Most leaders measure what is easy, not what is true. We count attendance, revenue, hours, events. Those are inputs. The harvest is the outcome. If you cannot define the harvest, you cannot tell whether you are winning.
Most leaders measure what is easy, not what is true. We count attendance, revenue, hours, events. Those are inputs. The harvest is the outcome. If you cannot define the harvest, you cannot tell whether you are winning.
I learned this from the Garden Model. A farmer does not measure how many hours he spent in the field. He measures the harvest. Did the field produce what it was supposed to produce? That is the only question that matters. Leadership should be measured the same way.
Define the Harvest First
Before you measure anything, define the harvest. What must ultimately be true because you led well? That is the End Game Question, and it is also the definition of your harvest. If you are leading a school, the harvest is the kind of student that emerges. If you are leading a church, the harvest is the transformed neighborhood. If you are developing leaders, the harvest is leaders who can lead without you.
Remove the Vanity Metrics
Vanity metrics are numbers that feel good but do not tell you whether you are winning. Attendance. Social media followers. Number of programs. Remove them from your definition of success, or at least demote them. They are inputs, not outcomes. They tell you about activity, not impact.
Cultivate Toward the Outcome
Once the harvest is defined, every activity is evaluated by whether it produces that harvest. You cultivate what moves you toward the outcome and prune what does not. This is disciplined work. It means saying no to good things that do not produce the harvest. The Human Touch helps here—you measure people's growth, not just program completion.
Harvest Is Measurable Change
The harvest is measurable. It may not be easy to measure, but it is real. Stronger leaders. Changed lives. Healthier organizations. Transformed neighborhoods. If you cannot measure it, find a proxy that actually reflects it. But do not substitute the easy number for the true outcome.
Replicate What Produces
When you find what produces the harvest, replicate it. That is the final step. The things that work should be reproduced in other contexts, with other people, in other places. Replication is the proof that the harvest was real and the model was sound.
Make It Practical
- Write one sentence defining the harvest for your current role.
- List your top three metrics and ask which actually measure the harvest.
- Cut one vanity metric from your reports this quarter.
- Find one measurable proxy for the outcome you most care about.
Harvest is the measurement. Define it, measure against it, and have the courage to stop counting what does not matter. That is how leaders know they are actually winning.
Worth Sharing
“Most leaders measure what is easy, not what is true. The harvest is the outcome.”
“Vanity metrics tell you about activity, not impact. Stop counting them as success.”
Bring this message to your people.
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