The leader’s lament goes something like this:

Why don’t more people step up and take ownership — real ownership? Why don’t they show more initiative and follow-up more carefully? Why do I always have to be the one to make things happen?

Now let me tell you about Leo and the answer will become obvious.

Leo has risen through the ranks of his Fortune 50 company by working hard, being helpful, making things happen, and following up. Now he is a VP with huge challenges and responsibilities. He has equally huge ideas. He wants to transform the way his group works. To complete the picture, he also has the necessary energy and drive.

But does that complete the picture?

No. Leo is missing a critical ingredient. What he is missing is authority. Leo has no discretionary budget. To implement new ideas, he must embark on onerous approval processes, pitching to multiple layers, trying to educate and shift perspectives every inch of the way. To enlist innovative new resources, he needs the CEO’s signature to make an addition to the approved supplier list. To hire new talent, he needs approval. Without the ability to invest, hire, or step outside business as usual, he has no real authority to make a difference. When you think about it, Leo is authorized primarily to do two things:

• Perpetuate the status quo
• Save money, usually with across the board staff cuts that contradict all other priorities

Meanwhile, Leo’s company spends billions of dollars on enormous consulting contracts with little to show for it, comprehensive engagement programs that don’t improve engagement, and internal leadership and development programs that almost by definition can do little more then solidify business as usual and ensure everyone marches to the same beat. Notice that none of these programs create value for which customers are willing to pay.

On top of that, Leo’s CEO is both a complete bottleneck and is spending far too much of his time approving or overriding the ideas and plans of highly qualified executives like Leo who are eager to make a difference. What is the CEO doing to create value for which customers are willing to pay? In this case, nothing.

Where does this leave a high-performing employee like Leo? A dream employee? Someone who wants to take ownership, step up to decisions, and make things happen?

It leaves him demoralized. Frustrated. Wondering why he is spending two-thirds of his time traveling and away from his family. Questioning whether these approval processes are actually designed to discourage initiative. Thinking it is a lot easier to let someone else take ownership, make decisions, and follow up.

I know Leo and I know he won’t give up. Not yet, anyway. He will continue to push the rope and plead his case in the hopes that one day he will have the opportunity to drive real change and make a difference.

I know many others in Leo’s position who have lost that fire. They have found it is far easier to maintain the status quo. They stick to the budget and all the plans that are so tightly wedded to business as usual. They keep their heads down, quit taking risks, and just do their jobs.

And they wait for change to come from above. Or not. It isn’t their problem.

I also know many, many, many employees at every level who have learned these same lessons. Some are still pounding their heads against the wall. Many more have given up or quit.

The next time you find yourself singing the leader’s lament, stop it! Quit blaming the employees.

You’ve hired plenty of employees who were willing and able. And then you destroyed them. Maybe not you personally, but your company has.

When you handcuff talent, shoot down their ideas, and make them beg, you should not be surprised when they disengage.

This article originally appeared on Forbes.com on July 17th, 2016.