32 MAY 2018 • FOGHORN BUSINESSMATTERS H ow often have you been in meetings about a technical topic and watched your team suddenly turn off their brains in deference to the duty expert? There is a time and a place to defer to a lawyer, but I have seen many businesses kowtow to lawyers’ “on the one hand this, the other that” dialogue, followed by cautious and risk-averse recommen- dations. My team then would act as if this came down from Mount Sinai with Moses. It was crazy nearly every time; the lawyer typically knew little about our business, and their recommenda- tions often defied either common sense or our cultural norms of transparency, respect and good communication. Unfortunately, many people also turn off their brains when presented with numbers. While owners are often financially secretive, it is no secret that businesses typically don’t require deep financial literacy. I have conducted hundreds of business overviews to rank and file teams, and each overview uses simple numbers to generate score- cards. That’s because if teams know the full picture, they will help make the business better. If my business was losing money (and this has happened many times in my career), I wanted my team to know. It was important for everyone to understand that when we started making money again we would first pay back those losses or save some acorns for new projects, and eventually, when appropriate, we’d share surpluses with all. In one such situation, a receptionist once told me: “Bob, you forgot the bank coverage ratio slide. While I don’t totally under- stand it, I feel better knowing how the bank views us.” It benefits us not to leave our teams in the dark, as success truly takes a village. So how do you nurture financial literacy in business? Be curious. This applies to everything in our business. Understand how it all works so you can be a better teammate, develop ambidextrous skills and grow. Our industry doesn’t want to put Embrace Financial Literacy By Bob Shaw, Industry Consultant