The problem though is that executives need some set of a few hundred numbers they can use to track the state of a company. For just my job alone I could generate more metrics then that to properly characterize our state and problem space -- but then an exec would need to deal with thousands and thousands of numbers.

Sorta sucks, but that's how it goes. Good execs manage a sufficiently decentralized system, but they still need SOME set of summary numbers.