The Missing One (Or How a Number Became a Target)

The Missing One

(Or How a Number Became a Target)

We had just finished counting our published content.

45 articles.
43 infographics.
30 Short Stories.
10 Knowledge Drops.
1 Mantra.

129 original pieces.

Not bad for a project that originally considered publishing one article a week an ambitious goal.

We were pleased.

We even prepared a LinkedIn post celebrating the milestone, inviting people to explore the growing library.

Everything was ready.

Then someone looked at the total again.

“129?”

“Yes.”

“Couldn’t we have made just one more?”

We laughed.

One more article. One more story. One more infographic. Anything.

Just to make it 130.

And then we laughed a little harder.

Because we had spent months writing about the dangers of turning indicators into targets.

And there we were, considering creating something nobody had asked for, solving no particular problem, simply because 130 looked better than 129.

Nothing about our work would have changed.

The existing content wouldn’t become more useful.

Our readers wouldn’t learn anything more.

Our purpose wouldn’t be better served.

But the number would look nicer.

And perhaps that is how it begins.

Not always with unreasonable executives, aggressive targets, or complicated performance systems.

Sometimes, it begins with a perfectly innocent thought:

“Wouldn’t it look better if…?”

There is nothing wrong with setting goals or celebrating milestones.

But when we begin changing what we do merely to make the number look better, we should probably ask ourselves what we are actually improving.

We decided to leave it at 129.

At least until we had something worth publishing.

Because the next piece should exist for a reason, not just to complete a number.

And yes, we are fully aware of the irony of making this story our 130th piece.

So far.