Summary & key ideas The Top 5%

The Top 5% looks at the companies that sit at the top of their category and asks what actually separates them, using causal analysis rather than correlation and anecdote.

The Top 5% summary: the key ideas

• Correlation is not a driver. Most dashboards show what moved together, not what caused what.
• Causal modelling changes the answer. The levers that matter are often not the ones being reported.
• Growth drivers are specific. What works in one category does not transfer automatically to another.

Why we keep it on the shelf: it argues for the same thing we do – that brand decisions deserve evidence about cause, not just about correlation.