This chapter introduces budgeting not as a painful ritual, but as a powerful leadership tool for aligning teams, clarifying strategy, and boosting execution. It shares a personal anecdote about a challenging first budgeting experience, highlighting the shift from simply collecting numbers to understanding budgeting as a critical exercise in leadership and alignment. The chapter emphasizes that a budget should be a mirror of strategy, a stress test of leadership, and a booster of execution, rather than just numbers on a spreadsheet. It also outlines upcoming topics in the "Budgeting for Humans" series, aiming to make budgeting accessible and useful for all leaders.