Success Quote by Roy H. Williams

Numerals sit on a page or a screen like small drawings. They are symbols, arbitrary marks we agree will point to quantities. Change the symbol system and the picture changes while the underlying amount does not: V, 5, and 101 in binary all depict the same hand of fingers. That contrast is the point. The map is ink, but the territory is dirt under your shoes.

Where life goes wrong is when the picture steals the spotlight from the thing it depicts. Ten thousand followers is a pleasing numeral; ten thousand attentive humans is the reality that pays bills. A 7% conversion rate is a clean statistic; it stands for a crowd of individual decisions, each with context, friction, and emotion. Dollars on a spreadsheet are neat columns; the purchasing power they represent is groceries bought, rent paid, payroll met.

Because numerals are images, they are also capable of distortion. Rounding smooths edges that are jagged in real life. Averages hide outliers that can sink or save you. Dashboards promise control, but the controls are levers on representations, not on the world itself. Meanwhile, amounts have weight. Inventory takes up space in a warehouse, water has to be pumped and stored, time cannot be refunded. The reality resists, pushes back, and demands tradeoffs.

Roy H. Williams writes for people who sell things, and his warning is practical: do not worship the digits. Use them as lenses. Let them sharpen your focus on the concrete amounts that matter, like cash flow, market share you can feel in foot traffic, mindshare you can hear in conversations. Improve the amount and the numerals will follow. Mistake the numerals for the thing, and you drift into spreadsheet theater, where impressive images substitute for impact. Keep your hands on the substance, eyes on the signs, and remember which is image and which is real.