There’s a specific kind of CEO frustration that doesn’t show up in board minutes. It shows up in the conversations I am having, especially with CEO's of growth companies (often PE-owned).
It sounds like this:
- “We’re doing a lot… but things are not moving fast enough.”
- We have great people, but they are still living in a pre-AI reality"
- "As a challenger, we need to adapt and move faster, we need to outsmart and outpace competition".
- “Why does it take us six months to agree on what our brand is, and them many more months to execute?”
If you’re PE-backed (or simply board-pressured), the frustration has an extra ingredient: exposure.
You’re expected to deliver acceleration. But your systems (and culture) only confirm reality after reality has already changed.
That’s the core problem:
Most companies run on lagging indicators. And lagging indicators are excellent at one thing: telling you what you should have done earlier.
The CEO speed trap: rear-view management
Lagging indicators include:
- revenue and EBITDA
- pipeline and conversion rates
- churn
- brand trackers
- NPS
- quarterly share data
They’re not wrong. They’re just late.
By the time revenue dips, the sequence already happened:
- customer perception shifted
- buying criteria changed
- competitor framing improved
- your value “proof” weakened
- the sales cycle lengthened
- win rates softened
- then revenue showed it
And in many businesses, that entire chain takes 60–180 days. Which means the board conversation is usually one quarter behind reality.
No wonder CEOs feel impatient with incrementalism. No wonder they experience “noise, debate, slow alignment.”
The board doesn’t punish misses. It punishes surprises.
Most boards can handle:
- a miss with a causal explanation
- a miss with decisive corrections
- a miss with evidence the CEO saw it early
Boards lose confidence when they sense:
- “we didn’t see it coming”
- “we’re guessing”
- “we’re reacting”
- “we’re adding initiatives instead of making bets”
That’s why growth leaders don’t just need performance reporting.
They need early detection.
Leading indicators are not “vanity metrics.”
They’re signals that customer choice is moving—before the P&L shows it.
Think of them in four layers:
1) Category indicators: what game are we playing now?
Examples:
- Customers shift from “best product” to “lowest risk.”
- The category starts rewarding “integrated solutions” instead of standalone tools.
- New substitutes appear from adjacent categories (your real competition is a different budget line).
If you’re watching only competitors, you’ll miss substitutes. If you’re watching only sales, you’ll miss criteria shifts.
2) Market indicators: what’s changing in the rules?
Examples:
- A competitor introduces a new pricing model and resets expectations.
- Distribution changes (platforms, marketplaces, procurement consolidation).
- Regulation increases compliance friction → customers choose established players.
Market shifts don’t ask your permission. They just change the math.
3) Cultural indicators: what’s changing in risk, trust, identity?
Examples:
- Trust drops → buyers demand proof, references, credibility, “safe choices.”
- Status changes → buyers avoid “flashy,” prefer “clean and competent.”
- Economic anxiety rises → buyers seek durability and predictability.
Culture is upstream of purchasing behavior. Ignoring it is like ignoring weather while flying a plane.
4) Customer choice indicators: what are people literally saying?
Examples:
- Objections evolve (“budget” becomes “risk,” “features” becomes “time to value”).
- The words customers use change in reviews, calls, forums, social.
- Sales notices the same “new hesitation” repeating—then it gets normalized.
This layer is often the earliest—and most ignored—warning system.
The operating reality: “data everywhere, clarity nowhere”
When the organization lacks a demand lens, you get:
- conflicting internal views of “the customer”
- sales blaming marketing, marketing blaming sales
- meetings without prioritization
- debate instead of decision
- activity without structural progress Original Minds ICP's 2026 G…
So you add initiatives. Which feels productive. But it’s usually just uncertainty wearing a blazer.
The fix: install instruments, not more initiatives
The job isn’t to become a market analyst. It’s to build a simple system that does three things:
- Monitors leading indicators (category / market / culture / customer choice)
- Interprets what’s changing in choice (what buyers now want, fear, reward)
- Translates it into 2–3 bets (penetration, frequency, pricing power)
That’s how you restore speed:
- faster alignment
- fewer debates
- cleaner board narratives
- decisive moves before the miss becomes visible
This way, growth becomes structurally supported by market alignment—not dependent on constant pushing.
A simple diagnostic question to end on
If growth is under pressure, ask:
Are we losing because we’re executing poorly… or because customers are choosing differently than our strategy assumes?
If it’s the second, no amount of “doing more” will save you.
You need earlier signal. And the confidence to act before the numbers beg you to.
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We can help you compress time and accelerate growth by installing a system that allows you to act on leading indicators - those signals that tell you where growth is moving. And all growth comes only from one source: customer choice.
hello[at]originalminds.co
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