As uncomfortable as it is to face the fact, we mostly make our decisions based on emotion. If we didn't, there would be no need for leaders. A business or a company could be run by a robot, an algorithm or, in the buzzword that is so fashionable these days, 'artificial intelligence'.

But if we are going to decide, let's do it as factually as possible. And if we stick to the facts, we need data. Data is the thing that makes facts simple, that makes them aggregatable. It allows us to identify trends and differences. So we should strive to have as much data as possible, structured as well as possible.

Of course, now you feel everyone knows that. And there's the controller and the controlling. In fact, the fact is that our emotion-based decisions make us feel little need to turn facts into data. There is no time, nobody likes to administer, that's how we have done it and how it has worked.

I once heard a story about a turkey. The turkey felt safe behind the fence in the poultry yard. Every night the farmer locked it in the coop where it was warm. Every day he was given plenty of corn and water. The weather was fine, the days passed in peace and quiet and the turkey was convinced that everything was in perfect order.
Until one Thanksgiving came...