Why won't my pipeline fill with the right leads?

You say you run demand generation like an engine. But an engine runs on its own once it is built. What you actually have runs on your attention — your late nights, your scramble before the pipeline review. That is not a machine. That is you, pushing a cart and calling it one. Most people in your seat chase tactics. A new channel this month, a new tool next month, a new message the month after. Each one promises to be the missing piece. None of them is, because the problem was never the tactic. The problem is that you never defined what a "right" lead is, and you never gave any one method time to prove itself. An engine needs two things: a clear target and steady fuel. You control both. Stop waiting for the perfect channel to appear. Pick one. Define your target in writing. Then do the unglamorous work of running it, weekly, without switching.