It’s All About the Numbers

By: Helen Vollmer, President, Edelman Southwest

As we get ready to close out our fiscal year at Edelman, my colleagues and I are spending countless hours looking at excel spreadsheets and peering into that crystal ball as we try to foresee what the future holds in the coming months. Not so easy. But this exercise is also a reminder of the importance of data and how we should use information to inform decisions in new and different ways. Accordingly, this eVolution is all about the numbers. Now, more than ever, data wonks are living the life as the rest of us take what they provide us, analyze it and use it to be more strategic, creative and productive.

No matter your area of expertise, numbers can guide us as we deliberate how to tackle opportunities and challenges. For example, take education, one of my favorite topics:

·         Since 1990 the cost of attending a four-year college has risen at four times the rate of inflation

·         The average salary of college graduates in America has fallen 5 percent since 2008

·         Federal student loans are up 60 percent in the last five years to more than $900 million

·         Nearly 50 percent of four year college graduates now work at jobs that don’t require a college degree

Get the picture?

Any one of these points should get our attention, but combined, the numbers don’t add up to a brighter future for American workers. The key is taking data such as this, no matter the topic, and seriously analyzing the information to develop actionable plans. I’m on a campaign to use numbers for good. Can I count anyone else in?