Q&A

QUESTIONS FOR Jesse Sostrin, PhD, Leadership Expert, PricewaterhouseCoopers

You believe that one of the most overlooked factors in effective leadership is capacity. How do you define ‘leadership capacity’?

A leader’s capacity is the time, energy, resources and focus that she needs to effectively address her priorities and responsibilities. Simply put, it’s the ‘fuel’ that every leader needs in order to accomplish what matters. Deficits in capacity are among the most common factors responsible for breakdowns in a leader’s performance and overall impact.

You have found that leaders at every level — including most executives — do not possess enough capacity to meet their demands. Why is this?

There are two factors, and the first is external and largely out of our personal control: structural forces in the economy have literally baked-in the conditions for severe and sustained capacity deficits. As far back as 1981, began publishing articles that dealt with the growing concerns of managers who were overwhelmed by the struggle to cope with rising demands and rapidly changing conditions. Fast forward after a quarter century of cutbacks, downsizing, and increased competition, and the great recession of 2008 was simply an inflection point that reinforced acceptance of the premise that the inverse equation