Numbers are like salt, sugar, and fat. In a world of scarcity, we are deep-wired to binge on things that take away the panic. Like a food source when we are normally hungry, numbers provide clarity in a world that is ambiguous, complicated, and random. Numbers allow us to rank things and prioritise. They facilitate communication, and transferring decisions up the chain from where action is taken. Like with salt, sugar, and fat, we need to be careful. Numbers provide better questions than they do answers. They channel our actions to the exclusion of qualitative issues that are more difficult to understand. Be wary of numbers that claim to explain risk. Risk Management is fundamentally dynamic. The best you can do is build capacity to endure for the long term, and resilience to handle the bumps. Then look beyond the numbers at why you are doing what you are doing.
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