# Leading Indicator

A measure that predicts or drives a result before it happens — adoption, pipeline, cycle time.

A leading indicator is a measure that predicts or drives a future result — adoption rates, sales pipeline, cycle time — moving before the outcome it foreshadows. Because it shifts early, it gives an organization time to act while the result is still changeable.

Leading indicators are the counterpart to lagging indicators, which report a result only after it has occurred. Managing by lagging indicators alone means steering by the rear-view mirror: by the time the number confirms a problem, the window to influence it has closed. A balanced view pairs a few lagging measures of realized value with the leading measures that predict them.

### Commonly confused

A lagging indicator. A leading indicator moves before the result and can still be influenced; a lagging indicator only confirms the result after the fact.

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[View this page on the website](https://getconductor.com/glossary/leading-indicator) · Last updated: 2026-08-04