- Dan McKee
- Jun 1
- 4 min read
Updated: Jul 23
The Problem Beneath the Surface: The Leadership GAP
When we founded High Achiever in 2018, it wasn’t to sell coaching. It was to solve a problem we couldn’t ignore.
There is a massive leadership gap in the marketplace.
And that gap isn’t just hurting company performance—it’s hurting people.
We believe something simple and powerful:
“Poor leaders hurt people. Great leaders change lives.”
This isn’t just philosophy. It’s directly tied to your ability to grow revenue, retain teams, and build a great place to work.
Gallup’s Data Says It Best
Gallup’s research shows that:
70% of employee engagement is tied to the manager
Poor management is the top driver of attrition
Emotional commitment drives performance—not comp, perks, or vision decks
Now ask yourself:
What’s the #1 contributor to revenue acceleration today?
It’s not better selling. It’s not more leads. It’s continuity.
The Hidden Growth Lever: Continuity in Leadership
We call this The Principle of Continuity—and it’s one of the most overlooked performance levers in B2B companies.
There’s a direct correlation between:
Manager tenure and rep productivity
Leadership continuity and forecast accuracy
Frontline stability and customer experience
And here’s the problem:
The average tenure of a customer-facing leader is under 16 months. Ramp time to productivity? 18 to 24 months
That means most leaders leave right before they would have made a positive impact—and right after they’ve had time to damage culture and performance.
Why the Leadership Gap Exists (And Keeps Growing)
There are two primary drivers of the leadership gap:
1. Institutional Knowledge Is Disappearing
Baby Boomers are exiting the workforce due to retirement, burnout, or simply being pushed out too early.
With them, they take decades of first principles, tribal knowledge, and leadership intuition.
What’s left behind is a vacuum—and that vacuum is pulling younger, less experienced professionals into leadership roles before they’re ready.
We’re not blaming them. We’re blaming the system.
Title inflation is real. Leaders are being promoted into roles with little preparation—and high expectations.
This is the “Peter Principle” in full effect: People rise to the level of their incompetence—not because they’re bad, but because we don’t develop them.
2. Workforce Complexity Is Exploding
Leadership isn’t just about team management anymore—it’s about navigating unprecedented complexity.
Five generations are now in the workforce:
Silent Generation
Baby Boomers
Gen X
Millennials
Gen Z
Each has different communication preferences, cultural expectations, and learning styles.
Post-pandemic, we’re also dealing with:
Hybrid work dynamics
Mental health strain
Shifting power between employers and employees
Demand for purpose alongside performance
Managing teams today requires 10x the context, emotional range, and decision-making depth than it did 10 years ago.
A Common Blind Spot: Manager Ratios Haven’t Caught Up
Many companies still operate with the outdated assumption:
“One manager can effectively lead 8 to 12 people.”
That may have worked 20 years ago. It doesn’t work now.
At High Achiever, we often recommend a 4:1 ratio—and even that must flex based on role complexity, team dynamics, and leadership maturity.
If you’re not adjusting management ratios, you’re overloading your leaders and setting your teams up to fail.
Why This Matters for Revenue Growth
This isn’t just an HR problem.
It’s a revenue execution problem.
Poor frontline leadership leads to:
Slow ramp times
Forecast volatility
Talent attrition
Burnout
Cultural erosion
Your sales motion, customer experience, and retention strategy all depend on the quality of your first-level leaders.
If you’re not solving the leadership gap—you’re leaking revenue.
The Solution: Leadership by Design (LBD)
Our methodology isn’t about motivational speeches. It’s about building transformational leaders who can scale outcomes.
Leadership by Design (LBD) is a 90-day intensive built on three key pillars:
Executive Coaching
Strategic Leadership Frameworks
High-Performance Habits
It’s how we turn potential into capability—fast.
We teach leaders to learn, teach, and lead through our Learn–Teach–Learn model.
What Happens in 90 Days
In just 3 months, our clients consistently experience:
Stronger Leadership
Leaders elevate decision-making by understanding context and aligning teams.They stop managing people—and start multiplying performance.
Higher Team Performance
Clarity improves. Redundancy disappears. Accountability increases.Teams execute faster, with more focus and less friction.
Accelerated Revenue
Leadership is aligned with operations and go-to-market.That creates momentum, predictability, and scale.
Related: The Primary Role of a Leader
This Isn’t Optional Anymore
The Peter Principle doesn’t solve itself.
If you're scaling a company—and the leadership capability isn’t scaling with it—you’re building a fragile business.
Our work is built to prevent that.
We help companies:
Equip first-time managers with confidence and clarity
Retain top talent through aligned leadership
Build a “Great Place to Work” without sacrificing results
Related: People Matter Most
Want to Close the Leadership Gap in Your Org?
Let’s install a system that teaches leaders how to think—not just what to do.
Start with our Leadership Coaching Program, built specifically for customer-facing teams in high-growth companies.
Bonus Resource
Wondering how to scale your go-to-market team without breaking it?
