…to explain your numbers is a fool’s game. The story will usually suffer from logical holes that you’ll have to gloss over. (How many times have you heard “we’ll get to that later” to question about a story you’re being told?) The ratios over the time series won’t hang together under close examination. And on and on.

Say you survive the meeting. Then you’ll have to remember what you constructed last time when you do the next meeting. While hoping the two stories don’t contradict each other.

It takes longer and longer each time, and pretty soon you’ve got a towering pile of BS. It will eventually crash down on you, and everybody that surrounds you.

Takeaway: Why not just say what it is? It’s faster and easier to remember. Do less preparation, do less Powerpoint, be more credible, do more real work. And win.