Numbers Speak Truth By Frank Hurtte We work in a world obsessed with numbers. Measurements on schematics. Gross margin percentages. Sales quotas. Minutes on our phones. Days until vacation. I’ll admit it, I like numbers, too. Numbers give us something concrete. They help us understand where we’re performing well, and they make it harder to ignore where improvement is needed. Many times, we think we’re producing at a certain level until we see it on paper. Reality has a way of showing up when the numbers are clear. That same truth applies when evaluating business relationships. Whether you’re trying to understand the value of an employee, a distributor, or a manufacturer partner, it’s important to have a clear and consistent way to measure performance . Without that, discussions quickly become emotional, subjective, or based on assumptions rather than facts. The challenge, of course, is honesty. It’s much easier to evaluate others than it is to evaluate ourselves. But self-eval...