A department manager in a struggling company recently summed up what's wrong with many organizations.

Contemplating his firm's abysmal performance, he told me: "We have lots of projects, goals and priorities. We're constantly making lists and setting action plans. But we seldom see anything through to completion before some urgent new priority is pushed at us."

His division manager, he said, is "like a nervous water bug that flits from one half-baked strategy to another."

Faltering organizations are often beehives of activity and hard work that generate little practical return. Managers confuse "busy work" with results. They are like pilots who say "we're lost, but we're making great time."

This is a critical leadership issue for the 1990's, says Larry Huston, total quality manager in Procter & Gamble Co.'s worldwide research and development program. He argues that the decade's successful business leaders will be those who can: