Figures Don't Lie, But Liars Sure Do Figure

One of the cardinal rules of management is "What gets measured, gets done!"

There is a lot of validity to this statement, and, in fact, keeping good records is very important. Measuring progress allows us to evaluate what is working better for our desired objective and what may actually be detrimental. Without proper measurement, people can fool themselves by being busy instead of being effective.

However like many things, even measurement itself can be abused, and in fact can become counterproductive.

I debated whether to name this entry as I have, or something along the lines of "Don't confuse measurement with reality."

By becoming overly concerned with achieving a certain measurement of progress, we can start to manipulate the measuring itself, in order to convince ourselves that our progress is greater than what it actually is. When I state that "liars sure do figure", I would state that in many cses, they start by lying to themselves.

Let me give you some examples.

Success is often measured by financial gain. Financial gain, is in fact, a valid measure of a person's progress in a chosen endeavour, however, if that individual, gets caught up in the measure, in this case, financial gain, then they can start to compromise their integrity in order to achieve the measure, and in so doing, be complete failures. That is obviously the case, if someone achieves wealth through dishonest methods, even though they may have achieved the "measure", their loss of perspective has changed them to someone they would never have started out to become.

Progress in an exercise program is often measured by performance of a certain physical feat, such as lifting a certain weight a certain number of times. This would indicate an increase in strength, logically. However, again, if the person gets caught up in the measure, they can start to compromise the integrity of the form used in the given movement, using momentum, loose form, or "cheating" methods in order to achieve the "feat". In so doing, a best case scenario is the person simply deluding themselves and as a result using ineffective methods to achieve this "false progress". In the worst case scenario, the person, using too much weight unsafely, suffers a serious injury, that delibitates them, and, as with the financial gain example becomes a complete failure in what they originally set out to accomplish.

Finally, in the corporate world, where companies are publicly traded, success is measured by quarterly earnings and balance sheets. We have already seen the headlines where "creative accounting" has caused many scandals and contributed to world economic turmoil.

In the end, there is cause and effect. Again, Ayn Rand, stated that people fool themselves by attempting to reverse cause and effect. In the examples above, people think, if they can get the effect (measure), it will give them the cause (in the examples above, personal worth, strength, or a solid company).

We have to make sure that we use measurement properly, as a tool to facilitate success, and not as a delusion that can have the reverse effect.

In managing a financial centre, for Sun Life, I must remain continually vigilant to ensure that the many measures we use to evaluate progress, are kept in the right perspective in order to ensure that we manage with the utmost integrity, in order to provide rewarding careers for our people enabling them to help change their clients' lives forever which is the true measure of success in our field.

Thanks for reading!