Editor's note: This is the most recent in a series ofarticles. Be sure to read:

• Why every CEO needs an executivecoach
• Focus is a superpower
• Why people are critical to a CEO's success

Every CEO knows that it takes blood, sweat, tears, and treasureto build a successful business. Too often, growth may slow, marginsmay narrow, and expenses may mount. The company may hit a ceiling,unable to get to the next level with the team and resourcesavailable. "What, exactly, are we striving to achieve?" your peoplesilently ask themselves before embarking on their daily activities,most of which have no connection to end results.

"We need more hard work, more hours, more people. More! More!More!" a CEO might say to himself or to his leadership team,secretly hoping that working twice as hard will produceresults.

Success depends upon a solid team working together toward commonobjectives. Yet, it's rare when everyone pulls in the samedirection. Why? Because the clarity of your goals is lacking.

A CEO must not only articulate and track the key performanceindicators that everyone in the business must be pursuing at alltimes, but he must also use those numbers to instill in his peoplea sense of ownership thinking. In other words, the numbers are aspringboard for helping your people see the impact of their workand a means for helping them to take more proactive roles in movingthose numbers in the right direction.

As the company finds success with this approach to numbers, youthen have the opportunity to utilize the results to reinforce thesense of teamwork and collaboration that made those resultspossible. Where your people once asked, "Why am I doing this?" theycan now begin to understand why it matters to the business. Whenyou frame it in the right way, you help them to see why it mattersto them as individuals; how reaching that goal is not only good forthe business but good for them.

Articulating key performance indicators

Leading from the numbers begins with identifying which numbershave the most impact on your business. A CEO must articulate thekey performance indicators (KPIs) that everyone in the businessshould pursue. He must teach his people to track those KPIs down tothe level of daily work. He must publish and review those resultswithin an appropriate timeframe to make meaningful coursecorrections. Your numbers are your guideposts as you venture intodeeper waters. If you don't know where you are, you can't expectyour people to know either.

According to a survey by the American Psychological Association,fully one quarter of employees don't trust their employer. Evenworse, the survey finds that only about half believe that theiremployer is open and upfront with them. A lack of trust is oftendue to a lack of transparency in the workplace. Transparency canremedy the problem by fostering a common bond between CEOs andtheir employees. People who understand their role in helping theorganization achieve its goals are more likely to trust theiremployer and embrace the endgame. Those who are brought into thelight, know well in advance the challenges the company faces.

The Entrepreneur's Organization (EO) is famous for telling thestory about the head of a large mortgage sales organization. In atalk on the importance of numbers in business, he tells hisaudience: "Everyone has a number… everyone down to the receptionistwho says: Three rings bad, Two rings good!"

While this may capture the essence of the idea, in today'sorganizations, employees want more than goals and measurements.They want to be informed about the rationale behind thosemeasurements; they want to understand the why behind thewhat.

Meaningful numbers

To be an effective CEO, you need to take ownership of the bigpicture. The big picture view is important because it will informhow you define, track and share KPIs. The philosophy behind yourKPIs provides crucial context about how you use those numbers tomake choices, to lead, and to inspire your people. Your goal is notreductionist. You are not aiming to simplify the whole of yourbusiness into cold numbers. Your intent is actually more human.With the right numbers and the right approach, you can betterunderstand your people and the customers you ultimately serve.

Most CEOs do not come from accounting or financial backgrounds,which is where a CEO blind spot often begins to take shape.Heidrick & Struggles, the largest executive search firm in theworld, found that only 30 percent of CEOs at Fortune 500 companieshad prior experience in the financial world. For smaller companies,that number is even lower. Accordingly, CEOs often delegateoversight of company finances to someone better versed in the worldof numbers: a CFO, Controller, VP of Finance, or even a bookkeeper,depending on the size of the organization.

Engaging someone with the domain expertise you lack is goodbusiness, but when it comes to numbers, you should maintain finalownership and responsibility for those numbers.

As the CEO, you are the primary steward of company resources. Assuch, it is imperative that you never allow execution on vision andstrategy to overshadow your financial responsibilities. You mustkeep enough cash on hand to fund the next move. In business, it's acardinal sin of leadership to put yourself in a corner without anyoptions. A CEO who does not stay in tune with the financialrealities is like a general who does not guard his supply lines.Generals understand that the strongest, most skilled army in theworld is still vulnerable to starvation.

How does a CEO avoid this kind of disaster? By becoming themaster of those numbers that reveal the truth about your businessin stark and unbending terms. Math is the language of business.Numbers never lie.

The numbers we measure, the importance we assign to thosemeasurements, the action plans derived from the interpretation ofthose numbers — all of these are examples of the executivefunction. While you can delegate some of the systems and processessurrounding how and when data is gathered and reported, decidingwhat ultimately gets measured is the domain of the CEO.

The individual who determines what gets measured is theindividual in control of the business. Why was James Madison thefirst person to arrive in Philadelphia for the ConstitutionalConvention? Because he wanted to set the agenda of what would bedebated. As a result, history remembers him as the "Father of theConstitution."

Just as James Madison set the agenda for the ConstitutionalConvention, you can set the agenda for your business by definingits most important KPIs, then articulating the reasoning behindthose KPIs to every person in the organization. Transparency iskey.   By giving your people a clearunderstanding of the why behind the numbers, you not onlyengender trust but also the shared vision critical to your ongoingsuccess.