Lesson 3: Clarity Above All Else: Getting Laser Focused on Who You Are, What Value You Provide, And What Numbers Matter Most

Scaling and selling a telemedicine company to Walmart taught me that clarity isn’t just a leadership virtue – it’s a survival skill. In the chaos of hypergrowth, new opportunities, and relentless demands, the companies that thrive are those that stay ruthlessly true to their purpose, their value, and their numbers. Clarity, when consistently reinforced from the top, becomes the engine for alignment, execution, and ultimately, extraordinary outcomes.

The Clarity Trap: Common CEO Mistakes

Even the most visionary CEOs can inadvertently muddy the waters. Here are some of the most frequent missteps I’ve seen (and made) that erode organizational clarity:

1. Waffling on Core Purpose – It’s tempting to chase the latest trend or respond to every market shift. But when the organization’s “why” is constantly in flux, or isn’t regularly reinforced, teams lose their sense of direction. Purpose must be a beacon, not a weather vane.  To assess if your core purpose is murky, ask yourself, and your leadership team, what is our core purpose?  Also ask yourself and your team if your core purpose is meaningful, as in what is the difference your organization is trying to make in the world?  If that doesn’t resonate, with you, your team, your employees or your customers, you’ve got serious work to do.
2. Allowing “The Main Thing” to Get Lost – “The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing,” best-selling leadership author Stephen M. R. Covey wrote, emphasizing the importance of focusing the entire organization around 1-3 top priorities that are measurable.  CEOs often fail to clearly identify the single most important objective for the business at any given time—or they fail to communicate it. When priorities multiply, focus evaporates.
3. Mismatched or Misaligned KPIs – Too often, companies track dozens of metrics, but only a few actually drive the business forward. I often ask “how does doing this and measuring this favorably impact our business, and where do I see that impact on the P&L or balance sheet?”  If you can’t articulate the value and how it ends up showing on the financials, you have to seriously question why the heck are you dedicating time, energy and resources to it.  Bottom line, in just about every organization employees are measured on KPIs that don’t connect to the company’s core purpose or strategic goals, creating confusion and wasted effort.
4. Chasing Shiny Objects – Every CEO faces a flood of “good ideas” or great opportunities that pop up that don’t match their core business.  Without a disciplined filter, these distractions dilute resources and momentum, pulling the organization away from its true north.  Every CEO I know, and myself, have chased shiny objects, but in the long run that kills your ability to be really damn good in one particular area, and in turn drive true differentiation and higher value.
5. Inconsistent Communication – Clarity isn’t a one-time event. CEOs who fail to reinforce the company’s purpose and priorities in every meeting, memo, and metric quickly find their teams drifting in different directions.  It is hard not to get distracted or frankly stop regularly communicating why we are staying focused on a handful of priorities and metrics that drive the business, but it is the number one job of the CEO.  Clarity above all else.

CEO Best Practices: Driving and Reinforcing Clarity

So, how do you create and sustain laser focus as a CEO? Here are the practices that made the difference for us as we scaled—and ultimately sold—to Walmart:

1. Define (and Defend) Your Core Purpose – Your core purpose is your organization’s reason for being. It should be concise, memorable, and inspiring. We knew what ours was: To make healthcare more accessible, more affordable, and more available to millions of individuals across the U.S.  We never strayed from that, but it did get tested as yours invariably will.  Challenge yours today – is it meaningful to employees, customers and leadership alike?  Does it make a difference in the world?  Once you get it dialed in, revisit your core purpose often and use it as a litmus test for every major decision.  If a new initiative doesn’t reinforce your core purpose, it’s a distraction.
2. Cascade “The Main Thing” Throughout the Organization – Identify the single most important goal for your business this year or quarter—whether it’s user growth, clinical outcomes, revenue growth or profitability improvement. Then, ensure every department and team has KPIs that directly or indirectly influence this main thing. This creates organizational alignment and ensures everyone is rowing in the same direction.
3. Obsess Over the Right Numbers – Not all metrics are created equal. Select a handful of KPIs that truly reflect your progress toward your core purpose and main objective, and make sure they tie into your P&L and/or balance sheet.  At MeMD, we had two we obsessed about – new customers acquisition and patient wait times.  For new customer acquisition, our sales and marketing KPIs directly tied into new business revenue.  For patient wait times, we relentlessly focused on keeping those low, lower than the rest of the market, since we knew that would help with customer and revenue retention.  For you, find the numbers that are the most impactful to what you are trying to drive, and then cascade them down so everyone’s KPIs align correctly.  Lastly but equally as important, make these numbers visible, discuss them regularly, and empower teams to take ownership of their impact.
4. Institutionalize the Discipline of “No” – This one is hard, really hard, but so critical.  When Covid hit, we had the opportunity to make a few changes to our telehealth platform and make it a SaaS product as well.  We certainly could have sold many licenses to health systems, primary care practices and other healthcare organizations who needed a HIPAA-compliant way to deliver care to their patients.  But, that wasn’t our value.  We were a tech-enabled healthcare service, focused on providing a complete solution that included our doctor network providing care.  If we had chased the SaaS opportunity, we would have had to redirect resources from our core business, and in turn that would have decreased our value as an organization.  We knew our value was in the seamless bundling of healthcare delivery and the platform, and we stayed true to that and it paid off.  For you, every opportunity should be evaluated through the lens of your purpose and main objective. Create a culture where saying “no” to distractions—even good ideas—is celebrated, not punished. This discipline preserves focus and accelerates progress.
5. Communicate, Communicate, Communicate – Clarity is perishable. Reinforce your purpose, main thing, and key numbers in every all-hands, team meeting, and internal update.  Use stories and data to make the message stick. When everyone knows what matters most, execution becomes exponentially easier.  Never stop over-communicating.

Staying True in a World of Distraction

In the end, clarity is the CEO’s ultimate competitive advantage. It’s what allowed our  telemedicine company to scale with confidence, build trust with partners, and ultimately attract the attention of a company like Walmart.The path isn’t always glamorous—it requires discipline, repetition, and the courage to say no to many good things so you can say yes to the best things.

As you lead your own organization, remember:

•               Purpose is your compass.

•               The main thing must be protected at all costs.

•               KPIs are your feedback loop.

•               Distraction is the enemy.

•               Communication is your superpower.

Clarity above all else. That’s how you build something worth scaling—and selling.

For questions, additional resources, or to learn how we help CEOs and their leadership teams scale their business more rapidly and with less friction, contact Bill Goodwin