I remember one of my earliest jobs as a General Manager. Like many young leaders trying to prove themselves, I wanted to be prepared. Really prepared. Every month, I reviewed the general ledger, financial statements, sales results, payroll, membership numbers and other KPIs before sitting down with ownership to discuss the performance of the business.
If revenue was down, I knew why. If payroll was over budget, I knew why. If an expense account moved unexpectedly, I would know where the money went. If membership missed projection, I had the explanation.
I was determined not to walk into one of those meetings and get caught flat-footed. And, if I'm fair to that younger version of myself, there was something very good about that discipline.
A leader should be intimate with the numbers. Not familiar with them. Not vaguely aware of them. Intimate with them.
You should understand what drives your business, what is changing, what is working and what isn't. Numbers tell stories.
The problem was that I thought understanding the story was enough. It wasn't.
I Had All the Answers
I remember one particular monthly review. I was ready. Probably overly ready. I walked ownership through the financials and KPIs, explaining variance after variance. Why revenue landed where it did. Why an expense was higher. Why another department missed budget. Why a particular metric had slipped.
Why. Why. Why.
And I thought I was doing a pretty damn good job. In my mind, I was demonstrating command of the business. I knew the numbers. I understood the reasons. I could answer every question.
When I finished, I probably sat back expecting some version of: Nice job, Frank. You really know what's going on.
Instead, the owner looked directly at me. No smile. No congratulations. Just one of those laser-eyeball looks that stays with you for the next 40 years. He leaned forward in a very stern, distinctive way and essentially said:
"Okay. So what are you going to do about it?"
And then: "FIX IT, FRANK!"
Ouch.
Explanation Is Not Execution
That meeting changed the way I approached operating reviews for the rest of my career. Because I realized something painfully obvious: I had spent all my time explaining the problem and almost none explaining how I planned to fix it.
Understanding why matters. But the leader's responsibility doesn't end with the diagnosis. It starts there.
If sales are down, tell me why. Then tell me what we're changing on Monday morning. If retention slipped, understand the cause. Then tell me who's responsible for improving it, what we're going to do differently and how we'll know whether it's working. If payroll is over budget, don't simply explain the schedule. Show me the adjustment. If customer satisfaction is declining, don't appreciate the survey. Go talk to the customers.
Don't just explain it. Fix it.
That became one of those leadership lessons I never forgot.
Numbers Are a Scoreboard, Not a Strategy
Financial statements, KPIs and dashboards usually tell us about something that has already happened. They're historical. They tell us who won the quarter, the month or the year. They show us the score and, eventually, our win-loss record.
By the time the P&L arrives, the month is over. You can't go back and change it. That doesn't make the information less important. Quite the opposite. But its greatest value isn't helping us construct a brilliant explanation of yesterday. Its value is helping us make a better decision today.
I've sat through plenty of business meetings over the years where an enormous amount of intelligence was spent explaining why something didn't happen. The economy. The competition. Weather. Staffing. Marketing. Pricing. Technology. The customer. Corporate. Sometimes every one of those explanations was accurate.
But there is a point where explanation quietly becomes excuse. Great operators learn to recognize that line.
The numbers should help explain where you've been. Leadership determines where you go next.
Being Intimate With Your Numbers Still Matters
That early lesson didn't make me less focused on numbers. It made me focus on them more. Because you cannot fix what you don't understand.
A leader shouldn't wait for the finance department, accountant or ownership group to tell them what is happening inside their own business. Know your revenue. Know your expenses. Know your labor. Know your sales funnel. Know your retention. Know your customer experience. Know which numbers truly move your business — and which ones are simply taking up room on a report.
And don't just know the number. Know the story behind the number. Daily.
Then comes the part that separates reporting from leadership: What are we going to do about it? Not after the next leadership meeting. Not after the P&L arrives. Not when things slow down. Today.
Fix It Doesn't Mean Fix It Alone
Age has added another layer to that lesson for me. When I was younger, "Fix It" could easily translate in my head to: Frank needs to solve this. Leadership maturity taught me something different.
Your responsibility may be to fix the problem. That doesn't mean you have to personally perform every task required to fix it. Bring the team into the solution. Ask better questions. Coach the manager responsible. Remove an obstacle. Provide resources. Clarify expectations. Set the target. Establish accountability. And follow up.
Sometimes the best thing a leader can say isn't: "Here's what I want you to do." It's: "Tell me how you think we're going to fix this."
That's how people grow. And that's how organizations stop depending on one person for every answer.
The "Fix It, Frank" Meeting Changed Me
From that point forward, my preparation changed. I still wanted to know the why. But I began walking into reviews prepared for three questions instead of one:
- What happened?
- Why did it happen?
- What are we going to do about it?
That third question became the most important. Because businesses don't improve because their leaders become better historians. They improve because leaders turn information into action — with an appropriate sense of urgency.
There is always another meeting we can schedule. Another report we can request. Another month we can analyze. Another reason we can wait. Sometimes all that activity even feels productive. It isn't always.
Don't let procrastination dress itself up as planning.
The Question
So, here's this week's L.I.P. question:
When something in your business underperforms, are you explaining why — or deciding what to do about it today?
Know your numbers.
Understand the story.
Own the outcome.
And when something isn't working?
Fix It.
Not someday. Today.