In this episode of Your Preshift, Ryan challenges a common leadership habit, chasing numbers as if they’re the problem. Using the metaphor of trying to hold an inner tube underwater, he shows why pushing metrics only creates new issues somewhere else.

The real shift is learning to see numbers as signals and symptoms, not causes. Every metric is the result of human behavior shaped by the environment leaders create.

Through simple root cause thinking and the “5 Whys,” this episode helps leaders move from reacting to numbers to understanding what’s actually driving them, so they can lead behavior instead of chasing outcomes.