The power of numbers in most of the adult decisions

In the Retirement and Life-Skills article series, we will be exploring a number of aspects to nurture a transformation life.

Today, we look at the power of numbers in most of the adult decisions in the things we are involved in on a daily basis: business, family, workplaces, health care, politics and places of worship; and many other aspects of life. “A number is a word and symbol representing a count.” – Robert Lamb. Whether you have ever gone to school or not, you have an idea of how many people stay at your home. Every person has a number sense and has potential to identify changes in quantity for example, if one family member is missing, one is able to detect it. As a result, numbers are valuable to every human being in almost all aspects of life. In fact, this is what Pythagoras means when he avers that “numbers rule the universe.” As on a daily basis, we count, score, measure, arrange, tally and sort things intentionally or unintentionally.

We are equally involved in adding, subtracting, dividing and multiplying things; purposefully or inadvertently. For example, if you have ten mangoes and you give two to your children, you will have subtracted two mangoes from the ten mangoes you had (10 minus 2). Similarly, if you get five more mangoes from the market, you will have added five on the mangoes you had (8 add 5). If you tell the two children to share eight mangoes equally, you will have performed a division activity (8 divided by 2). On the other hand, if you wanted to give each child five mangoes and you have two children you will have performed a multiplication function (5 multiplied by 2). When you systematically and logically perform the above routines, you will have started on a journey of making numbers have meaning, sense and value to your life and businesses.

This is what some of the world great leaders have stated about the power of numbers:

1. Plato, one of the greatest world re-known Philosopher stated that “Numbers are the highest degree of knowledge: It is knowledge itself.”
2. Bill Gates, the American Business Magnate stated that “Know your numbers; it is the fundamental precept of business.”
3. Albert Einstein, emphasised that “If I had one hour to save the world, I would spend 55 minutes defining the problem and only 5 minutes finding the solution.”

These world leaders primarily affirm that numbers have significant value in our lives and businesses and that numbers are a foundation of society. It is imperative that we spend some of our valued time to understand and identify the numbers that matter most in our lives and businesses. I want to point out that “numbers do not lie”; unless they have been “manipulated,” “cooked” or “doctored”.

Let’s dive into the key adult decision spheres in our day-to-day lives that are number-driven;

1. At family level, the size of the family and its requirements: anniversaries, type or mode of transport, where we stay, and so forth are all number-driven. If we look at the mode of transport, as an example, it is determined by the level of income, cost of transport, distance to the one’s destination, and the various means of transport available. All these aspects are number driven. The understanding, application and better use of these numbers makes a lot of difference between one family and another in the short, medium to long-term.
2. At work place, basically most of aspects are looked at in terms of numbers: staff, age, gender, regional distribution, targets, key result areas, sales, revenue, costs, profits and so forth. As a CEO or CFO, you are expected to have most of these numbers; and what they mean at your fingure tips.
3. In a business perspective, numbers are at the heart of all businesses. According to Narcus Lenosis, this is the case to the extent that: “If you do not know numbers, you do not know your business.” The company’s targets, achievements, forecasts, trends and the rest are all captured using numbers.
4. In politics, mainly, democracy is rooted in numbers: the one with highest number of votes is automatically the winner. The understanding of numbers to the politician is a must. This is in terms of population, age structure, geographical distribution, income levels, access to radio, social media and so on.
5. In health, the measurement of medicine doses, number of health facilities, distance to health facilities, means of transport to health facilities, number of health workers, number of people served by the health facility are all very important numbers. The understanding of numbers in the medical field is vital to individuals, health workers, politicians, planners and many more.
6. Places of worship, now have mechanisms to monitor whether the number of worshippers is increasing or decreasing. The extent of monitoring numbers involves an understanding of the worshippers’ income levels, age distribution, as well as their access to internet, television, radio, social media and so on. These numbers are extremely critical if you are to successfully run a church, as all programming decisions are largely number-based including sitting requirements, tailoring the preaching content, praise and worship and so forth.

The mark of good adult decision lies in the numbers, remember to pay attention to the qualitative aspects as well in your decision-making sphere.

Charles Barugahare (Ph.D., FCCA) – Financial Consultant, Trainer and Coach

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