Code of Honour

• As long as you say “bad”, you’ll fix nothing. Say where exactly it’s bad.
• A good analysis shows you where to dig. The digging is still yours.
• A “don’t know” column in a report marks an honest man, not a bad one.
• Three numbers every Monday beat thirty by mood.
• Bring numbers without trimmings and you’ll be believed without a check. They’ll check all the same.
• Before you trust a number, find out who counted it and what’s in it for him.
• A tape with the television blaring isn’t evidence. It’s noise.
• Don’t like the number? Change the business, not the ruler.
• To stop counting crimes is not to defeat them.
• A number needs neighbours. A lonely number lies even when it tells the truth.
• One loud client is one client.
• Every number is a range. Ask how wide.
• They confiscated what they found. Nobody counted the rest.
• Walking together isn’t holding hands.
• Locked up the chief villain and the bombs keep going off? Check whether he was the chief.
• The average loves to lie. Ask who’s in the middle and who’s at the edge.
• Where the boss is grey, nobody breaks the ladder.
• When you can’t weigh what you need, weigh what’s next to it, and remember what you weighed.
• Know your norm, or you won’t see trouble coming.
• Strange faces at the counter tell you about demand before any report.
• One product, many doors. A doctor won’t go into an alleyway.
• A client is property. Know what it’s worth.
• Pay the small man today; owe the big man tomorrow.
• One oil, but each man gets it delivered the way that suits him.