For years, professional sports teams were run on instinct.  Managers trusted what they could see:

• how a player looked, 
• how confident they felt, 
• how much experience they had, 
• how they’d always done it before.

The Oakland A’s didn’t have that luxury.  It had one of the smallest budgets in Major League Baseball  and they couldn’t afford to manage on feel alone. Instead, they adopted what later became known as the Moneyball approach; this replaced gut instinct with systems that showed what actually influenced results. Players who didn’t look right were suddenly invaluable to the system. Players who felt reliable were actually out of place and expensive. The numbers didn’t remove judgement, they simply made it crystal clear.

Running a business isn’t that different.  Cash decisions made on instinct feel reassuring in that exact moment. However, like traditional sports scouting, they tend to reward familiarity over reality. Cash only truly becomes calm when it’s managed as a system, not as something you react to when it feels tight.

Very few business owners I work with tell me they feel relaxed about cash.

• Even when revenues are up.
• Even when work is coming in.
• Even when, objectively, the business is doing fine.

There is a constant low-level tension that becomes so common it’s then accepted as simply part of the job.

It shouldn’t be like this.

Why Cash Stress Feels So Personal

When cash feels tight, you will likely tend to internalise it assuming:

• you’ve misjudged something
• you’re bad at forecasting
• you should be further ahead by now

However, in most cases, cash stress isn’t a capability problem.  It’s a visibility problem.  

You’re actually feeling something that you can’t clearly see; in response your brain fills the gap with anxiety.

Profitable Businesses Can Still Feel Cash Poor

This is one of the most misunderstood parts of running a business.

Profit tells you whether the business works.

Cash tells you whether it breathes.

A business can be profitable and still feel constantly under pressure because:

• money arrives later than the work is completed
• costs incurred in doing the work are released earlier than the payment for the work arrives
• and then scaling the growth increases the gap rather than filling it

None of that means the business is broken.  It means cash is behaving like a system, not a scorecard.

The Problem With “How Does the Cash Feel?”

Many business owners still manage cash emotionally:

• checking the bank balance repeatedly
• delaying decisions just in case
• reacting late rather than adjusting early

These feelings aren’t wrong, but they are signals. When feelings are the only input, decisions will become inconsistent and mistakes will be made, which will compound the anxiety in future weeks.

And that’s when cash starts to feel unpredictable, even if it actually isn’t.

The CFO Reframe

As a CFO I don’t want to focus on “How does the cash feel?”.  Instead I want to know “What does the cash system actually look like?”

If I can understand the cash when viewed properly it loses all mystery.

Cash Flow has:

• Rhythms
• Delays
• Pressure points
• Patterns

The most important rule is this:  If you can’t see it weekly, you can’t manage it monthly.

Why This Month Matters

In January I spoke a lot about direction.

February is now transitioning, and supporting that direction with reality.

You may have the clearest business priorities in the world, but without cash visibility, every decision carries unnecessary tension.

Cash awareness doesn’t remove risk. It removes surprise.

In February, I will cover how money actually moves through a business, why timing creates pressure even when things are going well and how a simple weekly rhythm changes cash conversations completely

Without drama.

Without forecasting from fear.

And without having to pretend you are a finance expert.

Just simple systems that will make your leadership feel lighter.

For now, if cash has been sitting quietly, or not so quietly, at the back of your mind, treat that as information we will act on and not a failure.

Cash isn’t a feeling.  It’s a system. And all systems can be understood.

“People who run ball clubs think in terms of buying players. Your goal shouldn’t be to buy players; your goal should be to buy wins.”   

– Moneyball