A man in a hot air balloon gets lost over Nebraska. He has no idea where he is or where he is going. He does not see anybody… nothing but farmland as far as the eye can see.
Eventually, he sees a woman down in a field. He goes down and cries out to her, “Where am I? I’m already an hour late for an appointment!”
She hollers back, “You’re at 42 degrees 15 minutes and 4 seconds North latitude and 98 degrees 12 minutes 15 seconds West longitude.”
The man yells out, “You must be an accountant.”
“Hmm … how did you guess?”
“Your information is absolutely precise and accurate … but totally useless.”
“You must be an executive.”
“Yes … but how do you know?”
“You’re higher up, you do not know where you are, you do not know where you’re going, you’re over-scheduled, and you blame your subordinates—someone below you.”
Reference: A Year with Peter Drucker by Joseph A. Maciariello