“We have 10,000 employees.” Say that in a board meeting and heads nod. It sounds like information. It isn’t, really. It tells you nothing about whether those 10,000 people are the right people, whether they’re about to leave, whether the ones who matter most are being replaced fast enough, or whether the leadership pipeline underneath the CEO has any depth at all. Headcount is the workforce number every board already has. It’s also the one that predicts the least. That gap —