Astrology

The use of numbers in business is theatre dressed up as mathematics.

Sales executives discussing growth metrics and projections, directors and managers sharing project updates, and consultants providing analyses — they would be better off doing astrology.

Yes, you are doing math when you use numbers, formulas, and models. But if you don’t understand the underlying principles, when to use it and when not to, and the work you’re doing is detached from reality, you end up with dart throwing dressed up as analysis.

And now there’s AI. The same people who were building useless spreadsheets are now building sophisticated-looking analyses that they understand even less.

The incompetence and uselessness are now wrapped in AI, code, and big data. Under the guise of being forward-thinking and scientific, businesses are throwing the same darts, with more conviction, with more devastating effects.