Making leadership impact measurable.
The People Leader Index: a single, explainable 1–5 score that turns 11 trusted data sources into a fair, weekly read on leadership impact across 12,000 people managers. Moneyball, for leadership.
The least-measured thing that matters most
Leadership makes or breaks performance, yet leadership impact is one of the least-measured things in a company. It is typically judged once a year, through intuition and subjective, comparative ratings. That approach is inconsistent, easy to bias, and blind to talent that does not fit a familiar mold.
HR, Talent, and business leaders were making high-stakes selection, development, and succession decisions on thin, infrequent evidence. They needed a fair, reliable, and current read on how leaders were actually performing, and the operating environment they create for their teams.
Moneyball for leadership, built to be trusted
Measure what leaders influence
Replace gut feel with a composite index drawn from the outcomes and behaviors a leader actually shapes, from engagement and culture to development, recognition, and results.
Explainable on purpose
Applied statistics, not black-box ML, so every score can be understood, questioned, and defended while the organization builds trust in it.
Chosen with the business
The 11 sources were selected with business and HR experts for relevance to performance and strategy. Weights were assigned by quality and importance, totaling 100%.
Fair and secure by design
Quality-weighted sources, sensible imputation for gaps, and row-level security. Introduced as a complement to human judgment, not a replacement.
From eleven sources to one fair number
1Frame what matters
A blueprint links what we assess for (skills, competency) and develop (engagement, culture, growth) to leadership outcomes (performance, potential, succession), the operating environment a leader creates, and, ultimately, business outcomes.
2Map the data
Dozens of candidate signals were mapped across leader outcomes, environment, assessment, development, and business outcomes, then narrowed to the 11 with the best relevance, coverage, and data quality.
3Score each source (1–5)
Each source is distilled to a single 1–5 sub-index that separates higher- from lower-impact leaders, using transparent applied statistics rather than a black-box model.
4Weight & combine
Business and HR experts assigned weights by quality and importance, totaling 100%. A transparent weighted average produces one 1–5 PLI. If a leader lacks data for a source, the source average is substituted so no one is unfairly penalized.
5Secure & deliver weekly
Insights are delivered in Power BI with row-level security, so each user sees only the leaders they are entitled to. The index refreshes weekly, making it current rather than annual.
6Introduce responsibly
A communication plan, HRBP enablement, and clear FAQs framed the PLI as a complement to human judgment, not a replacement. Early on it was positioned as a concept car: the data are sound, but decisions still belong to leaders while trust is earned.
What HR, Talent, and leaders saw
A weekly, role-secured view: the impact distribution across the organization, a ranked leader list, and each leader’s multidimensional profile. The view below is an interactive reconstruction. Explore it.
How one PLI score is built
Eleven sources, each scored 1–5, each carrying a transparent weight that sums to 100%. Pick a leader to see how their sources combine into a single index.
From an annual verdict to a continuous view
The PLI changed how leadership impact is seen and measured: from a once-a-year, intuition-driven rating to a fair, multidimensional, and current read available every week across 12,000 people managers. It surfaced talent that traditional reviews miss and gave HR, Talent, and business leaders a common, defensible language for leadership.
Whether you’re modernizing people analytics, deploying AI responsibly at scale, or sharpening product and market strategy, I’d be glad to talk.
The dashboard, leaders, and scores shown here are an illustrative reconstruction built from synthetic data. This work was completed while employed at a Fortune 25 health insurer; the original model, data, and production dashboards remain the property of the company.