WHY YOU SHOULD ENJOY THE RETURN OF BOTTOM-LINE THINKING

If you’re accustomed to thinking of the bottom line only as it relates to financial matters, then you may be
missing some things crucial to you and your organization. Instead, think of the bottom line as the end, the
takeaway, the desired result. Every activity has its own unique bottom line. If you have a job, your work has a
bottom line. If you serve in your church, your activity has a bottom line. So does your effort as a parent, or
spouse, if you are one.
As you explore the concept of bottom-line thinking, recognize that it can help you in many ways:

1. Bottom-Line Thinking Provides Great Clarity

What’s the difference between bowling and work? When bowling, it takes only three seconds to know how
you’ve done! That’s one reason people love sports so much. There’s no waiting and no guessing about the
outcome.
Bottom-line thinking makes it possible for you to measure outcomes more quickly and easily. It gives you a
benchmark by which to measure activity. It can be used as a focused way of ensuring that all your little activities
are purposeful and line up to achieve a larger goal.

2. Bottom-Line Thinking Helps You Assess Every Situation

When you know your bottom line, it becomes much easier to know how you’re doing in any given area.
When Frances Hesselbein began running the Girl Scouts, for example, she mea-sured everything against the
organization’s goal of helping a girl reach her highest potential—from the organization’s management structure
(which she changed from a hierarchy to a hub) down to what badges the girls could earn. There’s no better
measurement tool than the bottom line.

3. Bottom-Line Thinking Helps You Make the Best Decisions

Decisions become much easier when you know your bottom line. When the Girl Scouts were struggling in
the 1970s, outside organizations tried to convince its members to become women’s rights activists or door-to-
door canvassers. But under Hesselbein, it became easy for the Girl Scouts to say no. It knew its bottom line,
and it wanted to pursue its goals with focus and fervency.

4. Bottom-Line Thinking Generates High Morale

When you know the bottom line and you go after it, you greatly increase your odds of winning. And nothing
generates high morale like winning. How do you describe sports teams that win the championship, or company
divisions that achieve their goals, or volunteers who achieve their mission? They’re excited. Hitting the target
feels exhilarating. And you can hit it only if you know what it is.

5. Bottom-Line Thinking Ensures Your Future

If you want to be successful tomorrow, you need to think bottom line today. That’s what Frances Hesselbein
did, and she turned the Girl Scouts around. Look at any successful, lasting company, and you’ll find leaders who
know their bottom line. They make their decisions, allocate their resources, hire their people, and structure their
organization to achieve that bottom line.

HOW TO ENJOY THE RETURN OF BOTTOM-LINE THINKING

It isn’t hard to see the value of the bottom line. Most people would agree that bottom-line thinking has a high
return. But learning how to be a bottom-line thinker can be challenging.