In our recent end of year money meeting¹ a client told me that they were bummed their numbers weren’t better closing out the year. They had implemented an end of year bonus profit share arrangement a couple of years ago, and looking at their numbers it was pretty clear this year’s was going to be slim or none— they were profitable, but not wildly so, and their cash flow didn’t support the disbursement.

They told me they felt like they were letting their team down.
They had already given the whole company an extra-long winter break, but still! Not giving a cash bonus felt shitty, like a personal failure.

And yet…Before we got into the end of year cash flow we had been celebrating the team: that they were the strongest team yet. We reflected on investments made in hiring, particularly of a few folks with deeper experience who had subtly matured the workplace; about the time and effort spent on team building, how well the newly launched interdepartmental committees were going— folks were engaged and stepping into new leadership roles.

I circled us back to the strong team…because that had been the strategy last year.

The strategy was not to hit a profit goal or grow revenue exponentially. The strategy was to invest in and build the strength of the team: to build expertise and prep the field for new kinds of growth and opportunity…the 2026 strategy. As is often the case with a team investment strategy, 2025 reflected lower profit as this company intentionally shifted profit to invest in the team.

“Numbers are shaped differently than words, but they tell a story too.”²

Financial numbers are a feedback loop and a reflection, they tell a story about the decisions you’ve made, the things that were in your control, and the things that were outside your control.

The story of the numbers for the this client is that they spent their time and resources to prioritize a collaborative team culture working at a high level of excellence. And, just as importantly, they did not fall into the trap of doing that work while also trying to grow clients and revenue (one of the reasons why it worked).

There are also stories about external circumstances outside their control: December is one of the company’s three-payroll months, and then, like a lot of folks, their collections have been more sluggish and log jammed than usual this year. We came up with a plan to postpone decisions on a profit distribution bonus until after the new year when the books close and cash flow is back up.

If you listen to legacy business or the status quo, there’s only one story you should ever tell. I suspect that this dominant story was the one nudging the client to feel shitty.

But…businesses are so much more interesting, creative ecosystems than a simple story of maximizing profit. (And I’ll say it again: maximizing profit is a bad strategy.)

So as you review your end of year and think about the next one, remind yourself of the story you’ve been working on. Don’t beat yourself up over someone else’s strategy. It may be that your numbers tell a story of a strategy that didn’t quite go as planned, or a set of goals that weren’t met, but that’s different than trying to match your numbers to a story you weren’t trying to write in the first place.

Related: An End of Year Cash Flow Checklist