Excerpt from Lori Harder’s YouTube video emphasizing that business leaders must know their financial numbers. Harder recounts avoiding numbers, delegating finances (to her husband), and recognizing that delegation relinquished her financial power and ability to lead. She argues that knowing numbers enables informed decisions about which ideas to pursue now versus later and prevents stifled growth.
The situation around your numbers, whether it's good or bad, isn't going away just because you don't know it, but if you choose to know it, you can make it go away.
I was not a numbers person at all. The avoidance and the embarrassment and shame, it led to delegation. So I delegated to my husband. I'm like, nope, he's got the finances handled. And delegation can be a slippery slope when you are a business owner. And that is the moment where I realize I am 100% relinquishing my financial power. Therefore, I was relinquishing my ability to be a true leader as a founder. They're relinquishing the power. And when you relinquish power, it means the power to make an informed decision. Like, you know, there's this idea, but I'm not sure if it's a good idea. And when you know your numbers, it's like, no, we can absolutely do that. Here's how this could work. Here's how it could look. Or this idea is great, but I think this is a next year idea, and this is important because of the numbers. Like, your growth is stifled because you don't know what's possible.
