The Leadership Metrics No-one Talks About

We track revenue, engagement, retention, and performance.

But what about the leadership metrics that don’t show up on dashboards - the ones that make or break your ability to lead effectively?

Here are five underrated leadership metrics that determine your impact…

1️. Capacity for Unfinished Business

Not every problem has a quick fix. Great leaders hold space for ambiguity without forcing premature decisions. If you’re uncomfortable with unresolved issues, you may be pushing for answers before they’re ready.

💡 Improve it: Practise sitting with uncertainty and notice the emotions and thoughts that come up for you. Let them be there without necessarily driving you into action. Not every question needs an immediate answer.

2. Repetition Tolerance

You’ll get bored by your own message long before your team absorbs it. If your priorities, strategy, and values aren’t crystal clear to them, you haven’t said them enough.

💡 Improve it: Treat repetition as reinforcement, not redundancy. When your team starts predicting your key messages, you know they’ve stuck.

3. Influence Beyond Authority

The best leaders don’t rely on their title. They shape decisions across the organisation and beyond, even where they have no formal power. If your influence stops at your direct reports, you’re missing crucial opportunities to lead at a broader level.

💡 Improve it: Build relationships before you need them. Learn to frame ideas in a way that resonates with different stakeholders.

4. Recovery Speed from Bad Decisions

Every leader makes mistakes - the best ones fix them fast. If you hesitate to course-correct or worse, double down to save face, you’re losing valuable time.

💡 Improve it: Separate your ego from your decisions. The sooner you acknowledge a misstep, the faster you can fix it.

5. Emotional Contagion Awareness

Your mood sets the tone. Walk into a meeting distracted, anxious, or frustrated, and your team and stakeholders will feel it—even if you say nothing.

💡 Improve it: Check your energy before key conversations. Your team doesn’t just hear your words; they read your presence.

👉 Which of these do you think is the most overlooked? Or is there another invisible leadership skill you’d add to the list?

Until next week, take care of yourself and others

Madeleine

I help accomplished professionals untangle difficult career questions so they can thrive in work and life.

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