- Leadership Pulse
- Posts
- Balance Before Breakthrough
Balance Before Breakthrough
How Leaders Sustain Performance
Ikechukwu Okoh
September 29, 2025
In partnership with
THE LEADERSHIP PULSE
In 1993, Jack Welch was perceived as a relentless, no-nonsense CEO of GE.
However, beneath his aggressive pursuit of growth, Welch discovered an essential leadership principle:
Performance suffers if you focus solely on financial results.
GE transitioned from solely targeting quarterly earnings to emphasising a broader range of performance indicators such as customer satisfaction, internal processes, and employee development.
This change not only increased profits but also helped maintain GE’s leadership for more than ten years.
Welch realised a universal truth of effective leadership:
You can’t manage what you don’t measure, and focusing on just one measure is insufficient.
This insight is fundamental to one of the most enduring frameworks in business education:
The Balanced Scorecard.
The best HR advice comes from people who’ve been in the trenches.
That’s what this newsletter delivers.
I Hate it Here is your insider’s guide to surviving and thriving in HR, from someone who’s been there. It’s not about theory or buzzwords — it’s about practical, real-world advice for navigating everything from tricky managers to messy policies.
Every newsletter is written by Hebba Youssef — a Chief People Officer who’s seen it all and is here to share what actually works (and what doesn’t). We’re talking real talk, real strategies, and real support — all with a side of humor to keep you sane.
Because HR shouldn’t feel like a thankless job. And you shouldn’t feel alone in it.
Follow and set notifications for the Fireplace Conversations here:
DR IKECHUKWU OKOH
Good morning, and welcome to a new week.
Please subscribe to our weekly newsletter if you have yet to do so.
Here, I share weekly actionable strategies and lessons from my experiences as a healthcare leader, entrepreneur, and angel investor.
Reading the Leadership Pulse newsletter every week will equip you with insights for creating lasting impact, whether navigating leadership challenges, building cohesive teams, or scaling a startup.
Please consider donating so that the newsletter can remain free for everyone.
Strategy Deep Dive: The Balanced Scorecard for Leaders
The Balanced Scorecard (Kaplan & Norton, 1992) remains an efficient tool for aligning leadership efforts with long-term goals.
It encourages measuring success in four key areas:
Financial Perspective: Are you generating sustainable economic value?
Customer Perspective: Are you genuinely serving and satisfying your audience?
Internal Process Perspective: Are your systems and workflows efficient and effective?
Learning & Growth Perspective: Are you investing in your people, innovation, and future skills?
Focusing on just one area, such as finances, can weaken the others.
However, aligning all four perspectives helps create resilient, scalable leadership.
Join my newsletters:
Leadership Pulse:
Rise & Conquer
Get my free guide –
Feel free to share this newsletter with a colleague or peer who could benefit from these insights.
Subscribe to Rise & Conquer, our daily newsletter on LinkedIn.
Each morning, Tuesday- Friday, at 5:00 AM, I share powerful lessons on mindset, leadership, and high performance.
The Leadership Balanced Scorecard
Here’s how to adapt the model for personal leadership:
✔ Financial: How do your decisions enhance resource stewardship?
✔ Customer: How do the people you serve perceive your leadership?
✔ Internal Processes: What systems or routines increase your effectiveness?
✔ Learning & Growth: How do you invest in your skills, mindset, and team?
This holistic view prevents you from becoming a one-sided leader.
Ikechukwu’s Journal
I once worked with a founder whose startup raised significant capital.
He focused almost entirely on financial results: cash flow, valuation, and revenue growth.
However, in doing so, he overlooked customer feedback, postponed process improvements, and ceased investing in his own development.
Within two years, the company stagnated.
When we examined his leadership using the Balanced Scorecard approach, he realised the imbalance.
Once he adjusted his strategy, giving equal attention to people, systems, and growth, performance stabilised.
That experience taught me that leadership falters when it relies too heavily on one aspect of the business.
Balance maintains stability.
Global Lessons from the Balanced Scorecard
Southwest Airlines: Prioritised customer service metrics as passionately as financial ones, boosting loyalty and profitability.
Apple: Struck a balance between innovation (learning & growth) and operational excellence (internal processes), crafting products that delighted customers and created significant value.
Singapore’s Public Sector: Implemented the Balanced Scorecard nationwide to align governance with citizen outcomes, building one of the world’s most efficient systems.
The framework extends across corporations, governments, and individuals.
What to do this week:
Write down one metric for each of the four perspectives.
Score yourself honestly.
Identify your weakest perspective.
Create one action step this week to close the gap.
Your leadership won’t collapse from external pressure alone.
It collapses when you measure the wrong things.
Balance brings resilience.
Balance sustains breakthroughs.
And don’t forget, next Tuesday, a new episode of Fireplace Conversations will be live at 8 AM.
Follow and set notifications for the podcast here:
I offer the following services:
Executive Coaching for Healthcare Leaders:
Tailored strategies for effective leadership in uncertain times.
Healthcare Consulting Services:
Insights to enhance operational efficiency, compliance, and patient care.
Advisory for Healthcare Startups:
Support with scaling, investor pitching, and regulatory navigation.
“Subscribe to the Leadership Pulse Newsletter. It is amazing.”- Tolu Ekwe.
Please stay connected with me:
Ikechukwu Okoh
Author of the Leadership Pulse
Reply