Several years ago I was told, mid-year, not to worry too much about a target we were clearly going to miss.

Then the performance reviews came in. Just the number, and the gap.

That experience reinforces something called Goodhart's Law: when a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure. And the more I've thought about it, the more I've seen it play out everywhere: from nail factories to Pfizer boardrooms to quarterly earnings calls where executives admit they'd kill a profitable project rather than miss a number.

Hitting your targets feels like winning. But sometimes it's the most expensive thing you can do.

This week I'm writing about the hidden cost of how we measure success — and what to do about it.

I used to have Air Canada's highest status. Now I fly once a year, and I feel every inch of the downgrade.

Here's the thing though, I know exactly why it happened. And that's the part most businesses get wrong when they finally get serious about treating customers differently.

Segmentation isn't about who you shut out. It's about being honest about where your value actually sits, and consistent about what each level of relationship gets.

A simple 5-step process to start segmenting your customers, and why the airline industry has understood this longer than almost anyone.