Its the explanation of the phenomena that gives the insight...

I have always found the following idea among the most interesting in business: numbers = true insight.

Strong statement right?!
Depending on where you stand, Positivist or Post, you might say that the above statement is true. Now, dont get me wrong, I enjoy numbers (a lot actually), but I feel that businesses nowadays are hanging thei hat on a percentage. Some examples of things I've heard -

• "Our brand tracking is showing that our awareness has declines 2%... are our TV not working?"
  
•  "The advertising strategy is not really moving product (sales)... I really haven't seen a percentage increase..."

And I could honestly keep giving examples, but the above two are some I can recall pretty fast. Now, let me say that there is nothing wrong with the above statements, what bothers me is that with numbers we tend to look for one answer and one answer only. The thinking behind this is that there has to be some variable that is affecting the phenomena.But, if the client really thought things through, he/she would ask in a qualitative manner if you will.

• "So I see that our brand tracking has had a slight decline, WHY do you think this is happening?"
  
• "Seems like sales have not really seen an increment, WHY do you think this is happening?"
  

My point is the following, and based on my experience dealing with this kind of questions... clients, just like advertisers, are really busy, so their thinking is the following: "Tell me what/which variable is NOT working and I can take action towards it." That managerial approach works well, but by addressing things that way only, we forget that variables trigger other variables that trigger other variables. It is important to understand that these variables have relationships. So rather than asking which one is the problem, the question needs to ask, why is there a problem there - what is triggering the situation and how can we address it.

A lot of what I am explaining is based on common sense, I know, but in the middle of the day when the action is happening somehow common sense tends to be taking a break or just simply MIA.
 

What do you think?
What stories have you encountered?