What if our most important performance metrics weren’t the ones in our annual plans?

In my corporate life, January meant two things: CES and finalizing the annual planning marathon launched 4 months earlier. Like clockwork, we’d craft perfectly aligned bullets of KPIs and OKRs, each cascading neatly into the next. Our team goals would mirror executive leadership’s objectives, incorporate client priorities, and reflect the latest strategic initiatives from our version of central ops.

More personal growth goals made occasional appearances, usually relegated to sub-bullets or 1:1 conversations with managers – more as a demonstration of above-and-beyond ambition than as measurable targets among the “metrics that matter.”

But what if we’d been measuring the wrong things? Or – at a minimum, failing to include some of the most critical and valid metrics – the markers of true growth? 

I fear we were.   

Today, as a coach, I work with leaders across industries who are ready to write different kinds of scorecards. Together, we explore the real metrics that matter – to them. Professionally, of course, but also personally. Down deep and across every dimension of their lives.

This journey begins not with spreadsheets, but with soul-searching. What truly matters? What impact do we want to have and where do we want it to be most deeply felt? What legacy do we hope to leave – not just in our quarterly reviews, but in our relationships, our communities, and our world?

In 2025, the work of exploring these questions – and the insights they can lead us to – feels more urgent than ever. Surrounded by constant change and uncertainty, we’re not so much invited as we are compelled to reconsider our values and reassess what success really looks like for each of us.

In this spirit I encourage my clients to temporarily set aside their to-do lists. Before asking “What will I accomplish this year?” we explore deeper questions: “Who do I want to be this year? How do I want to show up – for myself, for others, for the world? If the music stopped tomorrow, what would I want to be remembered for?”

When we let these questions guide our goals, something remarkable happens. The metrics shift from mere measurements to meaningful markers of growth. The scorecard becomes not just a tool for tracking progress, but a compass pointing toward purpose.

So as you finalize your plans for the year ahead, consider taking a well-deserved moment to  ask yourself: What’s on your scorecard? And more importantly – what should be?