Living by the numbers

Sharon Struthers

Many people I know measure their worth by their personal numbers. A few recent examples that people have shared with me, without me asking a single question or expressing any interest at all:
 
How much money they have. (almost always 7 figures.)
How many houses they have. (3 and counting.)
How many people reported to them in their last job. (hundreds!)
How many tennis skirts they have. (22 but they used to have many more.)
How much their bicycle cost. (12k but they got it for 8.)
 
Honestly, they share this willingly and many times fairly quickly after I first meet them. Like throwing down the gauntlet and establishing some sort of numerical superiority or safety shield.
 
I think it’s a carry-over from work, where they are constantly being evaluated and judged by their numbers.
 
In fact, just recently I was reading an article that said that marketers and creative types need to realize that the days of intuition are over. That numbers are the only road to success.
 
Numbers may be able to point to the right people to target and evaluate which tactics or messages get the job done – whether it’s sales, utilization, or satisfaction.
 
But MarTech only gets part of the job done. Because people are quirky. They’re changeable. They’re unpredictable. Sometimes they don't really know what they want.
 
And a great product or ad campaign that’s grounded in numbers but founded on intuition has far more potential to exceed your expectations.