1/6 As part of @_surgeahead, I recently ran a workshop for 40 #founders about metrics . Numbers. It was 16 years ago when I learned about the importance of numbers from Napoleon.

2/6 Or, really, from a Dutch guy who reminded me of Napoleon. Small guy. Man of few words. But he owned the room. Oh, and he was CEO of a company with billions in revenue and over 100,000 employees across the world.
3/6 A colleague was presenting to a group of 5 that included me and that CEO. The presentation sounded like this:

- “Things are going well.”
- “We’re really proud of our team. They’re very passionate.”
- “Performance is incredibly strong this year.”
4/6 Napoleon was silent. Said nothing throughout. But in the end, he stood up and said:

“The language of business is numbers. The language of business is finance. If you don’t give me ONE number out of every TEN words, you are not talking business.”

Then he left.
5/6 I never forgot that. I realised I spoke 6 languages but didn’t speak numbers. Couldn’t speak finance. And business is all about numbers. ONE out of every TEN.
6/6 As a founder, you need to speak that language too. Become fluent in it. Use the formula:

Give ONE number out of every TEN words

#metrics #KPI #datastorytelling #ONEinTEN

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My top 10 tweets of the year

A thread 👇

https://t.co/xj4js6shhy


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https://t.co/A7XCU5fC2m
I'm going to do two history threads on Ethiopia, one on its ancient history, one on its modern story (1800 to today). 🇪🇹

I'll begin with the ancient history ... and it goes way back. Because modern humans - and before that, the ancestors of humans - almost certainly originated in Ethiopia. 🇪🇹 (sub-thread):


The first likely historical reference to Ethiopia is ancient Egyptian records of trade expeditions to the "Land of Punt" in search of gold, ebony, ivory, incense, and wild animals, starting in c 2500 BC 🇪🇹


Ethiopians themselves believe that the Queen of Sheba, who visited Israel's King Solomon in the Bible (c 950 BC), came from Ethiopia (not Yemen, as others believe). Here she is meeting Solomon in a stain-glassed window in Addis Ababa's Holy Trinity Church. 🇪🇹


References to the Queen of Sheba are everywhere in Ethiopia. The national airline's frequent flier miles are even called "ShebaMiles". 🇪🇹
Rig Ved 1.36.7

To do a Namaskaar or bow before someone means that you are humble or without pride and ego. This means that we politely bow before you since you are better than me. Pranipaat(प्राणीपात) also means the same that we respect you without any vanity.

1/9


Surrendering False pride is Namaskaar. Even in devotion or bhakti we say the same thing. We want to convey to Ishwar that we have nothing to offer but we leave all our pride and offer you ourselves without any pride in our body. You destroy all our evil karma.

2/9

We bow before you so that you assimilate us and make us that capable. Destruction of our evils and surrender is Namaskaar. Therefore we pray same thing before and after any big rituals.

3/9

तं घे॑मि॒त्था न॑म॒स्विन॒ उप॑ स्व॒राज॑मासते ।
होत्रा॑भिर॒ग्निं मनु॑षः॒ समिं॑धते तिति॒र्वांसो॒ अति॒ स्रिधः॑॥

Translation :

नमस्विनः - To bow.

स्वराजम् - Self illuminating.

तम् - His.

घ ईम् - Yours.

इत्था - This way.

उप - Upaasana.

आसते - To do.

स्त्रिधः - For enemies.

4/9

अति तितिर्वांसः - To defeat fast.

मनुषः - Yajman.

होत्राभिः - In seven numbers.

अग्निम् - Agnidev.

समिन्धते - Illuminated on all sides.

Explanation : Yajmans bow(do Namaskaar) before self illuminating Agnidev by making the offerings of Havi.

5/9