Executive reporting often fails for a simple reason: it answers questions the organization knows how to measure, not the questions leaders actually need to decide.
The useful questions are more demanding. What is moving? What is stuck? What is becoming expensive? Which customer, operational, or risk signal should change the allocation of attention this month?
Visual polish is secondary. The practical test is whether every metric in the leadership meeting has three things attached to it: the decision it supports, the owner who can act, and the threshold that changes the conversation.
When those links are missing, the dashboard is not a management asset. It is a reporting artifact with a better interface.