Something you’ll quickly learn about me is that I’m a big fan of Seth Godin. A great blog he put out stated that analysis equals facts plus interpretation. He asserted that “credibility comes not from the facts but from the transparency of the interpretation.”

That’s true in business planning too. The facts are your numbers. The interpretation is what you do with them — what story they tell, what decisions they suggest. A P&L is just facts. A CFO turns it into interpretation: here’s what this means, here’s what to do about it. Plan with real numbers, not guesses. Be transparent about what you know and what you’re assuming. That transparency builds the kind of confidence that leads to better decisions.