Midjourney/prompt: "A watercolor painting of a corporate bull in a china shop, symbolizing a manager or executive, looking confused and surrounded by broken pieces of fine china, with spreadsheets and flowcharts on the walls."

How to Win Arguments and Manipulate Managers

Make your spreadsheets shape strategy

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Beth Adele Long over 1 year ago

Killer writing, and spot-on insights I wish I'd had five years ago. Nailed it.

Evan Armstrong over 1 year ago

@bethadele Thanks Beth! It is wild how much of a difference the little things make

Great writing 👏

@rob.silas over 1 year ago

Great post--I'm both a Founder and analyst for many of my clients, and your framing on how to set-up and manage these types of meetings is spot on based on my 20 years doing this work. It's a must read for both analysts and C-Level!

Evan Armstrong over 1 year ago

@rob.silas appreciate it rob. The meta-game where everyone is trying to manipulate everyone is something for a latter post i think...

@rob.silas over 1 year ago

@ItsUrBoyEvan Ha! You mean the "my data is better than your data" post? That would be a great one I agree!

Georgia Patrick over 1 year ago

You have three good stories in this article. I think you have the experience to write them all. One story, coming from your lede is What Happens When You Become the Founder and You Are Your Own Boss. Another story is What Makes Dan Shipper The Most Fascinating Boss In My Career. The third story is Why Storytelling Skills Always Come Before Spreadsheets.

A backstory in your article can be why do the children of founders usually perform worse than the founder? There's a ton of data on that which says, founders are dreamers and raging visionaries. The next generation after them tend to go to college and think spreadsheets are important. That's why the pioneers kept moving and the settlers were the ones to stay, farm, and raise children. Big, big difference in the brain wiring of a founder and the brain of managers, maintenance, plodders, long-haul drivers.