What prevents most organizations from going beyond the ordinary is insufficient leadership capacity. Reining back aspirations, settling for longer, easier deadlines, and hiring unproven talent from elsewhere may seem the only solutions for under-led organizations. But there is another way. CEOs who think specifically about leadership capacity stand a far better chance of getting their organizations to push through the barriers of normal performance.

Faced with unprecedented challenges in the marketplace, most senior executives today are busy changing direction, rebuilding capabilities, right-sizing their workforce, and reengineering operating processes. Like the skipper of a champion sailing team, they are trying to make their ship sail better than ever before. Many of these executives will fall short of their aspirations, and a good number, despite valiant attempts to steer a course, will find themselves drifting with the tide.

Most companies simply do not have the quality or quantity of leaders they need for the challenge they face

Rarely will the problem be poor strategy or the lack of a sound implementation plan. Most often, it lies in a mismatch between the leadership capacity available in an organization and the scale of the task at hand. Most companies simply do not have...