The leadership tier that makes or breaks strategy keeps getting ignored

Most corporate transformations fail because the wrong people come up with strategy. Getting midlevel managers in the boardroom changes the odds

Oscar Wong / Getty Images

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A group of plant managers sat down with a McKinsey team that their company had brought in to lead a transformation. They'd heard the pitch before. Higher EBITDA. Better cash flow. Nothing in it for them.

The consultants turned the conversation around. Instead of presenting a plan, they asked the managers what they'd been waiting years for someone to address. The managers didn't hesitate. Years of neglected maintenance came pouring out — small things, mostly, but enough of them to add up to roughly $50 million.

Leadership made a commitment on the spot: whatever the transformation saved first would go back into the factories. For repairs under $200,000, managers wouldn't need to ask anyone. The managers who had been skeptical had suddenly become some of the loudest advocates for change.

Leadership strategist David Lancefield argues in Harvard Business Review that the tier sitting directly below the C-suite — including business-unit presidents, regional CEOs, and functional heads — is the most consequential leadership layer in........

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