Leaders and managers use all kinds of indicators to assess a situation and trends. Probably a hundred decent books have been written about management by KPIs.
The deepest thing to understand about indicators is that they’re a signal from systems and systems of systems — so pay attention to whether an indicator is a leading or a lagging indicator relative to the outcome you’re focused upon. Rain is a lagging indicator of atmospheric moisture and temperature, but a leading indicator for plant growth.
You can be badly fooled by confusing leading and lagging.
