• Dan@clearbridge-consult.com
  • 310-678-3562

The 14 Levers

Every decision an owner makes runs into two questions. What is this worth if it works, and can this company actually execute it.

Most teams answer the first with a number in a deck and never ask the second out loud. Nine months later the initiative is dead and nobody can say when it died.

The ClearBridge System is 14 levers that answer both. Seven are financial. Seven are organizational.

Seven that move profit and cash

What a decision is worth.

  • Price

    What you charge.

  • Volume

    How much you sell.

  • Direct costs

    What it costs to deliver what you sell.

  • Operating expenses

    What it costs to run the building around the delivering.

  • Accounts receivable

    How fast customers pay you.

  • Accounts payable

    How you time what you owe.

  • Inventory or unbilled work

    How much cash is sitting still.

The first four live on the P&L. The last three live on the balance sheet, which is why most people below the CFO have never worked them. The Well-Run Company works through all seven and the structure around them.

Seven that set the ceiling

Whether the company can execute it.

  • Structure

    Who owns what.

  • Process

    Whether the agreed method is the real one.

  • Resources

    Whether people have what the work actually requires.

  • Information

    Whether the numbers arrive in time to act on.

  • Innovation

    Whether people still bother to offer ideas.

  • Training

    Whether you developed the person you promoted.

  • Engagement

    Whether the other six are working.

I call these SPRIITE. Leadership owns all seven. I score them 1 to 5, with leaders and their teams scoring separately, and the gap between the two is usually the most useful number the exercise produces. The SPRIITE Series takes them one at a time.

Why both

Hiring two salespeople is a volume decision. What it is worth takes ten minutes of arithmetic. Whether it works depends on whether there is a sales process to put them in, someone to train them, and capacity to deliver what they sell. Structure, process, training, resources.

The financial seven price the idea. The SPRIITE seven tell you whether it survives contact with your company.

One system, 3 uses

Develop strategyFind the gaps and choose what to pursue.
Respond to challengesExamine what changed and decide what to do next.
Build team capabilityPractice the thinking until it becomes useful in the work.

How the work runs

UnderstandThe financials, conversations across the organization, and the SPRIITE survey, which leaders and their teams complete separately.
ChooseThe 1% exercise shows what each financial lever is worth in your own numbers. The evaluation tool scores each initiative on impact across the 14 levers and on readiness. The team decides what gets funded now, what needs preparation first, and what to reconsider.
BuildOwnership, reporting, and the rhythm that carries the work.
RunThe cadence that keeps it alive.

Coaching with the owner runs through all 4, from day one.

Score your own company

The free assessment covers the seven conditions in about 3 minutes, scored 1 to 5, with your results as soon as you finish. Take it yourself, then have your leadership team take it without seeing your answers and compare.

To see what the 7 financial levers are worth in your business, the cash calculator takes your revenue, margin and working capital days and shows the dollar effect of a 1% move on each.

If you want another set of eyes on either result, the next step is a conversation.