“Wait, Which Number Is Right?” — And How to Stop Asking That

We've all seen it happen.

The team is gearing up to make a decision or finalize a board presentation when someone notices two different versions of the same metric. Finance is pulling revenue from the books. Sales is pulling revenue from the CRM. They tell two different stories.

What should be a quick conversation about next steps turns into a long debate about where the numbers came from. Suddenly, the meeting derails. Leaders leave frustrated, ICs look defensive, and the data framework you’ve invested in feel like a waste.

Why This Keeps Happening

Conflicting numbers aren’t usually about someone being sloppy or careless. They’re symptoms of deeper gaps:

• No single owner. Without clear accountability, multiple teams try to fill the same gap in different ways.

• Unclear definitions. Sometimes metrics are supposed to differ based on source or timing, but nobody has explained why.

• Shadow reporting. When official systems don’t deliver, spreadsheets and side reports multiply quietly in the background.

• Dependent reporting culture. If numbers get passed around in chats and emails, they lose context and confusion compounds. Ever play a game of telephone as a kid?

The Cost of Conflicting Numbers

I’ve seen two people pull the same KPI from the same dashboard just days apart and be convinced the other was wrong. The data had simply been refreshed in between—but in an org where doubt was already sown, the worst was assumed. Once one number is questioned, the entire system is questioned. Data becomes “guilty until proven innocent.”

That trust gap has real consequences:

• Teams start building their own reports instead of relying on shared ones.

• Leadership loses confidence in metrics, slowing down or second-guessing decisions.

• Operational resources are wasted maintaining tools and reports that don’t change the way the business runs.

• Worst of all, decisions get delayed—or made based on bad information.

It’s not just frustrating—it pushes you into a doom loop: the less people trust the data, the more they work around it, which fuels even more mistrust, more separation, and more wasted effort keeping redundant reports alive. And it could still be pointing you in the wrong direction.

What Better Looks Like

Before cleaning data or rebuilding reports, decide what counts as truth, who owns it, and empower them to set the process.

Step 1: Ownership

Empower a person or team to define and enforce the source of truth. Without this, everyone solves a piece of the problem in parallel—and no one actually solves it.

Step 2: Process

Define your metrics in plain language, tie them to specific sources, and agree on update frequency. Then bake maintenance into existing workflows—don’t make it an extra task. Regular audits keep definitions clear and data aligned with reality.

Step 3: Data

Only after ownership and process are clear should you turn to cleaning up the actual systems and dashboards. Otherwise, you’re just polishing tools that will keep getting misused.

I once spent a week locked in a conference room with the C-Suite before a board meeting, aligning pipeline and revenue projections. We had a CRM, two spreadsheets, and a founder’s brain all telling different stories. Once we got everything aligned, we streamlined the definitions, set ownership, and built processes to keep it that way. The next board meeting was a breeze.

How to Start Fixing It

You don’t have to tackle everything at once. Start strategically and work from both ends:

• Top-down: Start with your mission and goals. Distill those into the core metrics that matter most. Write down where they should come from and how they should be calculated. Congratulations—you’ve just started your metric dictionary!

• Bottom-up: Audit the reports and dashboards in circulation today. Mark which ones are redundant, misaligned, or missing key context. Flag them so users know where to go instead.

• Meet in the middle: Reconcile the top-down definitions with the bottom-up reality. Update what you can, and make it clear what’s being phased out.

This isn’t about creating homework for your team. It’s about freeing them from endless debates, tension, and wasted efforts.

The Payoff

When you stop asking “which number is right,” you unlock:

• Faster, more confident decisions.

• Teams aligned on what matters and how it’s measured.

• Leadership freed from firefighting metrics and focused on outcomes.

The real question isn’t which number is right? It’s what are we going to do about it?

If your leadership meetings keep stalling over conflicting numbers, it’s time to reset.