AN EXCERPT FROM “THE DARK SIDE OF BI” “THE ILLUSION OF ACCURACY” BY NAKEL NIKIEMA Numbers have a way of captivating us like nothing else in business and everyday life. When a salesperson announces a projection of 16.3% growth in quarterly revenue, we feel it’s truer than if he simply said, “We think sales will increase by around 15 or 20%.” 49 Millennium - Twentieth Edition BUSINESS, FINANCE AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP 48 Millennium - A Marquis Who’s Who Magazine BUSINESS, FINANCE AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP NAKEL NIKIEMA CO-FOUNDER, CHAIRMAN B.I.M Corporation, Business Intelligence Institute of Management LLC, WiseSide Inc. New York, NY Nakel Nikiema boasts several decades of experience as a business leader and entrepreneur. He is the co-founder and chair of the Business Intelligence Management (B.I.M) Corporation and the Business Intelligence Institute of Management LLC. His most recent venture, Wiseside Inc., was established in New York in 2020. The financial consulting firm is dedicated to helping business clients navigate financial challenges and growth phases and empowering them to reach their long-term goals. Born in Burkina Faso, Mr. Nikiema was deeply influenced by his family’s culture of integrity and accountability. He began his vocational journey at the University of Ouagadougou, earning a bachelor’s degree in psychology in 2002. Mr. Nikiema has continued to pursue additional academic and professional development opportunities throughout his career, achieving an MBA at the African Institute of Management Studies in 2011 and an MA in leading innovation and change at York St. John University in 2013. Most recently, he completed an MS in psychology at the University of Roehampton in 2015. Outside his portfolio of companies, Mr. Nikiema is a longtime regional manager for Waali International, and he has served on boards for Global Aid for Africa, the Orbis Charitable Trust, and Synergy Expertise for Environment and Sustainable Development. Well-regarded for his creative endeavors as well, he is a published author with eight books to his credit. Mr. Nikiema is also a member of the INTRAC-UK Network, Angel Investors & Entrepreneurs Network and the International Association of Professional Business Consultants. Mr. Nikiema is outspoken on utilizing his position to create opportunities for responsible growth and economic opportunity for African entrepreneurs and communities. He has received numerous awards in recognition of his dedication to community service and humanitarian outreach. In addition to his foundational background in psychology, he credits his success to his passion for directing and driving the mission and vision of different companies. Mr. Nikiema advises others interested in the field to remain open-minded and focus on how their decisions will impact others in the short and long term. We see decimal points and assume that a rigorous process has been carried out: data has been collected, models have been run, and each step has been a meticulous progression that has led us to an indisputable truth. Precision, or at least its appearance, instantly creates a sense of authority. And because we generally respect authority, exact numbers can short-circuit our natural inclination to question and doubt. And why is that? Much of it stems from the way we’ve been taught to see math and science. From an early age, we learn that numbers represent solid, factual knowledge. The multiplication table never lies, and a geometry problem solved correctly will always represent an accurate answer. This sense of certainty becomes ingrained in our thought processes. In a world full of ambiguities, especially in business, politics, and social problems, numbers are like islands of stability. So, a pie chart detailing a 27.45% customer conversion rate will comfort us: “Finally something real,” we tell ourselves, “something measured, beyond debate.” This cultural training, which treats numbers as facts, sets the stage for what becomes a deeprooted trust, almost like a spell of accuracy. We assume that a specific decimal or percentage will be the last word and that everything behind it has been done correctly. Over time, this can foster a dangerous environment where decisions depend on a superficial appearance of statistical rigor and “evidence-based” rather than a genuine understanding of how the numbers were produced. It doesn’t help that, in many professional environments, questioning a meticulously formatted spreadsheet or a well-presented dashboard is socially awkward or, worse, careerlimiting. It’s normal to be afraid of questioning and, in the end, to appear unprepared and even anti-scientific. The norm is to nod in agreement, especially if the figures appear in official documents or come from someone considered an expert. As a result, even glaring inconsistencies or assumptions that skip too many steps can remain hidden in plain sight, overshadowed by the hypnotic power of decimals. On top of all this, our appetite for accurate-sounding data has intensified as organizations have become more “data-driven.” During strategy meetings and project presentations, being able to say, “We forecast a 3.62% reduction in operating costs,” can be far more persuasive than the best anecdotal evidence. Team members eagerly adopt analytical tools to stand out, producing metrics that look impressive but may be based on weak premises. The more elaborate the methodology, the harder it is to discover the flaws hidden in layers of code, logical statements, and statistical assumptions. Despite all this, precision is not an enemy per se, of course. We’re not here to fight against science and numbers but against the uncritical acceptance that leads to failure.
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