Most businesses have dozens of priorities, but only a few actually drive cashflow and profitability.
In my experience, many leadership teams aren’t fully aligned on the handful of levers in their business that truly drive cash AND that they can meaningfully influence. Not because they’re inexperienced, but because businesses are complex.
There are always dozens of things competing for attention:
– Marketing ideas
– Operational improvements
– Customer initiatives
– Technology upgrades
All important, but when you step back and look at the economics of the business, only a handful of levers actually move the needle.
In EOS, we call these the 8 Cashflow Drivers.
I recently walked a very sophisticated leadership team through this exercise.
This is a successful, mature company with an experienced leadership team who knows their business extremely well.
And yet the discussion surfaced a couple of powerful insights:
1. Some things consuming a lot of leadership attention had very little financial impact.
2. A few levers that could materially move revenue and profitability weren’t getting nearly enough focus.
Once the true drivers were clear, the conversation shifted.
Instead of asking:
“What should we work on next?”
They started asking:
“Which lever will move cashflow and profitability the most this quarter?”
That’s when goal setting got sharper, and the leadership team started focusing their energy where it could actually impact cashflow and profitability.
What are the handful of levers that most drive cashflow in your business, and are they where your leadership team is spending the most attention?