How many chickens can't walk?

How many chickens can't walk?

A poultry farm can follow every rule in the book—optimal feed, perfect lighting, spotless pens, temperature-controlled barns. But if half the chickens can’t walk, does any of that even matter?

Temple Grandin said it best: Count the chickens that can’t walk, first.

One critical metric can often tell you more about the real health of a business than a hundred surface-level KPIs.

If you’re a restaurant, you could look at average tip size—are customers rewarding great service?

SaaS companies: Forget churn for a second—look at logins or activity. Are customers actively using your product, or is it just another subscription they forgot to cancel?

Sales teams: Track referrals. Are clients introducing you to others, or treating you like a one-time transaction?

Most businesses drown in data but ignore the one truth that matters most.

So here’s your challenge: What’s your “can’t walk” metric?

The one number that, if you had nothing else, would tell you everything about your business health.

Figure it out—and start there.