The toughest loss I took early in my career wasn’t about numbers – it was about leadership
The toughest loss I took early in my career wasn’t about numbers – it was about leadership.
The financials looked flawless. Growth was convincing. The CEO checked every box. But his obsession with short-term earnings games was impossible to ignore. Within 18 months, the cracks surfaced. The stock collapsed.
That was my wake-up call: numbers can hide intent. Leadership always exposes it.
Since then, leadership due diligence has become my non-negotiable filter. I always ask:
→ Is this CEO optimizing for the next quarter — or the next decade?
→ Are they creating value through discipline — or extracting it for optics?
→ Are they building durability — or chasing momentum?
The data backs it up. McKinsey and FCLT Global tracked 615 U.S. companies over 15 years:
→ Long-term oriented firms grew 47% more in revenue
→ Delivered 36% higher earnings growth
→ Invested 50% more in R&D
→ Added nearly $7 trillion in market cap vs. short-term peers
Lesson: Long-term value is built in the boardroom long before it shows up in the numbers.
🔗 Source: FCLT Global – Measuring the Economic Impact of Short-Termism