In the Black introduces the concept of the Wisdom Pyramid. It is a way of modeling the assimilation of data into meaningful and predictive business decisions.
You will learn how accounting is the primary source of data and how to use this data to work your way up the Wisdom Pyramid using reports and statistical analysis of your business data.
Every business decision that you make should be based upon experience (wisdom gained from past analysis of information) or upon current information. Without specific metrics to gauge your success, you will have no data to determine what things that you try are working.
To move up the wisdom pyramid, you have to experiment with new approaches. The difference between an company that is performing well and the true successes stem in large degree to how willing its management is to try new approaches and measure their success.
Without constantly reinventing yourself, you could find yourself in the same position of buggy whip manufacturers at the dawn of the automobile's popularity. Even though the product they made fit a former need well, the world moved on without them. No company can afford to find themselves left behind. Continued measurement and course adjustment will assure that you never are.