The phrase 'How were the numbers?' is quite profound

Moneypenny File | Weapons of Thought (RE:ARM) #27

I'm going to talk about something a bit blunt.

On a TV production set, the first exchange of the morning between staff members working on the same program is usually set in stone.

“Good morning.”
“By the way, how were the numbers yesterday?”

I’m talking about viewer ratings. In my experience, this happens about 90% of the time.
It’s practically a stock phrase.

What’s more, the atmosphere for the rest of the day changes depending on that result.
Will it be gloomy and dark?
Or will everyone be in such a good mood that someone buys coffee for the team?
It’s not just a greeting. It’s a switch that determines the mood of the morning.

I was used to that kind of greeting, but after I started working on shopping programs,
this standard greeting changed just a little bit.

“Good morning.”
“By the way, how were the sales yesterday?”

It became blunt (laughs).

Well, if you think about it calmly, it was plenty blunt from the start.
Viewer ratings are also a significant number, after all.
But the moment “numbers” becomes “sales,” there’s suddenly nowhere to hide.
What you’re really looking at becomes exposed.

Viewer ratings still have a bit of a facade as a program, don't they?
Did it reach people? Was it watched? Did it resonate?
There is, at least, that pretense of being a creator.

But sales are different.
They are more direct.
So, in the end, how much money moved?
Everything focuses on that in an instant.

It’s a bit funny, isn't it?
But through doing shopping programs, I’ve learned a lot from this bluntness.

People tend to speak first about what they look at every day.

The person who asks about ratings first.
The person who asks about sales first.
The person who worries about the reaction.
The person who worries about disruptions in the schedule.
The person who worries about whether the explanation got through.

What a person asks about first reveals quite clearly where they are looking in their work.

This isn't so much about personality as it is about one's position.

Which numbers do you feel responsible for?
Which results do you look at first?
Where do you receive your work?

If those things differ, the first words out of your mouth will change, even if you are on the same set.

When you’ve worked in television for a long time, you tend to see things from the creator's perspective.
Was the flow bad?
Did the explanation get through?
Was the energy of the performers right?
As someone on the production side, I can't help but worry about those things.

But people who are close to the purse strings skip right over that.

“So, what are the numbers?”
“So, what are the sales?”

They get straight to the point.
There’s no room for sentiment.
But, in its own way, that’s honest, isn’t it?

Work isn’t just determined by ability alone.
It changes significantly depending on which numbers you’re looking at from your position.

Even if you’re in the same meeting,
one person is looking at the order of the presentation,
another is looking at where people checked out,
and yet another is looking at how much money moved as a result.

All of these are work.
It’s not a matter of which is better or worse.
It’s just that the closer you are to the numbers that represent the purse strings, the more your perspective on work changes.
The way you make decisions changes,
and even the way you greet people changes.

That’s why I think greetings are surprisingly not to be underestimated.

What comes after “Good morning”?
That reveals a person’s view on work.
Or to put it another way, it reveals what they are connected to.

It’s a light remark, though.
Precisely because it’s light, you can’t fake it.

“How were the numbers?”
“How were the sales?”

That one remark is actually quite profound.

People reveal their own standing through the numbers they care about.

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