For decades, intuition was celebrated as the hallmark of great leadership. The instinctive ability to read markets, people, situations, and opportunities without spreadsheets or dashboards was a rare gift. But in today’s environment of relentless disruption and unforgiving scrutiny, gut feeling alone is a broken compass. The stakes are simply too high. One wrong move can trigger a cascading effect of long-term strategic vulnerability.
Intuition-only Decisions can be Expensive
History is replete with examples of leaders who trusted instinct alone. And yes, they paid dearly for it. This even includes top names like Kodak and Nokia. Once industry leaders, they clung to intuition over emerging data trends. As a result, they lost billions in market value and lost relevance over the years. As George Fisher, then CEO of Kodak, candidly admitted during a major downsizing exercise:
"We are out of denial now. We were wishing (the problems) would go away. We were deluded by our own thinking."
These stories highlight something important. The real danger of intuition-only decisions goes far beyond the obvious repercussions of reputational damage and financial losses. There are several hidden costs that are often more systemic and far-reaching, such as:
- Capital Misallocation: Draining resources from more profitable opportunities.
- Slower Response to Disruption: Reacting too late to competitor moves or new technologies.
- Overconfidence Bias: Decisions clouded by ego and experience.
- Regulatory & Compliance Risks: Can lead to fines and legal challenges in highly regulated industries.
- Talent & Culture Costs: Teams losing trust in leadership when repeated instinct-based calls fail. It can ultimately impact morale and retention.
But Intuition Isn’t All Bad. It just Thrives on Data
Intuition isn’t dead. Gut-based decisions still have their place. After all, they spark innovation and speed up choices in uncertain situations, thanks to the leader’s deeply honed experience. In fact, great leadership has always been about making the right calls at the right time.
The only thing that has changed over the years is the expectation that every decision must stand up to scrutiny. After all, we are living in an era of constant disruption. The most resilient CEOs are not those who simply move fast, but those who move fast with clarity.
And data plays a pivotal role in this shift. It:
- Turns instinctive hunches into defensible strategies.
- Transforms uncertainty into opportunity.
- Elevates instinct into informed action.
Beyond validation, data expands the perspective of the CEO through the following:
- Predictive models and forecasts anticipate shifts rather than leaving you to react.
- KPIs, dashboards, and metrics distil complexity into clarity. They spotlight what truly drives growth.
- Risk assessment and scenario planning pressure-test options. They minimise blind spots before they can escalate.
Of course, knowing the value of data is only half the battle. The real question is how CEOs can actually harness it without being overwhelmed. That’s where the right set of tools comes in.
The CEO's Data Toolkit: What You Really Need?
To make confident and high-impact decisions, today’s CEOs need a comprehensive toolkit: a powerful combination of platforms and metrics that simplify complexity while amplifying insight. Here are the core components of this toolkit:
1. CRM Systems: The Backbone of Decision-Making
A modern Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system, like Salesforce:
- Consolidates customer data
- Tracks interactions across different functions
- Provides a clear view of pipeline health and client satisfaction
- Delivers actionable insights about customer behaviour
In other words, by centralising information, CRMs turn scattered intuition into informed judgment.
How it can help in decision-making: Anticipate needs and identify growth opportunities quickly. Make well-informed strategic decisions that are future-proof.
2. Reporting & Analytics Tools: Turns Data Into Insight
Dashboards and reporting platforms transform raw data into digestible insights. Tools like Tableau and Power BI allow you to monitor KPIs in real time. They even help you drill down into areas requiring attention. These analytics tools reduce complexity by highlighting what truly drives business performance.
How it can help in decision-making: Gives you a clear lens to evaluate operations and measure success. Make timely decisions without drowning in data.
3. Predictive Analytics & Forecasting Tools: Helps Plan Ahead With Confidence
Predictive analytics platforms, such as Salesforce Einstein Analytics, leverage historical and real-time data to forecast trends and market shifts. These tools help you anticipate outcomes rather than merely reacting to events. From revenue projections to customer churn prediction, predictive models turn instinct into evidence-based strategy.
How it can help: Helps you act proactively and allocate resources efficiently. Identify opportunities and mitigate risks before they escalate.
4. Collaboration Tools: Helps Align Teams With Data
Insights are only valuable if they reach the right people at the right time. Collaboration tools like Slack or Salesforce Chatter ensure that you and your leadership teams can share dashboards and analyses seamlessly. By making data transparent and actionable, these platforms build accountability and enhance cross-functional alignment.
How it can help: Accelerate execution. Ensures that decisions aren’t siloed in the CEO’s mind but are operationalised across the organisation.
The CEO’s Dashboard Essentials: What You Need to Track?
Behind every smart business decision lies a dashboard that highlights the right metrics. But CEOs in the media/DOOH and green engineering industries need to look beyond generic financial indicators. Here’s what matters most in each sector:
Media Industry
In the media and digital out-of-home (DOOH) advertising industry, the challenge is balancing audience engagement and financial performance. These KPIs form the core of a CEO’s dashboard in this industry:
- Revenue Growth by Channel – Breaks down income across ad placements, programmatic buys, and partnerships. Indicates revenue diversification.
- Advertising Fill Rate – Percentage of ad slots filled across screens and platforms. Indicates monetisation efficiency.
- Pipeline Health – Upcoming campaigns, contracts, and inventory bookings. Indicates future revenue certainty.
- Audience Reach & Impressions – Total exposure across digital screens, OTT platforms, and social media. Indicates scale and brand visibility.
- Cost per Audience Impression (CPAI) – Spend required to capture 1,000 views or impressions. Indicates marketing and sales efficiency.
- Churn Rate of Advertisers – Tracks repeat advertisers vs. one-time buyers. Indicates client retention strength.
- Content & Campaign Engagement – Average dwell time, interaction rates, and viewer response metrics. Indicates creative effectiveness.
Engineering Industry
For engineering companies, the CEO’s dashboard must balance financial outcomes with sustainability goals and project delivery performance. These KPIs provide a holistic view:
- Carbon Footprint Reduction – Tonnes of CO₂ avoided or offset per project. Indicates environmental impact.
- Resource Efficiency – Energy, water, and material use efficiency across projects. Indicates sustainable operations.
- Pipeline Health – Active bids, tenders, and project proposals. Indicates future revenue stability.
- Innovation Pipeline – R&D spend and number of new sustainable solutions in development. Indicates future competitiveness.
- Project Delivery Timelines – Percentage of projects delivered on schedule. Indicates execution strength.
- Revenue Growth by Project Type – Income from renewable projects, consulting, or licensing. Indicates business strength across offerings.
- Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) – Revenue expected from recurring clients across projects. Indicates the success of client relationships.
Going the Last-Mile: The Role of an Expert
Tools and dashboards are powerful only when they work together. The reality is that most data points reside in different disconnected systems. Customer insights live in one platform. Financial metrics in another. Employee engagement scores in a third. Without integration, even the best data toolkit risks becoming useless.
This is where the final piece of the puzzle comes in: implementation. Connecting all these moving parts into a single, reliable source of truth for effective decision-making. That’s not just a technical exercise. It’s about creating a system where intuition and analytics flow seamlessly together. It should empower you to make decisions that are balanced and future-ready.
At Brysa, the UK’s leading Salesforce expert, we specialise in doing exactly that. We help CEOs unify their data ecosystem in Salesforce, build custom dashboards, and generate insights that don’t just validate decisions but accelerate them. Because in today’s environment, survival isn’t about having data. It’s about having the right partner to make data work for you. Contact us now to know more about how we can help.