The Capability–Complexity Gap.
Most 'growth plateaus' are capability gaps in disguise. The fix isn't more effort — it's closing the gap.
Every business eventually hits a point where the complexity of running it outgrows the team's capability to run it well. The work that used to fit in someone's head no longer fits. The systems that worked at $500k stop working at $2m. The founder who could hold the whole picture can't anymore.
This is the Capability–Complexity Gap. And it's almost always what's underneath the phrase "we've plateaued."
The instinct is to push harder — longer hours, more meetings, more dashboards. It rarely works, because effort doesn't close a capability gap. Only four things do: hire someone who already operates at that level, build a system that absorbs the complexity, simplify the business so there's less to run, or remove the complexity at its source (kill the product line, fire the difficult client, drop the channel).
Most teams try to grit their way through. The tell is the same conversation every quarter: "we just need to get on top of things." You don't need to get on top of things. You need to change what's underneath them.
Here's the test: if your best people worked 20% fewer hours next month, would the business get worse? If yes, the gap is real and you're papering over it with effort. That's not sustainable, and it's not strategy.