There’s a show on ESPN called Numbers Never Lie. As part of the brand, ESPN has done a series of short illustrated videos talking about sports figures (or sports events) and numbers. Simple numbers. Ratios. Statistics. Data.

Numbers matter.

I was at an event recently where the speaker asked the audience to choose the Top 3 things (from a list of 8) they think are important in terms of career and leadership. One of them was about knowing the numbers. It didn’t make the cut–but it made mine.

Business is all about numbers. I’ve written before about finding over $100,000 in fluff in one budget. I’ve found it in other budgets too. And it’s not just about how you spend your money–but how you make it. It’s Business 101 to understand how funds are acquired, appropriated, authorized, and used. Because if you don’t understand your numbers, how are you going to know if someone is playing with them?

Use numbers to tell a story.

The reason the Numbers Never Lie videos work is because they use the numbers to tell a story. How are you doing the same for your business?

Photo by D. Sharon Pruitt (Flickr).