It’s not unusual for me to see someone on Geneva’s campus and make a passing, “How are you doing?” comment. I really don’t expect any other response than something like, “Fine, and how are you?”—to which I reply, “Good.” Every once in awhile when this exchange of pleasantries occurs, I detect that something is not “good” and will pause and see if I can be of help in any way.

That’s really why I started DayStar Consulting, Inc. I want to be able ask you about your business, “How are you doing?” and then help out in any way that I can.

Today, we’ll think about this “How am I doing” topic from the vantage point of 2 Corinthians 10:12: “For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves: but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.”

My takeaway from this passage is that it is not wise to compare myself to myself. I should measure how well my business is doing compared to other like businesses. One resource that you can use to do just that is the RMA’s Annual Statement Studies™.

RMA’s Annual Statement Studies™ provide financial ratio benchmarks derived directly from more than 190,000 statements of financial institution borrowers and prospects. More than 700 industries are presented using the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes. (see http://www.rmahq.org/RMA)

When I was President of Zion Industries, Inc., we compared our financial results to others in our industry using the RMA data. We could see whether we were better or worse than other commercial heat treating firms our size when it came to financial performance. This was one “insight” that allowed us to focus our continuous improvement efforts.

Whether you use the Annual Statement Studies or not, develop some comparison metrics that make sense for your organization in your industry.

If you’ve never done this type of comparison, contact me. I’ve always liked the saying that we should “Manage by Fact.” This Weekly Insight provides you with one more way to do just that.

Please let me know if this Weekly Insight has been helpful. And feel free to let me know what topics you’d like to see discussed in a future weekly insight.