North Star Metric

Biological Parallel

For any organism, the North Star Metric is reproductive success—the number of viable offspring that survive to reproduce themselves. A peacock's elaborate tail, a bee colony's honey stores, and a tree's height all serve this single metric. Organizations often confuse activity (a peacock preening) with the metric that actually drives survival (peahens choosing that peacock as a mate). The North Star Metric isn't what you do; it's what must happen for you to persist.