Randall Bolten

Painting with Numbers

• Gebundenes Buch

Produktbeschreibung

Learn how to communicate better with numbers Whether you are distributing a report or giving a presentation, you have a lot of numbers to present and only a few minutes to get your point across. Your audience is busy and has a short attention span. Don't let an amateur presentation bog you down, confuse your audience, and damage your credibility. Instead, learn how to present numerical information effectively--in the same way you learned how to speak or write. With Painting with Numbers, you'll discover how to present numbers clearly and effectively so your ideas and your presentation shine. * Use the Arabic numeral system to your advantage master the use of layout and visual effects to communicate powerfully * Understand how audiences process your information and how that affects your "personal brand image" * Learn how to be perceived as a professional who truly understands the business concepts and issues underlying your numbers * Use software tools, including Excel, PowerPoint, and graphs, efficiently and to drive home your point Author Randall Bolten shares his decades of experience as a senior finance executive distilling complicated information into clear presentations, to help you make your numerical information more comprehensible, meaningful, and accessible. Painting with Numbers is brimming with hands-on advice, techniques, tools, rules, and guidelines for producing clear, attractive, and effective quantation (the word the author has coined for the skill of presenting numbers).

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Produktdetails

• Verlag: Wiley & Sons
• Seitenzahl: 344
• Erscheinungstermin: 19. März 2012
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 260mm x 183mm x 23mm
• Gewicht: 894g
• ISBN-13: 9781118172575
• ISBN-10: 1118172574
• Artikelnr.: 34449620

Autorenporträt

RANDALL BOLTEN operates a consulting practice focused on financial management and information presentation. He is a seasoned and accomplished finance executive, with thirty years of experience in high-growth and high-potential Silicon Valley companies. His professional passion is presenting information that can enable managers, investors, and the general public to make real sense of complicated situations. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Princeton University and an MBA from Stanford University.

Inhaltsangabe

Foreword xiii Preface xv Acknowledgments xvii introdUCtion This book Is Not
About Numbers--Honest! 1 Being "Literate" 2 It's What They Think That
Matters 2 What You Were Never Taught 3 The Ultimate Goal 5 Some Notes about
Reading This Book 5 Part I the rules 11 Chapter 1 Numerals Matter 13 Lining
Up the Numbers 14 The Units of Measure 16 Precision 17 Negative Numbers:
What Do They Mean? 20 Chapter 2 Looks Matter 25 The Tabula Rasa Decision 26
The "Where's Waldo?" Effect 27 White Space Is Your Friend 29 But White
Space Is Not Always Your Friend 30 Time and Other Dimensions: Across or
Down? 33 Borders, Shading, and Other Visual Effects 35 Comments and Artwork
41 The "Ransom Note" Effect 43 Two Truly Helpful Hints 44 Chapter 3 Words
Matter 47 Mean What You Say and Say What You Mean 48 Choosing between
Precision and Presentability 52 Treating Words Like Numbers 55 Remember the
Title. Please 57 Chapter 4 Your Audience Matters 61 The Right Amount of
Data 62 Appropriate Emphasis on Critical Information 64 Consistency 67
Meaningful and Relevant Numbers 69 Respect for Your Audience's Time 73
Wrap-Up for Part I: The Rules 77 Part II The Tools 81 Chapter 5 You Can Pay
Me Now 83 The Instant Payoff Tips 85 Instant Payoff Tip #1: Set Up
Templates and Styles 85 Instant Payoff Tip #2: Customize Your Toolbar 86
Instant Payoff Tip #3: Learn Some Shortcut Keys 87 Instant Payoff Tip #4:
Use Consistent Formats 89 Instant Payoff Tip #5: Learn to Use Excel as a
Database 90 Instant Payoff Tip #6: Learn to Use the Lookup & Reference
Functions 94 Instant Payoff Tip #7: Organize Data for Easy Computation 95
Instant Payoff Tip #8: Learn to Use Automated Help 98 Instant Payoff Tip
#9: Don't Learn Too Many Ways to Do the Same Thing 99 Chapter 6 . . . Or
Pay Me Later 103 The Long-Term Payoff Tips 104 Long-Term Payoff Tip #1: Use
Sensible, Intelligent Filenames and Folder Organization 104 Long-Term
Payoff Tip #2: Use Consistent Formats 106 Long-Term Payoff Tip #3: Design
Intelligent, Intelligible Formulas 106 Long-Term Payoff Tip #4: Use Named
Ranges 110 Long-Term Payoff Tip #5: Use Named Formulas or Macros 112
Long-Term Payoff Tip #6: Links: A Force That Can Be Used for Good or Evil
117 Long-Term Payoff Tip #7: Make Different Types of Cells Visually
Distinguishable and Physically Separate 118 Long-Term Payoff Tip #8:
Document Your Work! 120 Long-Term Payoff Tip #9: Check Your Work! 121
Long-Term Payoff Tip #10: Avoid Cool New Features 122 Chapter 7 Graphs: The
"Cartoons" of Numbers 125 Why Do People Use Graphs? 126 Help Your Audience
127 First, Do No Harm 138 Chapter 8 The Pitfalls of Presentations and
PowerPoint 153Why Do People Make Fun of Business Presentations? 154 Real
Estate Is a Scarce and Precious Commodity 154 Help Your Audience 156 First,
Do No Harm 161 Some Basic Truths That Go Double for Quantation 162 Wrap-Up
for Part II: The Tools 166 Part III Real Mastery 169 Chapter 9 It's Clear,
but Is It Meaningful? 171 The War of the Adjectives 171 A Quantation
Professional 173 Relating to Your Audience in a Constructive Way 174
Chapter 10 53 . . . Uh, Is That a Lot? 179 What Is a Key Indicator? 180
What Makes a Good Key Indicator? 183 A Simple Example 185 How Do You
Present Key Indicators Effectively? 185 A Note on Precision 190 A Note on
Dashboards 191 Chapter 11 The One Report Every Organization Needs 197 A
Sample Natural P&L, and What Makes It a Good One 199 1. One Page! 200 2.
Decision-Focused Line Items 200 3. Appropriate Dollar Amounts, neither Too
Big nor Too Small 204 4. Intuitive Organization of the Line Items 205 5.
Understandable Categories, Meaningful to All Users 208 6. Plain-English
Terminology 208 7. Consistent Look-and-Feel 209 8. Key Results Equal to the
Corresponding Numbers in the Accounting System (or an Explanation Why Not)
209 Mapping the Chart of Accounts 211 Generate a Natural P&L from a
Spreadsheet, or from the Accounting System? 212 Now Let's Talk about the
Columns 213 Appendix 11A a Sermon to the Accounting Purists 219 Chapter 12
The Gaps in GAAP 225 Rules-Based versus Principles-Based 226 Where Is All
This Headed? 227 "Expensing" Stock Options 228 Software Revenue Recognition
230 Tying GAAP to Internal Management Reports 232 Appendix 12A Some Notes
on GAAP 235 What Is GAAP? 235 Stock Options 236 Revenue Recognition 237
Chapter 13 Quantation: It's Not Just for Business Anymore 239 One Taxpayer
at a Time 240 All the Taxpayers at Once 243 What's Really Going on Here?
249 Chapter 14 Quantation in Ordinary Life 255 Models 255 The Meaning of
Words 260 That Quiz I Promised 263 Part IV Wrap-Up 269 Chapter 15 Speaking
Truth to Power 271 My "Tell the Truth" Syllogism 272 Reason #1 for Telling
the Truth: It's the Right Thing to Do 272 Reason #2: It's in Your
Employer's Interest 272 Reason #3: It's in Your Interest 273 Reason #4: You
Will Get Caught 273 Reason #5: It's the "Gotcha" of This Book 275 Don't Be
So Smug, You Civil Servants and Elected Officials! 276 Your Audience Has a
Role, Too 276 Chapter 16 Now, What's the First Thing You Do? 281 My Last,
Best Tip 282 It's Just a Skill 282 Where We Have Been 283 Appendix Jazz
Meets Theology 287 Revisitation 288 The Sins of Presentation 289 The Sins
of Behavior 297 The Deadliest Sin of All 301 About the Author 305 Index 307

Rezensionen

Painting with Numbers does an excellent job of covering all the topics that go into effectively communicating with numbers. Bolten's style of writing is engaging, entertaining, and, most important, effective at delivering his message. This book hasn't only become a key reference on my bookshelf, but I also now have a comprehensive, textbook-style reference to use when I mentor others on communicating effectively with numbers." (Bill Boehman, CMA, CPA, Strategic Finance Magazine, January 2013) "There actually are quite a lot of annoying things that accountants and analysts do with spreadsheets and PowerPoint presentations. By the time I finished the first section of the book, I had thought of five or six experienced accountants at clients or companies I am investigating to whom I would like to give this book." (The Value Examiner, Sept/Oct 2012)

"If you're doing investment pitches, you should read this book. If you're doing a pitch I'm going to see, I want you to have read this book. And if you're a startup CFO, finance lead, bean counter, or presentation slide deck preparer, then you should read this book." (Gust.com, June 2012)

"Do you want to tell a story with numbers? If so, I recommend you run, don't walk, to buy this book." (Life Insurance Selling Magazine, June 2012)

Praise for Painting with Numbers

FROM REVIEWS:

"I highly recommend the very accessible and process based book Painting with Numbers: Presenting Financials and Other Numbers So People Will Understand You by Randall Bolten, to anyone in business, public policy making, analysis, science, or any occupation or profession who works with numbers and must present that data to an audience. This book will improve your numeric and overall presentation skills, boost your career, and create a more successful business."
--Wayne Hurlbert, Blog Business World

"Painting with Numbers: Presenting Financials and Other Numbers So People Will Understand You [is] a book that will help you overcome the stigma of presenting numbers and allow you to give more effective presentations involving numbers.... For those in the financial world, Bolten's book is perfect if you're looking to give more successful presentations. It's as simple as that. You will be doing yourself - and your career - a huge favor."
--David Domzalski, FinancialBin.com

"Painting with Numbers, by Randall Bolten [is] the best book I've seen on how to present numbers with skill. Randall was a CFO for twenty years in Silicon Valley, so he's got the benefit of seeing all the various ways, shapes, and sizes that people throw numbers around. He's exactly the right person to learn from when it comes to seeing through the numbers, knowing what they mean, and knowing how to present them more effectively to speak the truth, and to make better decisions ... in work and in life.

It's a book I'm going to recommend to the people I mentor to help them advance their careers and take their game to the next level."
--J.D. Meier, MSDN Blogs

FROM SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS:

"I've seen Randy Bolten's presentation about his book, Painting with Numbers(Wiley 2012) twice. Randy focuses on communicating numerical data. As a former CFO in the semiconductor industry, he has faced many a room full of high-level executives, and he has seen many a financial presentation -- some clear, many not so clear. His precepts are down-to-earth tips that anyone can learn to use. Simple, but not trivial. They fit into the half-hour between generating the numbers and publishing the report."
--Richard Mateosian, STC Fellow (Society for Technical Communication)

"Randall's relaxed and personable presentation style made it easy to connect with the audience. He brought the definition of "quantation" to life with useful examples of how we, as professional communicators, can more clearly present financial information. I've seen enough bad presentations in my career to know that this information will be helpful to many."
--David Gennarelli, Director, Investor Relations, Autodesk, Inc., and President, SF chapter of NIRI (National Investor Relations Institute)

"Great presentation! Randall is an engaging and hugely knowledgeable speaker, who gave us a much-needed wake-up call about the importance of mastering financial communication. Not only was it useful, but thanks to Randall's humor and warmth, everyone enjoyed the ride. I highly recommend him!"
--Rikke Jorgensen, VP Programs & Professional Development, International Association of Business Communicators, San Francisco chapter