How dashboards save the day.
When your management team thinks EBITDA is a yoga pose.
Let’s set up the scenario:
The management meeting is tense. Sales are up (you think), cash flow is down (you know), and Jasper — mid-bite of his artisanal avocado wrap — asks if EBITDA is that breathing technique from Tuesday’s yoga class.
Then he squirts sriracha on the quarterly report.
You smile.
But inside? You’re screaming in a padded room.
And then you remember: not everyone lives in spreadsheets, P&Ls, or the deep end of financial reporting. Just like you might short-circuit if IT started shouting about SSLs, DNS, or why their server’s “talking funny.”
Dashboards: Because PowerPoint can’t save you anymore.
You’ve tried. You’ve emailed the reports. Sent colour-coded Excel monsters. Even resorted to desperate subject lines like: “PLEASE READ BEFORE MEETING”.
And still, someone inevitably says:
“Wait… I thought we were profitable?”
Cue the slow, hollow blinking into the abyss.
Enter: Dashboards.
Not the “look-we-used-every-colour-in-the-rainbow” kind.
The real kind. Live, clean, readable, actionable dashboards that turn your chaos into clarity — and your “leadership team” into decision-makers, not confused spectators.
I once thought EBITDA didn’t need explaining either.
Let’s rewind. A few years back, I built what I thought was a glorious, data-packed report for a client’s sales/marketing/ops meeting.
I was proud. The graphs? Gorgeous. The insights? Chef’s kiss.
After the meeting, a Sales Manager pulled me aside and said:
“Sorry Jonny… I saw everyone nodding, but that was double Dutch to me.”
Oof. Gut punch.
That’s when it hit me: the room was nodding, but no one had a clue what I was saying. Not because they weren’t smart, I was just speaking fluent finance with no translation.
So I changed the game:
I ditched the jargon.
Simplified the visuals.
Added plain-English explanations like “increasing from left to right = good.”
Next meeting? The team engaged. Understood. Took action.
Lesson learned: A dashboard isn’t for you to understand the data. It’s so everyone else can understand the story.
Dashboards don’t just report — they translate.
Financial terms can feel like a foreign language:
Gross profit? “Is that before or after... stuff?”
Burn rate? “Oh, like how fast we run through gin in Q4?”
EBITDA? “I think my physio said I strained that last week.”
What fixes this?
Dashboards that talk like a human.
Clear visuals. Plain words. Real-world context.
Dashboards don’t just spit out numbers.
They teach. They align. They stop entire teams from falling into financial delusion.
Dashboards = the “we’re not guessing anymore” moment.
Dashboards aren’t just digital toys for finance people. They’re your daily reality check.
A good dashboard whispers cold, hard truth:
“You’re burning through cash faster than your child’s in-app purchases on their favourite game on the iPad ”
“That campaign didn’t work - let’s stop funding the Titanic’s second voyage”
“Hey, look, a profit margin! Frame it.”
And best of all? They don’t require opening six Excel files and lighting a scented candle to stay calm.
Real dashboards. Real impact.
A good dashboard should do the following:
✅ Tell you what happened
✅ Show you what’s happening now
✅ Warn you about what’s about to hit the fan
✅ Trigger action - fast
Just facts. With charts that actually mean something.
They help teams:
Make faster, better-informed decisions
Stay aligned (goodbye “gut feeling” arguments)
Stop mistaking busy for profitable
One small disclaimer. Dashboards aren’t magic.
They’re only as good as the data and processes behind them. If your inputs are a steaming mess of manual edits, broken links, or based on wishful thinking, your dashboard isn’t insight — it’s financial fiction with charts.
(And yes, we will say this to your face. Gently. But firmly. With love)
Get everybody on the same (dashboard) page.
Most businesses don’t need more meetings.
They need better visibility, better alignment, more accountability.
Dashboards, when done right, do exactly that. They stop your leadership team from mistaking EBITDA for downward dog.
At Enubilous, we believe numbers should be clear, shared, and impossible to ignore. Because at the end of the day:
When your management team thinks EBITDA is a yoga pose…Dashboards save the day.
Namaste. Now check you profit margins.
