European Management Journal found that leaders’ competencies are not enough for them to be effective. Our study of middle-level managers in Poland included 97 participants, around 57 percent of whom were men. Using focused questionnaires, we found clear indicators of their competencies and constraints. When we matched certain competencies with a specific set of constraints, we cleared the path for leaders to increase their effectiveness. Competencies In bounded leadership, we see five distinct abilities leaders require to be effective: Anticipation competence: The ability to predict market patterns and conditions, which are essential to the organisation, such as future trends or customer needs