely
rogue.
We weren't tracking things, weweren't classifying things and
look, we haven't even produced afinancial report in the last
six months Not that I want themto do that, but let's just say
they did.

(02:51):
But then at the same time, theywere able to grow their revenue
by 5X and that's why theydidn't have time to mine the
accounting.
Now, obviously, you want to payattention to your accounting,
you want to track the numbers,you want to have real-time data.
My point to them was if youwent out there and you increased
your revenue because that'stheir strategic problem right

(03:13):
now is that they need morerevenue, they need to increase
sales.
That's the one constraintthat's affecting everything and
causing cashflow issues in theirbusiness.
So if they're behind their desklooking at spreadsheets,
building out models, waiting fornumbers to come in, waiting to
get an exact accounting beforethey could go out there and act,

(03:34):
I think it's just an excuse.
I'm kind of coming in high hereon this podcast because
obviously this has been a topicI've been so passionate about
this week, so that's what I wantyou to hear today.
When it comes to numbers, ofcourse I love numbers.
Of course I want financialstatements to be in real time.
I want them to be accurate.
But don't you think we, asleaders or people in business,

(03:58):
we have enough intuition to actin the meantime, instead of
using a lack of information as acrutch?
Okay, let me just say itanother way.
I was working with anothercompany a while back and they
were trying to figure out theirstrategy, but every time we met,
it felt like there's one pieceof information they're waiting

(04:18):
on and therefore they weren'tmaking a decision.
But here's the bigger issue theinvestors in the owners of the
company.
They were just fearful ofmaking the decision they needed
to make.
They already knew what thedecision was.
It was just hard because, bymaking this decision, it meant
that they had to divest acertain part of their business,

(04:39):
and that's hard, it'sembarrassing.
You got to go back to otherinvestors and tell them that you
failed.
Nobody wants to do that.
So they were just delaying thedecision and by delaying the
decision, they kept burningthrough more and more cashflow,
right?
So that's what I'm talkingabout.
Oftentimes, we have all thetools and all the resources we
need to go and execute, but weuse the numbers as an excuse, as

(05:03):
if we are paralyzed or we can'tgo out there and execute
because we don't know exactlywhether or not our customer
acquisition cost is $80 or $95.
It's like who cares?
Obviously, you need to get thatnumber right, you need to know
your numbers, but it shouldn'tstop you from executing and
improving your performance.
Now I don't want to contradictmyself, because I believe

(05:25):
numbers are really importantwhen it comes to understanding
your strategy, so don't hear mewrong on that.
Instead, what I'm saying isthat we cannot use them as a
crutch.
So here's the deal.
Let's say you have a revenueproblem and you know that for
every 10,000 emails you send outor for every thousand phone
calls that you make, you'regoing to get X number of people

(05:48):
who are interested in yourproduct or service.
They become qualified leads.
And then you know that yourconversion rate is X percent.
Well, it's just formulaic.
It's going out there and it'sdoing, it's doing the reps, so
you can get those leads in thebusiness.
You don't need to sit back andwait until numbers come in
before you can make decisions.
So don't be waiting on numbersis what I'm saying.

(06:09):
It's already the beginning ofFebruary as of the date of this
recording, which is crazy to mebecause the year is just going
by so fast and it's just goingto go by even faster.
So we just have to go out there.
We have to make moves in ourbusinesses in order to drive
better results.
Okay, so, when I talk aboutunderstanding the story behind
the numbers, when I talk aboutdoing analysis, when I talk

(06:31):
about doing research, knowingyour KPIs and all these other
things, that's great and, yes,you should absolutely 100% do
that.
But just don't use numbers as acrutch.
Don't use the excuse.
I'm waiting on the most recentfinancial statement in order to
go out there and act in the realworld, because action is what

(06:51):
drives results.
Now, obviously, you don't wannago out there and do a bunch of
action that's not gonna createvalue or that's gonna destroy
value, but that's less of aworry, because you're smart, you
got this and if you just go outthere and kick some butt,
you're going to have a verysuccessful year.
All right, that's what I'll endon.
Have a great week until nextepisode.
Take care of yourself.
Cheers.