When Harry Met Sally
When Harry Met Sally (Part 1 – A Primer on Financial Analysis) Let us go down the memory lane and recall the classic rom-com, “When Harry Met Sally”, from the late 1980s featuring Harry Burns (Billy Crystal) and Sally Albright (Meg Ryan). The arguments between Harry and Sally provide an interesting backdrop for explaining the interplay between different thought processes while constructing your financial envelope. Allow me to borrow two fictional characters from the movie. Sally and Harry represent the marketer and the finance guy respectively. The graphic below personifies the inherent tension between marketing which fosters creative thinking and free play and the finance function that is numbers-based, and metrics-driven. Sally would like to expand reach, create awareness, generate leads and conversion. But Harry erects roadblocks along the way to make sure the campaigns are cost-effective and optimally executed. Although Harry’s position appears rational due to its data-driven