Why solid leaders quietly fall short of what the business needs now
Written by EO Executives on June 29, 2026
The leaders haven't changed. The rules have. Across the mid-market, experienced executives keep delivering acceptable results while their impact quietly slips away. The instinct is to question the person. The better question is what changed around them.
Proven Leaders, New Rules
Many mid-sized companies are facing the same reality. Revenue is falling short of expectations, EBITDA margins are under pressure while owners are demanding results. At the same time, uncertainty continues to rise as one disruption follows the next and new competitors reshape markets that once felt predictable.
None of that changes the demands placed on the business. Companies are still expected to move faster, drive more change, and deliver better results, often with the same people, the same resources, and little room for additional investment.
Most are responding aggressively: Strategies are being revised. Organizations are being streamlined, cost programs are launched alongside transformation initiatives. Significant time, attention, and energy are poured into making progress. And yet, a few months later, the leadership team finds itself having the same conversations again.
- Why are decisions taking so long?
- Why is change progressing more slowly than expected?
- Why are results still falling short of the targets?
This is not an isolated situation. It has become a common pattern across the mid-market, even in companies that are investing more heavily in change than ever before.
Looking for the Wrong Cause
When performance falls short of expectations, most companies start searching for an explanation. Something they can point to and fix, whether it sits in the strategy, the organization, the execution, or the leadership team. In reality, the situation is rarely that straightforward.
What makes these situations difficult is that nothing appears obviously broken. The leadership team is experienced, the business is running, and most initiatives are progressing as planned. Quarterly results may not be where they need to be, but they are rarely alarming enough to force a difficult decision.
And yet something feels off.
The signs usually appear in small moments rather than major failures. Decisions that require one more discussion. Priorities that need to be revisited. Issues that move back and forth between functions without being resolved. None of these events are dramatic on their own. Together, they create a sense that the organization is working harder than it should to achieve less than it could.
The response is usually predictable. Leadership teams spend more time aligning, clarifying priorities, and revisiting expectations in the hope that greater clarity will unlock progress. For a short period, things seem to improve. Then a few months later, the same issues resurface.
When Success Becomes a Constraint
Most of the leaders are not underperforming. In fact, many are doing exactly what made them successful in the first place. For years, their organizations rewarded careful decision-making, risk management, operational discipline, and consistency. The challenge is that the business may no longer need the same things.
A company that once prioritized stability may now need transformation. A business that focused on efficiency may suddenly require speed. A family-owned company may find itself operating under private equity ownership. Growth can give way to restructuring. Predictability can give way to uncertainty.
The leader has not changed. The context has. And when the context changes, the behaviors that once created success do not automatically produce the same results. This is where many organizations begin to lose momentum.
The 60% Zone: Where Impact Quietly Erodes
When companies talk about leadership performance, attention usually goes to the extremes. The top performers are easy to identify. So are the leaders who are clearly struggling. The greater challenge sits in the middle. These leaders are experienced. They understand the business and continue to deliver results that, at first glance, seem perfectly acceptable.
That is why they are often overlooked.
There is no obvious failure, no major conflict, and no moment that forces the organization to intervene. Yet the business continues to move more slowly than it needs to. Progress becomes harder to sustain, decisions require more time, and opportunities are often gone before the organization is ready to act. We call this the 60% Zone. It is the large group of capable leaders who continue to perform, yet no longer create the level of impact their roles require.
Because the problem develops gradually, it often remains invisible for months or even years. By the time it becomes visible, the organization has already paid the price in lost speed, lost momentum, and missed results.
For many companies, the 60% Zone becomes the most expensive blind spot in the business. The signals are easy to misread. These leaders do not lack experience, competence, or commitment. Their performance reflects a business that has changed faster than the assumptions under which they learned to lead.
Why the Same Leaders Suddenly Produce Different Results
Many leadership teams are operating in conditions that look very different from the ones they were built for. In most organizations, pressure builds in four areas.
- The first is the environment in which the business operates. The market moves faster, competitors behave differently, and external pressures continue to reshape the conditions under which leaders are expected to deliver results.
- The second is culture. Behaviors that were valued and rewarded in the past may no longer support what the business is trying to achieve today.
- The third is organizational structure. New demands are placed on the business, while decision-making processes often remain unchanged.
- The fourth is expectations. CEOs, owners, boards, and HR leaders frequently have different views on what success in a role actually looks like.
Any one of these changes can alter what a role requires from its leader. When several happen at once, organizations often discover that yesterday's leadership playbook no longer produces today's results.
The Wrong Question
At this point, many leadership teams arrive at the same conclusion. The problem must be the person. As a result, the discussion quickly turns to replacement. Should we make a change? Do we need someone new?
These are understandable questions. The problem is that they often come too early. Replacing a leader does not address the underlying issue. The business may end up with a different person facing the same conditions, the same constraints, and the same unanswered questions. The more useful starting point is clarity. What has changed about this role that would not have mattered two years ago?
That question shifts the discussion away from personalities and toward the factors shaping performance: the environment, the culture, the structure, and the expectations surrounding the role.
Where Are Your Leaders Losing Impact?
The guide Proven Leaders, New Rules goes further than this article. It works through all four dimensions in depth, draws on a survey of 100 leaders, and shows where experienced executives lose impact, why it happens, and what that means when you assess a role today.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the 60% Zone?
The 60% Zone refers to the large group of leaders who sit between the obvious top performers and the obvious underperformers. They are experienced, capable, and generally deliver solid results. Precisely because they are not creating visible problems, declining impact often goes unnoticed, even though this is where organizations frequently have the greatest opportunity to improve performance.
Does the 60% Zone mean my leaders are underperforming?
No. The concept is not about poor performance. In fact, it typically applies to respected and experienced leaders who continue to deliver acceptable results. The issue is that the environment around them has changed, while the leadership approaches that made them successful may not have evolved at the same pace.
How can I tell whether a leader is in the 60% Zone?
The signs are rarely dramatic. Decisions take longer than they should. Alignment becomes harder. Transformation initiatives move more slowly than expected. Individually, these issues may seem minor. Together, they can significantly reduce organizational speed and performance.
When does replacing a leader become necessary?
Not every impact gap requires a leadership change. In many cases, the first challenge is understanding what the role actually needs to deliver today. Only after the expectations, context, and requirements are clear does it make sense to decide whether development, adjustment, or a leadership change is the right course of action.
What has the greatest impact on leadership effectiveness?
Four factors shape how effectively leaders can perform: the environment, the culture, the organizational structure, and the expectations attached to the role. When several of these factors change simultaneously, as they often do during periods of transformation, leadership effectiveness can be affected even when the leader remains the same.
Which organizations should pay attention to this?
The issue is particularly relevant for mid-sized companies facing significant change, whether through transformation, restructuring, rapid growth, ownership changes, or a new strategic direction. Whenever the business evolves faster than the leadership model it was built around, it is worth examining whether existing roles are still aligned with current needs.
About EO Executives
Success is created by people. Leaders play a central role in that. EO Executives helps companies build the best leadership team they have ever had.
With Executive Impact Advisory, EO offers a distinct consulting approach that combines Executive Search with strategic leadership sparring. The goal is to create the conditions under which new leaders can take ownership and create impact from day one.
Founded in 1997, the company works with clients worldwide on placing and developing leadership talent. Every mandate is led by experienced consultants who know their industries and the factors that make high-performing leadership teams work.
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