70% of U.S. Workers Can't See the Data Behind Their Company's Strategy, New 80/20 Institute Study Finds
A national survey of 1,000 employees reveals a hidden execution gap: most workers can't access the numbers that define success — and only about a quarter say their company is truly data-driven. Founder Bill Canady says it's why strategy stalls at the front line.
Lakewood Ranch, FL, July 20, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Most companies believe their strategy is clear, their teams are aligned, and their culture is healthy. A new national study from The 80/20 Institute says the front line tells a different story.
Bill Canady, CEO and Founder of The 80/20 Institute
In a survey of 1,000 U.S. employees, the Institute found that 70% cannot access the data tied to their organization's strategic goals, 57% lack access to data relevant to their own role or department, and only 26% describe their organization as highly data-driven. The findings point to a visibility gap that quietly erodes margin, momentum, and execution — even inside companies that look stable on the surface.
"Most executives think they have a strategy problem. What they actually have is a visibility problem," said Bill Canady, Founder and CEO of The 80/20 Institute and author of The 80/20 CEO, From Panic to Profit, and The Rule of Three. "When seven in ten employees can't see the numbers that define success, strategy breaks down at exactly the point where it's supposed to get executed. You can't align people around value they can't see."
The research, What 1,000 U.S. Workers Reveal About Execution, argues that alignment — the precondition for any operating system to work — depends on shared visibility into performance data. Without it, focus disappears, priorities blur, and even well-designed strategies stall in the gap between the boardroom and the front line.
The stakes are highest for the middle-market and private-equity-backed companies the Institute serves, where operators are under pressure to expand EBITDA on a defined timeline. "In a business being held to a value-creation plan, an execution gap isn't a soft issue — it's lost margin and a lower multiple," Canady said. "The fix isn't another dashboard nobody reads. It's deciding what actually matters, making it visible, and holding the organization to it. That's 80/20."
The study connects directly to the framework behind the Institute's work — the Profitable Growth Operating System™ (PGOS), the system Canady built over 30-plus years of leading billion-dollar industrial companies and has used to create more than $3 billion in shareholder value. PGOS moves leadership teams through four disciplined phases — Segment, Simplify, Zero-Up, and Grow — to concentrate time, talent, and capital on the vital few drivers of profit.
Additional findings in the full report cover employee engagement, leadership credibility, and execution risk. The complete study is available at no cost at the8020institute.com/download-white-paper. Findings are based on a nationwide survey of 1,000 U.S. employees commissioned by The 80/20 Institute; full methodology is available in the report.
The Hidden Execution Gap Data
About The 80/20 Institute
The 80/20 Institute helps CEOs, owners, and operators of middle-market manufacturing, distribution, and service companies drive breakthrough results using the business they already have. Built on the Profitable Growth Operating System™ (PGOS) developed by founder Bill Canady — creator of $3B+ in shareholder value — the Institute's programs, tools, and community deliver measurable improvement in revenue, margin, and EBITDA. Learn more at the8020institute.com.
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