Can you remember every detail and decision that got your business to where it is today?

Of course you can’t… (Watch this video series and see how you can!) These memories are buried in mountains of information that make the human brain an unreliable source for accurately recalling history.

A modern gold mine moves 4 tons of earth for every ounce of gold it produces.

We don’t expect the facts of the past to be as easily recognized as grains of gold glittering in the sand; nor do we expect the knowledge of past experiences to be effortlessly deployed into meaningful action.

This is because uncovering essential insights from past experiences can feel like sorting through tons of trivial detail to find the nuggets you need to move your business forward.

Most people love history. We want to know about the past because it teaches us valuable things, both about others, and ourselves.

One of your primary responsibilities as a business leader is to learn from the past by constantly subjecting it to critical scrutiny. Have you ever had an idea that didn’t work but you just couldn’t see why? How about an idea that worked so well you stopped doing it?

Both of these questions offer particular lessons, and objective comparison could be especially illuminating. But such a comparison can be intellectually rigorous, taking into account the complexities of each situation to carefully weigh their similarities and differences.

This would require comparing two completely different sets of data and an array of variables… that is, if the data was actually collected in the first place.

Herein lies the problem: If you don’t collect the data, real-time, it won’t be available in the future when you need it.

The data you collect today about your business is tomorrow’s grains of gold glittering in the sands of your future success.