Leaders today are flooded with information, opinions, and activity. The real challenge isn’t volume — it’s clarity.
That’s where the concept of signal vs. noise comes in.
It isn’t new. In the 1940s, Claude Shannon introduced it in information theory to explain how messages travel clearly through a channel. Since then, the idea has shaped how we understand data, investing, and technology.
- Signal is the meaningful information that tells you what’s really happening.
- Noise is the clutter that distracts or distorts.
But here’s the gap: while many fields use signal vs. noise to improve accuracy, very few leaders apply it to team performance and strategy execution. That’s where we’ve found it becomes the “missing metric.”
Signal and Noise in Leadership
The signal inside an organization is clarity:
- Leaders aligned on the few priorities that matter most.
- Teams who understand how their work drives outcomes.
- Success measured by results, not activity.
The noise is everything else:
- Meetings that consume hours but add no progress.
- Rework caused by unclear direction.
- Approval processes that delay decisions.
- Busyness that looks impressive but doesn’t move the needle.
A team with a high signal-to-noise ratio moves faster because their energy flows directly into what matters. A team drowning in noise slows down, duplicates effort, and misses targets.
From Measurement to Improvement
At Co-hesion, we’ve adapted signal vs. noise into both a diagnostic and a leadership practice.
- First, we help leadership teams measure their current ratio: how much of their effort is signal (clarity, outcomes) versus noise (friction, distraction).
- Then, we use it to unite leaders around a shared goal: raise the signal-to-noise ratio together.
That shift is powerful. It reframes performance as a team effort rather than individual heroics. As noise is removed and signal amplified, efficiency rises, trust increases, and execution accelerates.
Signal vs. Noise in Private Equity
Nowhere is this more critical than in private equity–backed companies.
When a portfolio company starts missing its proforma, the instinct is often to cut costs or apply more sales pressure. But often, the drag isn’t external — it’s execution.
Through the lens of signal vs. noise, operating partners can quickly see:
- Signal → Is leadership aligned on the strategy and priorities that drive the proforma?
- Noise → Are teams slowed by conflicting direction, duplicate work, or unnecessary processes?
By focusing leaders on raising their signal-to-noise ratio, we’ve seen organizations regain speed, rebuild alignment, and deliver results closer to plan. Instead of pushing harder, they execute smarter.
The Leadership Takeaway
You can’t buy efficiency. You create it by raising your team’s signal-to-noise ratio.
As leaders, our role is simple:
- Amplify the signal → clarify vision, set priorities, measure outcomes.
- Reduce the noise → cut distractions, simplify processes, remove friction.
At Co-hesion, we use this principle to measure alignment, unite leaders, and accelerate strategy implementation.
The question every leadership team should be asking this week is:
👉 Are we building more signal, or adding more noise?
