These five domains were selected because they capture the core leadership behaviors that most directly influence execution, decision quality, and organizational health at the senior leadership level.

Rather than attempting to measure every aspect of leadership, the Executive Team Performance Pulse focuses on the few leadership behaviors that research and practice consistently show make the greatest difference at the senior level. These five domains reflect how executive teams translate strategy into action, manage complexity, and sustain performance over time. When any one of these areas breaks down, the impact is felt quickly across execution, culture, and results. When they operate well together, they form a practical leadership operating system that supports both performance and organizational health.

Shared direction, priorities, and common interpretation of success are foundational to executive effectiveness. Research shows that senior team misalignment leads to slower execution, inconsistent messaging, and downstream rework across the organization (Kellerman, 2012; Katzenbach & Smith, 2015).

Executive teams play a central role in decision quality, speed, and ownership. Poor decision processes at the top create bottlenecks, ambiguity, and risk throughout the system (Heifetz, Grashow, & Linsky, 2009; Eisenhardt & Zbaracki, 1992).

Trust, candor, and productive challenge among senior leaders improve decision quality and reduce destructive conflict. Avoidance and low psychological safety are strongly associated with poor team learning and performance (Edmondson, 2018).

Senior leadership behavior sets the tone for accountability and follow-through. When execution discipline is weak at the top, priorities fragment and performance deteriorates across the organization (Bossidy & Charan, 2002).

Leadership pace, capacity, and learning directly affect organizational resilience. Chronic overload and lack of reflection increase risk, impair judgment, and reduce long-term effectiveness (Kegan & Lahey, 2009; McKinsey & Company, 2020).

The Executive Team Performance Pulse draws from established research in organizational psychology, leadership effectiveness, and team dynamics. Rather than measuring everything, it concentrates on the leadership behaviors most predictive of execution, alignment, and durability over time.

Results are aggregated at the team level and used to support leadership discussion, focus attention, and inform action. The intent is not diagnosis for its own sake, but better leadership decisions and follow-through.

Bossidy, L., & Charan, R. (2002). Execution: The discipline of getting things done. Crown Business.

Edmondson, A. C. (2018). The fearless organization: Creating psychological safety in the workplace for learning, innovation, and growth. Wiley.

Eisenhardt, K. M., & Zbaracki, M. J. (1992). Strategic decision making. Strategic Management Journal, 13(S2), 17–37. https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.4250130904

Heifetz, R. A., Grashow, A., & Linsky, M. (2009). The practice of adaptive leadership. Harvard Business Press.

Katzenbach, J. R., & Smith, D. K. (2015). The wisdom of teams: Creating the high-performance organization. Harper Business.

Kegan, R., & Lahey, L. L. (2009). Immunity to change: How to overcome it and unlock the potential in yourself and your organization. Harvard Business Press.

McKinsey & Company. (2020). Organizational health index: Why it matters. McKinsey Global Institute.