Chapter 1 – The Journey Starts Here

‘If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.’
Peter Drucker

Overview

Each chapter in this book contains a survival kit similar to this one. This idea is to provide an outline of what to expect, what you need to bring to the chapter and what you might take away with you. I hope that you will revisit the survival kit when you have finished the chapter, and make sure that I was successful in conveying the message intended. This chapter provides a quick overview of what you can expect from the book and where to find it.

Mastering This Book

The aim of the Mastering this book section is to provide a ten-point checklist of questions that you should be able to answer after reading the chapter. If you can answer the questions, you can speak with confidence and walk with financial giants. Well, that’s the plan. It seems that I have failed at the first hurdle. I can explain away this failure by saying that since this chapter is just an introduction, I have let you off with just five questions (answers in the text):

Are you a muppet?
Do you want to be a brilliant with numbers (or, at least, just get by)?
What is a bean counter? What is a dough kneader?
What is in this book?
Where can you find supplemental information?*

* Hint: what is www.ManagingTheNumbers.com?