Lagging indicators — revenue, closed deals, total customers — tell you what already happened and can't be changed; leading indicators — qualified pipeline created, trial signups, content engagement, outbound reply rate — move earlier and give you time to react before the lagging number lands. A growth team that only watches lagging indicators is always reacting a quarter late; a team that only watches leading indicators can lose sight of whether any of it actually converts to revenue.
The healthy setup tracks both together: leading indicators for weekly steering, lagging indicators for the scorecard that actually matters — Kando's client dashboards always pair one of each so a good week and a good quarter don't get confused.