Metrics don’t fail because they’re measured. They fail when they become the system’s reality.

Organizations don’t optimize for the mission. They optimize for the signals leadership rewards. Once a metric becomes the target, people naturally learn to improve the number rather than the underlying condition.

That is why signal quality matters. A metric is only one signal. When leaders mistake the dashboard for reality, they create the very distortions they are trying to prevent. The answer is not fewer metrics. It is better signal integrity.