Areeb Technology CEO Majed Jibreel on His 'Worst Moment' and Why KPIs Can Lie

Majed Jibreel, the CEO of Areeb Technology, shared what he considers the worst moment in his executive career. It was when he realized that the performance dashboard he proudly checked every day was "lying to him." He explained in a LinkedIn post that during the company's expansion, as they grew from a small team to over 200 employees and entered various markets, it became impossible for him to be involved in every single detail. Majed Jibreel added that at this stage, performance indicators seemed like the perfect solution for any manager. He continued, "The numbers looked amazing, the screen was glowing green, everyone was hitting their targets, and I felt like I had set up the company with an ideal operating system. But behind those comforting green lights, a disaster was quietly brewing." He noted that under pressure to achieve "quick numbers," the team started closing tasks with temporary, superficial fixes instead of digging into the root causes. This was because focusing on quality would mean exceeding deadlines and, consequently, getting a poor evaluation. Majed shared that this tough experience taught him the truth behind "Goodhart's Law," which states: "When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure." He further explained that human nature always adapts to survive. When a single number is set as the condition for success, the mind unconsciously looks for the easiest way to achieve it, even if it compromises the final value of the work. In reality, you're not measuring efficiency; you're measuring your team's ability to game the system you created. He emphasized, "The lesson that cost me a lot to learn is this: Don't let the obsession with 'green numbers' blind you to reality. Numbers don't lie, but they don't tell the whole story. A true leader measures value and impact, not just speed and quantity." He then posed a question to his audience: "Have you ever been in a situation where you had to work superficially just to meet a number imposed on you by management?"