Quick Answer
For search, voice, and "just tell me what to do".
A brutal truth dashboard strips away vanity metrics to show only numbers that directly indicate business health: actual profit per product/customer, true cost of acquisition, and real runway. It's designed to inform, not impress.
Key Takeaways:
- Most dashboards optimize for comfort, not truth
- AI can distinguish signal metrics from vanity metrics
- Fewer, truer numbers beat many comfortable ones
- Truth dashboards should make you slightly uncomfortable
Playbook
List all metrics you currently track
For each, ask: 'Would I change behavior based on this?'
Eliminate metrics that only make you feel good
Add metrics you've been avoiding because they're uncomfortable
Use AI to calculate true costs often hidden in aggregates
Display metrics with context (trend, benchmark, target)
Review dashboard weekly and act on what you see
Update metrics as your decision needs change
Common Pitfalls
- Including metrics because they're easy, not useful
- Hiding uncomfortable truths in aggregated numbers
- Tracking too many metrics to avoid focusing on any
- Not acting on dashboard insights (performance theater)
Metrics to Track
True profit per product/service line
Actual customer acquisition cost (fully loaded)
Real customer lifetime value (not projected)
Cash conversion cycle (days from spend to cash)
FAQ
What makes a metric 'vanity'?
Vanity metrics go up over time regardless of business health (total users, lifetime revenue, social followers) and don't connect to decisions you'd make differently. Truth metrics can go down and directly inform action.
What should a brutal truth dashboard include?
Profit per unit (not revenue), true customer acquisition cost, cash runway, retention rate, and any metric where the honest number makes you uncomfortable but informed.
How do I face uncomfortable metrics?
Separate observation from judgment. Bad numbers aren't failures - they're information. The only failure is not seeing them until too late. Early visibility creates time to fix.
Related Reading
Next: browse the hub or explore AI Operations.