November 23; How Does The Manager Know When To Trust The Numbers?
MANAGEMENT BY THE BOOK:
365 Daily Bible Verse &
One-Minute Management Lessons For The Busy Faithful

23 November

Then we will no longer be infants,
tossed back and forth by the waves,
and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning
and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming.

Ephesians 4:14

How Does The Manager Know When To Trust The Numbers?

Ethics

Your Business Professor was touring colleges with kith and kin. One of our daughters was considering whether to compete in this marketplace of the mind to study physics. Our travels took us to Cambridge, near Boston, home of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT. The nation’s implied traditional seat of knowledge and wisdom.

But virtue?

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Numbers and data can be tortured to tell any tale. The manager must rely on the facts, of course. But more important, the boss must have confidence in the competence and the character and the candor of his team bringing the numbers.

Quote Investigator Garson O’Toole, with a Ph.D. from Yale, writes,

Carroll D. Wright was a prominent statistician employed by the U.S. government, and [used this] expression in 1889 while addressing the Convention of Commissioners of Bureaus of Statistics of Labor,

The old saying is that “figures will not lie,” but a new saying is “liars will figure.” It is our duty, as practical statisticians, to prevent the liar from figuring; in other words, to prevent him from perverting the truth, in the interest of some theory he wishes to establish. 

Does the manager trust the bearer of news; bad or otherwise? Does the staffer have integrity with the integers?

***

Congressman Thomas Massie graduated from MIT and was concerned about his Old School. He asked a fellow alum on C-SPAN, “Under what circumstances is it ethical to deceive someone for their own benefit?”

The alumnae as expert witness was seemingly confused for a full five seconds before mumbling a non-answer. He knew he was being set up. He allowed that children could be deceived if the parent determined that the information would harm their personal offspring.

The witness who provided knowledgeable Congressional testimony was MIT professor Anthony Gruber, Ph.D.. The economics professor logically inferred (him being an academic and all) (that’s not a bad thing) that the government is treating the citizens like children.

Professor Gruber was at a loss when asked about his study of ethics. He met with the president of the United States and provided advice (for a very good consulting fee thankyouverymuch). He was described as a designer of the Affordable Care Act, ACA, known as ObamaCare.

The healthcare scheme was and remains unpopular and barely passed through Congress.

How did President Obama and Dr. Gruber manage to sell this?

Deception.

Professor Gruber believed that the legislation only passed by Congress by treating the citizens like children. “Lack of transparency is a huge political advantage…” because, “The American voter is too stupid to understand…” Watch the video.

The government political ‘marketing’ used ‘lying’ figures by lying ‘figures.’

Jon Stewart, the comedian commentator of the Daily Show called this “slimy.”

Dr. Gruber has a track record and paper trail. In 1997 the professor published a research paper on the economies of terminating pregnancies. Dr. Gruber describes the effect of the “marginal child” and her marginal benefit to society. By ridding the country of these unproductives, writes Dr. Gruber, “…abortion saved the US government over $14 billion in welfare expenditures through 1994.”

Gruber writes as if this were a good thing; an ethical decision.

***

The fate of the manager’s organization and indeed the future of the Republic is in his ability to select virtuous staff. The manager must have an ethical grounding.

Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Ephesians 4:14

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