A Manifesto by Hiran de Silva
Why Should Anyone Care?
A fair question.
Much of the Excel content on social media can leave us asking exactly that.
Interesting feature.
Interesting formula.
Interesting shortcut.
Interesting trick.
Interesting magic.
But then what?
You watch the video, press Like, perhaps leave a comment, and move on to the next piece of magic.
So why should anyone care?
The answer is value.
More specifically, business value.
And even more specifically, how value changes how you are perceived.
Management guru Joel Garfinkel talks about what he calls PVI:
Perception. Visibility. Influence.
His argument is simple.
The people who get ahead are not necessarily the people with the most technical skills. They are the people who become associated with valuable outcomes.
That distinction is important.
Because it explains why some Excel users remain Excel users their entire careers while others become consultants, transformation leaders, strategic advisors, and highly paid problem-solvers.
The difference is not Excel.
The difference is how Excel is applied.
The Pyramid of Responsibility
In almost every field there is a pyramid.
At the top are the people carrying the greatest responsibility.
The CEO.
The CFO.
The Managing Director.
The Operational Leader.
These people have the most to gain and the most to lose.
They feel the greatest pain.
They also benefit most from opportunities that others cannot see.
By definition, there are fewer people at this level.
As you move down the pyramid, responsibility becomes narrower.
The impact of decisions becomes smaller.
The consequences of mistakes become less significant.
The population becomes larger.
This is a natural phenomenon.
We see it everywhere.
Wealth.
Responsibility.
Authority.
Influence.
The higher you go, the fewer people there are.
The lower you go, the larger the crowd becomes.
This matters because almost all Excel education today is aimed at the largest group at the bottom of the pyramid.
And that creates a problem.
Excel as a Document
For most people, Excel is a document.
That is not surprising.
A spreadsheet appears to be a document.
You open it.
You type into it.
You save it.
You email it.
Everything happens inside the workbook.
This mental model influences everything.
Formulas.
XLOOKUP.
Dynamic Arrays.
Power Query.
Formatting.
Dashboards.
Keyboard shortcuts.
All of it exists inside the spreadsheet.
I often compare this to sitting inside a motor car.
If you close the doors and sit in the driver’s seat, there is plenty to explore.
The dashboard.
The radio.
The climate control.
The heated seats.
The navigation system.
The electric windows.
The entertainment system.
There is a lot going on.
But none of that is why motor cars exist.
Motor cars exist to get people from one place to another.
The real challenge lies outside the vehicle.
The roads.
The traffic.
The route.
The destination.
The hazards.
The journey itself.
That is where the value lies.
And exactly the same thing applies to Excel.
Spreadsheet as a System
The people at the top of the responsibility pyramid do not care about spreadsheets.
They care about outcomes.
They care about process.
They care about scalability.
They care about collaboration.
They care about governance.
They care about auditability.
They care about reliability.
They care about reach.
They care about automation.
They care about control.
They care about making sure hundreds or thousands of people can participate in a process without chaos.
They do not want hundreds of spreadsheets being emailed around the organisation.
They do not want manual copy-and-paste exercises.
They do not want fragmented processes.
They want systems.
Systems that run.
Systems that scale.
Systems that support decision-making.
Systems that can be trusted.
And this is where most Excel users hit a wall.
Because they try to solve system-level problems using a document-level mental model.
The result is frustration.
The result is complexity.
The result is what many people call Excel Hell.
The Secret Is Simpler Than You Think
The solution is not more complexity.
The solution is not another feature.
The solution is not another formula.
The solution is not another certification.
The solution is changing how you think about Excel.
Instead of Excel as a document.
Excel as a system.
That sounds revolutionary.
In practice, it is surprisingly simple.
The moment you separate the data from the spreadsheet, everything changes.
The moment Excel becomes the client rather than the container, everything changes.
The moment you move from paper flow to data flow, everything changes.
Suddenly you can achieve:
- Collaboration
- Consolidation
- Scalability
- Governance
- Audit trail
- Global reach
- Automation
- Security
- Control
Using tools that most organisations already own.
Why I Call It Triple Your Pay
This is not a slogan.
It comes from experience.
I have published four case studies from my own career.
In every case, I entered the organisation as an ordinary contractor or temporary worker.
Nobody knew my background.
Nobody knew what I could do.
To them, I was simply another Excel person.
Exactly like everybody else.
Then I demonstrated a different way of thinking.
Not necessarily a completed solution.
Often just a prototype.
Sometimes merely an explanation.
A sketch on a whiteboard.
An idea.
A demonstration.
And repeatedly the reaction was the same.
Management compared what they had just seen against the work being delivered by consultants charging thousands of pounds per day.
They compared it against proposals requiring multi-million-pound software projects.
They compared it against years of IT development.
And they asked the same question.
Why didn’t anybody show us this before?
Why didn’t our consultants think of this?
Why didn’t our IT department think of this?
Why is the temporary worker showing us something that appears simpler, faster and more effective than solutions costing millions?
That is where the pay difference comes from.
Not because Excel is valuable.
Because solving management problems is valuable.
The market pays far more for people who solve strategic problems than for people who perform spreadsheet tasks.
The AI Revolution Changes Everything
For years people told me:
“That’s easy for you because you’ve been programming for decades.”
Fair point.
Perhaps that was true.
But now we have AI.
Today someone can build things that previously required programming skills.
AI can write code.
AI can explain concepts.
AI can generate prototypes.
AI can accelerate development dramatically.
Which means the real advantage is no longer programming.
The advantage is understanding the architecture.
Understanding the mental model.
Understanding the difference between a spreadsheet and a system.
That is something AI cannot decide for you.
That part still requires human thinking.
The Miracle of Excel
In 2020, Wired magazine published an article discussing pioneering uses of Excel.
The article referenced my work delivering six-figure spreadsheet contracts.
People often ask how a spreadsheet can be worth that much money.
The answer is simple.
The spreadsheet is not the product.
The business outcome is the product.
The spreadsheet is merely the vehicle.
If a solution saves millions.
If it eliminates years of effort.
If it transforms a business process.
If it avoids a failed ERP implementation.
Then the value is not measured by the spreadsheet.
It is measured by the outcome.
That is the miracle of Excel.
Not the software.
The leverage.
Where Do You Go From Here?
Start questioning assumptions.
Look at the challenges and demonstrations published across the Excel community.
Look at how they are solved.
Then ask a different question.
How would a CFO look at this?
How would a CEO look at this?
How would a global organisation look at this?
How would this scale?
How would this collaborate?
How would this consolidate?
How would this operate unattended?
How would this work as a system rather than a document?
Those questions will take you into territory that most Excel users never explore.
And that is precisely where the opportunities lie.
Not because you will become a better spreadsheet user.
Because you will become a better problem solver.
And that is where careers change.
That is where influence grows.
That is where perception changes.
That is where value is created.
And ultimately, that is what Triple Your Pay with Excel is really about.
Not becoming better at spreadsheets.
Becoming better at creating business value.By Hiran de Silva
A fair question.
Much of the Excel content on social media can leave us asking exactly that.
Interesting feature.
Interesting formula.
Interesting shortcut.
Interesting trick.
Interesting magic.
But then what?
You watch the video, press Like, perhaps leave a comment, and move on to the next piece of magic.
So why should anyone care?
The answer is value.
More specifically, business value.
And even more specifically, how value changes how you are perceived.
Management guru Joel Garfinkel talks about what he calls PVI:
Perception. Visibility. Influence.
His argument is simple.
The people who get ahead are not necessarily the people with the most technical skills. They are the people who become associated with valuable outcomes.
That distinction is important.
Because it explains why some Excel users remain Excel users their entire careers while others become consultants, transformation leaders, strategic advisors, and highly paid problem-solvers.
The difference is not Excel.
The difference is how Excel is applied.
The Pyramid of Responsibility
In almost every field there is a pyramid.
At the top are the people carrying the greatest responsibility.
The CEO.
The CFO.
The Managing Director.
The Operational Leader.
These people have the most to gain and the most to lose.
They feel the greatest pain.
They also benefit most from opportunities that others cannot see.
By definition, there are fewer people at this level.
As you move down the pyramid, responsibility becomes narrower.
The impact of decisions becomes smaller.
The consequences of mistakes become less significant.
The population becomes larger.
This is a natural phenomenon.
We see it everywhere.
Wealth.
Responsibility.
Authority.
Influence.
The higher you go, the fewer people there are.
The lower you go, the larger the crowd becomes.
This matters because almost all Excel education today is aimed at the largest group at the bottom of the pyramid.
And that creates a problem.
Excel as a Document
For most people, Excel is a document.
That is not surprising.
A spreadsheet appears to be a document.
You open it.
You type into it.
You save it.
You email it.
Everything happens inside the workbook.
This mental model influences everything.
Formulas.
XLOOKUP.
Dynamic Arrays.
Power Query.
Formatting.
Dashboards.
Keyboard shortcuts.
All of it exists inside the spreadsheet.
I often compare this to sitting inside a motor car.
If you close the doors and sit in the driver’s seat, there is plenty to explore.
The dashboard.
The radio.
The climate control.
The heated seats.
The navigation system.
The electric windows.
The entertainment system.
There is a lot going on.
But none of that is why motor cars exist.
Motor cars exist to get people from one place to another.
The real challenge lies outside the vehicle.
The roads.
The traffic.
The route.
The destination.
The hazards.
The journey itself.
That is where the value lies.
And exactly the same thing applies to Excel.
Spreadsheet as a System
The people at the top of the responsibility pyramid do not care about spreadsheets.
They care about outcomes.
They care about process.
They care about scalability.
They care about collaboration.
They care about governance.
They care about auditability.
They care about reliability.
They care about reach.
They care about automation.
They care about control.
They care about making sure hundreds or thousands of people can participate in a process without chaos.
They do not want hundreds of spreadsheets being emailed around the organisation.
They do not want manual copy-and-paste exercises.
They do not want fragmented processes.
They want systems.
Systems that run.
Systems that scale.
Systems that support decision-making.
Systems that can be trusted.
And this is where most Excel users hit a wall.
Because they try to solve system-level problems using a document-level mental model.
The result is frustration.
The result is complexity.
The result is what many people call Excel Hell.
The Secret Is Simpler Than You Think
The solution is not more complexity.
The solution is not another feature.
The solution is not another formula.
The solution is not another certification.
The solution is changing how you think about Excel.
Instead of Excel as a document.
Excel as a system.
That sounds revolutionary.
In practice, it is surprisingly simple.
The moment you separate the data from the spreadsheet, everything changes.
The moment Excel becomes the client rather than the container, everything changes.
The moment you move from paper flow to data flow, everything changes.
Suddenly you can achieve:
- Collaboration
- Consolidation
- Scalability
- Governance
- Audit trail
- Global reach
- Automation
- Security
- Control
Using tools that most organisations already own.
Why I Call It Triple Your Pay
This is not a slogan.
It comes from experience.
I have published four case studies from my own career.
In every case, I entered the organisation as an ordinary contractor or temporary worker.
Nobody knew my background.
Nobody knew what I could do.
To them, I was simply another Excel person.
Exactly like everybody else.
Then I demonstrated a different way of thinking.
Not necessarily a completed solution.
Often just a prototype.
Sometimes merely an explanation.
A sketch on a whiteboard.
An idea.
A demonstration.
And repeatedly the reaction was the same.
Management compared what they had just seen against the work being delivered by consultants charging thousands of pounds per day.
They compared it against proposals requiring multi-million-pound software projects.
They compared it against years of IT development.
And they asked the same question.
Why didn’t anybody show us this before?
Why didn’t our consultants think of this?
Why didn’t our IT department think of this?
Why is the temporary worker showing us something that appears simpler, faster and more effective than solutions costing millions?
That is where the pay difference comes from.
Not because Excel is valuable.
Because solving management problems is valuable.
The market pays far more for people who solve strategic problems than for people who perform spreadsheet tasks.
The AI Revolution Changes Everything
For years people told me:
“That’s easy for you because you’ve been programming for decades.”
Fair point.
Perhaps that was true.
But now we have AI.
Today someone can build things that previously required programming skills.
AI can write code.
AI can explain concepts.
AI can generate prototypes.
AI can accelerate development dramatically.
Which means the real advantage is no longer programming.
The advantage is understanding the architecture.
Understanding the mental model.
Understanding the difference between a spreadsheet and a system.
That is something AI cannot decide for you.
That part still requires human thinking.
The Miracle of Excel
In 2020, Wired magazine published an article discussing pioneering uses of Excel.
The article referenced my work delivering six-figure spreadsheet contracts.
People often ask how a spreadsheet can be worth that much money.
The answer is simple.
The spreadsheet is not the product.
The business outcome is the product.
The spreadsheet is merely the vehicle.
If a solution saves millions.
If it eliminates years of effort.
If it transforms a business process.
If it avoids a failed ERP implementation.
Then the value is not measured by the spreadsheet.
It is measured by the outcome.
That is the miracle of Excel.
Not the software.
The leverage.
Where Do You Go From Here?
Start questioning assumptions.
Look at the challenges and demonstrations published across the Excel community.
Look at how they are solved.
Then ask a different question.
How would a CFO look at this?
How would a CEO look at this?
How would a global organisation look at this?
How would this scale?
How would this collaborate?
How would this consolidate?
How would this operate unattended?
How would this work as a system rather than a document?
Those questions will take you into territory that most Excel users never explore.
And that is precisely where the opportunities lie.
Not because you will become a better spreadsheet user.
Because you will become a better problem solver.
And that is where careers change.
That is where influence grows.
That is where perception changes.
That is where value is created.
And ultimately, that is what Triple Your Pay with Excel is really about.
Not becoming better at spreadsheets.
Becoming better at creating business value.
Add comment