In nearly every leadership conversation today, the focus always drifts to numbers. Sales numbers. Productivity and labor numbers. Engagement scores. Turnover rates. Market share. Numbers matter—but they are not where great leadership begins. When leaders obsess over numbers, they often miss the deeper truth: numbers are outcomes, not causes.
The most effective leaders understand a simple but powerful principle—you cannot coach numbers; you can only coach behaviors. When behaviors are right and values are aligned, the numbers take care of themselves. This month’s leadership article explores that principle through the words in my book on The 5 Rules, showing why culture-driven behaviors outperform metric-driven management every time. Starting off the new year with this as our foundation, really sets us up for a great 2026.
I believe that for decades our formula for success was wrong – the old equation was this:
(Good Numbers) = Success
The new equation is this:
(Good Values + Good Behaviors = Good Numbers) and that = Success
When we are a people focused business and value our teams and what they know. When we set good behavior expectations from The 5 Rules by modeling them, coaching to them and holding each other accountable to them, the good numbers will follow. And this formula only works in this order.
Coach to Behaviors, Not to Numbers
Numbers are easy to measure and easy to point to. Behaviors are harder. They require observation, consistency, and courage. Yet leadership that relies primarily on numbers often creates short-term gains at the expense of long-term health.
When a leader says, “We need to increase sales by 10%,” the statement provides a target—but not a path. Numbers do not tell people how to succeed; they only tell them whether they succeeded. Coaching behaviors, on the other hand, creates clarity and ownership.
I’ve shared before how my former district manager, Jimmy Carder, at United Supermarkets in Oklahoma did this better than anyone. If we needed to get better labor numbers, he didn’t come in and tell me to just “get better numbers”. He would ask me to grab my schedule, and we’d go over every single line on it. And in that, he was coaching me with a behavior that taught me how to write better schedules – under Rule #1 – Do Your Job. He was making sure I knew HOW to do my job!
Great leaders ask different questions:
These are behavioral questions. They focus on controllables. A team member cannot control market conditions, competitor pricing, or economic shifts. But they can control their attitude, effort, preparation, and execution.
When leaders coach to behaviors instead of numbers, accountability improves. The conversation moves from excuses to execution. People know exactly what is expected, and leaders can observe, reinforce, and correct in real time.
Behaviors Produce the Numbers
Numbers are lagging indicators. Behaviors are leading indicators.
If customer satisfaction scores are declining, the solution is not to lecture the team about survey results. The solution is to examine behaviors that lead to customer satisfaction: eye contact, follow-through, cleanliness, speed, accuracy, and empathy. Connecting – not just communicating, like we’ve shared before in John Maxwells book; Everyone Communicates, Few Connect.
If profitability is slipping, the answer is not to post bigger spreadsheets. The answer is to coach behaviors related to waste reduction, inventory management, teamwork, and decision-making.
Every outcome has a behavioral root. When leaders focus on behaviors:
This is why high-performing cultures look deceptively simple from the outside. They are not chasing new initiatives every quarter. They are relentlessly consistent with fundamentals. They understand that excellence is not an event—it is a habit. And this is creating Atomic Habits, like James Clear writes about in his book on Atomic Habits it “Gets a little better every day.”
Personal Values Shape Behaviors More Than Company Values
Many organizations proudly display company values on walls, websites, and onboarding materials. Yet values written on paper do not automatically translate into values lived out in practice.
Here is the hard truth: personal values drive behavior more powerfully than company values.
I now use a values exercise in my coaching practice that helps us understand the values of the team and we work on how they align with the company values and sometimes, we’ve changed company values to more align with the individual values, and the results have been amazing.
If an individual values comfort over accountability, no amount of corporate messaging about “excellence” will change their behavior. If someone values personal recognition over team success, collaboration will always suffer.
This is why hiring, promotion, and development decisions matter so much. Leaders must look beyond skill and experience and ask deeper questions:
Culture is not what you say, it is what you tolerate. When leaders allow behavior that contradicts stated values, they unintentionally communicate that values are optional.
Strong cultures are built when personal values and organizational values are aligned—and when leaders are willing to coach, correct, and sometimes make difficult decisions to protect that alignment.
Alignment + The 5 Rules = Results
When values are aligned and behaviors are clear, The 5 Rules become more than a philosophy—they become a practical operating system for culture and a movement in your organization.
The power of The 5 Rules is not in their complexity, but in their clarity. They translate values into behaviors. They remove ambiguity. They give leaders and team members a shared common language for expectations and accountability that runs both ways. We allow our teams to also hold us accountable.
When leaders consistently coach to these rules:
The result? The numbers show up in the right places.
Not because people are chasing metrics—but because they are executing behaviors that naturally produce strong outcomes. Sales grow. Engagement improves. Turnover declines. Trust increases. My clients can attest to this now that many have rolled out The 5 Rules companywide!
This is not magic. It is discipline.
Now to tie this all together:
The first life lesson under Rule #1- Do Your Job is one of the most important truths in leadership and in life: I share the story in the book of my time coaching my youngest son, Travis Black while he was in city league youth baseball program and used this quote to get the boys inspired to do better after we’d gone undefeated and won the championship in multiple years – and we were playing a horrible game and I gathered them around me and made this statement:
It Doesn’t Matter What You Can Do—It Matters What You Do
Talent without discipline is unreliable. Potential without execution is meaningless. Ability only matters when it is consistently applied.
We see this in sports, business, and families. The most gifted individual is not always the most impactful. Impact belongs to those who show up prepared, focused, and committed to fundamentals—every day.
Leaders must reinforce this lesson constantly. Praise effort, consistency, and execution more than raw ability. Celebrate people who do their job well, even when it is unnoticed. Model the behavior yourself.
When a team embraces this life lesson, excuses fade. Ownership grows. Performance becomes sustainable.
In the end, leadership is not about what we could do if conditions were perfect. It is about what we choose to do—today, tomorrow, and every day after.
And when leaders coach behaviors, align values, live The 5 Rules, and insist that everyone simply does their job—the numbers will be there.
Always.
