Leadership Development in The New Millennium (13.08.2008)

Jyoti Budhraja ....................
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Leadership Development
in the New Millennium
Edited by
Jyoti Budhraja
Icfai BooksTM
The Icfai University Press
Leadership Development in the New Millennium
Editor: Jyoti Budhraja
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Contents
Overview I
Section I
Trends and Practices
1. Leadership Development Processes 3
Lalithya Rani P and Sumati Reddy
2. 21st Century Leadership: Got What It Takes? 22

Jim Murray
3. Adult Learning Theory and Leadership Development 28

Scott J Allen
4. BOOK REVIEW
Growing Your Company’s Leaders – How Great
Organizations Use Succession Management to Sustain
Competitive Advantage 38
Kunal Gaurav
5. BOOK REVIEW
The Power of 360 Degree Feedback – Maximizing Managerial
and Leadership Effectiveness 44
Shubhasheesh Bhattacharya
6. From International Management to Leadership –

Implications for Cross-Cultural Leadership Development 51
David Laughton
Section II
Assessment of Leadership Development
7. Trends and Perspectives in Management and
Leadership Development 73
Richard Bolden
8. Making Leadership Actionable: What we are Learning
and How we Can Use It 91
Russ Volckmann
9. Leadership Prescription Paradigms 106

Ernest L Stech
10. A Recession’s Role in Transforming

Leadership Development 119
www.perthleadership.org
11. Leadership Development Practices of

Top-Performing Organizations 142
www.ninthhouse.com
12. Evaluating a Leadership Development Program 165
Sumati Reddy and Lalithya Rani
Section II
The Road Ahead
13. Developing First Line Leaders 175
A V Vedpuriswar
14. Preparing for Tomorrow’s World: Globalization and

Executive Leadership 184
Bramwell and Bonnie Banks
15. BOOK REVIEW

Bench Strength: Developing the Depth and
Versatility of Your Organization’s Leadership Talent 191
D Satish
16. Leadership Development in India –

An Experiential Perspective 198
Ranjan Acharya and Joseph George Anjilvelil
17. Leadership in Higher Education 215

PK Dutta
18. Future of Leadership Development: A Perspective 224

Jyoti Budhraja
• Index 237
Overview
Leadership development in the contemporary scenario is more of a

buzzword for corporate houses due to the rising complexities and
competition in business. Globalization and technological revolution have
changed the priorities of management from self-orientation to global
orientation. Talent management, development and retention are the most
critical areas of concern for the management presently. Leadership
development enables facilitation of talent and builds high performance
organizations by applying contemporary techniques aiming at providing
maximum exposure and grooming opportunities to the potential talent.
Organizations have evolved open system, operating on a global

platform, as a result of which there has been a change in the requirements
of skills and competencies of talent in the 21st century. The role of
leadership development has become all the more crucial in fostering an
enterprising culture and molding the attitudes of potential leaders in
accepting challenges for attaining a winning edge in the competitive
market. Leadership development has evolved significantly during the last
II
few years and has emerged as one of the strategic tools in the hands of the
management for realizing certain predetermined goals. With the changing
requirements of skill sets and also the modalities of business, leadership
development offers a meaningful contribution in determining the
competitive position of an organization.
The book titled “Leadership Development in the New Millennium”

offers an account of the best practices in the field of leadership
development across different industries. The book focuses on the
application of leadership development practices in diverse contexts and
analyzes its relative implications. It offers valuable insights into the
evolution of leadership development and how this field has grown from
past till present with a prediction of possible changes which are likely in
the near future in this field. It includes valuable research findings and
contemporary cases for assessing the causes of failures of most of the
leadership development programs run by leading organizations. An
attempt is made in offering a contemporary appeal to this entire endeavor
by including current experiences and practices, by critically examining the
current methodology in imparting leadership skills and suggesting a road
map for action for improving the overall benefit of such an endeavor.
The entire book has three crucial sections and each section is interlinked
brilliantly for providing a consistent reading experience. Section I
“Trends and Practices” introduces the subject of leadership development,
and enlightens readers by unleashing newer perspectives from the recent
research contributions. This section provides a comprehensive coverage
on the contemporary best practices and changing trends in leadership
development. It explores the purpose of a leadership development
program, analyzes the diverse approaches for developing high performance
leaders and examines the critical leadership skills which offer a competitive
advantage in the present scenario. Section II titled “Assessment of
Leadership Development” is an assessment of the current practices in
the field by diagnosing the causes of failures of some of the major
leadership development initiatives and analyzes the role of management
institutions in transforming high performance leaders. This section offers
a clearer understanding about the gaps involved in our present pedagogy
III
or system of leadership development, and suggests alternatives for making

leadership training more actionable instead of theory-bound. Section III
titled “The Road Ahead” analyzes the major challenges to the field of
leadership development for anticipating the possible changes that are likely
to occur in the near future.
The first section of this book contains 6 articles, primarily dealing

with the major trends in leadership development. The section begins with
a scholarly contribution from Lalithya Rani P and Sumati Reddy and the
title of this article is “Leadership Development Processes”. The article
describes the need for leadership development in the present scenario along
with different approaches for developing leadership skills and abilities in
employees. Moreover, it provides a lucid coverage on the industry best
practices in leadership development with a comparative perspective by
highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of the respective techniques.
The next article “21st Century Leadership: Got What It Takes”

authored by Jim Murray, provides an enlightening coverage on the
characteristics of a 21st century leader and the competencies required by
them for being competitive in the current century. This article provides
inputs on the changes and business challenges in the 21st century, and
suggests alternatives by way of which a leader may upgrade skills and
improve the leadership resume.
Subsequent article “Adult Learning Theory and Leadership

Development”, written by Scott J Allen, in section, addresses the natural,
yet overlooked, link between leadership development and adult learning
theory. The article describes the four adult learning theories – behaviorism,
cognitivism, social learning theory and constructivism – and highlights
their potential application in the field of leadership development. An
attempt is made to explain the relationship between leadership
development and adult learning theories for better explaining the process
of transfer of learning by following these different approaches.
The next contribution from Kunal Gaurav is a book review of the

book, “Growing Your Company’s Leaders – How Great Organizations
IV
Use Succession Management to Sustain Competitive Advantage”,

authored by Robert M Fulmer and Jay A Conger. This book provides a
detailed blueprint for designing an effective succession system in an
organization. Through the book the authors examine the linkage between
succession management and business strategy and compare the traditional
succession management practices with the contemporary ones. The book
serves as a guiding framework for those practitioners who wish to
implement successful succession management practices in the organization
for achieving a competitive advantage.
The next contribution is yet again an interactive book review by

Shubhasheesh Bhattacharya of the book titled “The Power of 360 Degree
Feedback – Maximizing Managerial and Leadership Effectiveness”,
written by T V Rao and Raju Rao. In this book the author try to share
information on the relevance of 360 degree feedback in improving
performance and describe the processes involved in conducting it. The
authors discuss the ways to develop a conducive environment for grooming
effective leader managers by drawing out from their personal experiences in
conducting workshops and training programs on the related topic.
The next article “From International Management to Leadership –

Implications for Cross-Cultural Leadership Development”, authored
by David Laughton, enriches the readers by offering inputs on leadership
development with a global perspective. The author identifies a range of
both soft and hard skills required by international managers, and discusses
the role of emotional intelligence in the use of different kinds of leadership
approaches in a business context. The author adds value to his contribution
by sharing the experiences of global companies in their leadership
development initiatives and also highlights the desirability of different
styles of leadership in three nations for providing a comparative perspective.
Section II “Assessment of Leadership Development” has six articles

aiming at assessing the existing weaknesses in the leadership development
initiatives for developing a superior framework for improving its
effectiveness. The first article of this section “Trends and Perspectives
in Management and Leadership Development ”, authored by
V
Richard Bolden, reviews the recent trends in leadership and management

development programs in the UK. The article highlights the neglected
but crucial areas of leadership development involving the philosophical
and pedagogical perspectives on the nature and purpose of leadership
development in the contemporary society. It throws light on the factors
which lead to insufficient results from a development program like lack
of attention to the individual and organizational needs and instead
excessively emphasizesg on the customized programs and experiential
techniques. The article equally discusses the importance of assessing the
contextual needs while shaping a development program.
The next article of this section is “Making Leadership Actionable:

What we are Learning and How we Can Use It” written by
Russ Volckmann. It reviews the existing literature on leadership
development, and offers a suggestive approach based on seeing leadership
as an emergent phenomenon. The author highlights the limitations in
the field of leadership development resulting from excessive stress on
advices on what is ought to be learnt instead of providing guidance on
how to learn to effectively implement the advices. The article offers a
step-by-step approach for putting the advice to practice and to extract the
maximum benefit from a leadership development effort. The article also
covers the experiences of different companies in conducting educational
and training programs for upcoming leaders and the reasons for
their failures.
The article “Leadership Prescription Paradigms”, authored by

Ernest L Stech identifies the three overarching paradigms which are
empirical, biographical and ideological. The article reviews leadership
prescriptions covering a span of fifty years and in a variety of forms of
publications and for each major paradigm the assumptions, concepts,
values and methods were explained.
The next article “A Recession’s Role in Transforming Leadership

Development”, authored by E Ted Prince, unveils that recession is actually
an opportunity for HR and leadership development to increase its
credibility by promoting programs to modify financial behaviors that
VI
directly support the CEO and board’s agenda to cut expenses while
increasing margins. The article highlights the initiatives which the HR
and leadership development experts might adopt for getting the optimal
advantage from a recession. The author recommends a few of the business-
focused innovations for the HR and the leadership experts during the
recession period for gaining the best results under such circumstances.
The article “Leadership Development Practices of Top-Performing

Organizations”, contributed by Ninth House, explores the trends in
leadership development practices in high performance organizations. The
article suggests certain keys for sustaining leadership development success
and equally addresses the reasons for failures of leadership evaluation
systems in different organizations.
The next article “Evaluating a Leadership Development Program”,

written by Sumati Reddy and Lalithya Rani, attempts to highlight the
importance of evaluation phase in a leadership development program,
which is normally being ignored by most of the leading organizations.
It also cites a few of the evaluation models that companies have adopted
for achieving maximum advantage out of their leadership development
initiative.
Section III of this book “The Road Ahead” contains 6 articles each
aiming at offering a futuristic perspective on leadership development.
The first article “Developing First Line Leaders” by A V Vedpuriswar
discusses a topic of vital interest in the contemporary scenario which has
equally emerged as one of the greatest challenges for the management and
it is the issue of development of the first line leaders. It offers a vivid
description on the problems confronted by the first line managers in the
discharge of their responsibilities, and suggests certain practical solutions
by way of which the management can tackle this issue efficiently.
The next article “Preparing for Tomorrow’s World: Globalization

and Executive Leadership”, authored by Bramwell and Bonnie Banks,
explores the impact of globalization on executive leadership development.
The authors highlight the significance of this globalization process in
VII
changing the content and techniques of conducting the executive leadership

training programs. The article also covers the role of technological factors
in adding new dimensions to this rethinking of executive development
apart from the assessment of the cultural forces.
The next contribution is a review of the book “Bench Strength:

Developing the Depth and Versatility of Your Organization’s
Leadership Talent”, written by Robert Barner and reviewed by D Satish.
The book offers a step-by-step approach in building a powerful talent
strategy that will ensure the ongoing availability of potential leaders.
The book offers a powerful guideline for training a talent strategy and
evaluating it.
The article “Leadership Development in India – An Experiential

Perspective” by Ranjan Acharya and Joseph George Anjilvelil, describes of
the leadership development program conducted at Wipro and how it
contributed to the success and the growth of the organization. The
objective of this article is to help relate the salient aspects of organization
development as pertinent to leadership dimensions of a globalizing
Information Technology (IT) service organization. This article provides
information on the challenges confronted by Wipro in developing leaders,
and equally offers a perspective on the Indian scenario.
The next article “Leadership in Higher Education” written by

PK Dutta, describes the changes in the teaching pedagogy in higher
education and the impact such changes would have on the overall
effectiveness of different organizations. The article throws light on both
positive and negatives facets of management education in nurturing and
developing leaders and its impact on leadership development. This article
highlights the essential qualities which the management education leaders
must exhibit during the upcoming millennium.
The last article of the section titled “Future of Leadership

Development: A Perspective” authored by Jyoti Budhraja, offers a
futuristic perspective on leadership development by studying its journey
of evolution from the past till its present. The article provides an account
VIII
of the possible changes which are likely in the field of leadership

development in future and its relevance for the management in the
competitive scenario.
The entire book provides a complete reading experience to the authors

by including both cases and the practical experiences in the form of cases
and best practices.
Section I
Trends and Practices

1
Leadership Development Processes
Lalithya Rani P and Sumati Reddy
To survive the cut-throat competition and emerge as a winner,

companies must be led by effective leaders. Hence,
management should focus on building leaders across the
organization. This article primarily revolves around the
necessity of a Leadership Development Program and puts forth
the various approaches to develop leadership abilities and skills.
I n simple terms, an organization is an arrangement where individuals with

varying attitudes, different backgrounds, different preferences, and from
different cultures work together to achieve a common goal. In the process, these
individuals need to interact with their subordinates, peers, superiors, and others
on a daily basis, whose support they need in order to accomplish the tasks.
To gain their support, one must be able to understand the peers, motivate the
subordinates and build trust among the superiors. And at times of crisis, every
organization needs individuals who will stand by it and support it like a pillar by
managing themselves and leading others rather than panicking.
House (2004) defines “leadership” as “the ability of an individual to influence,

motivate, and enable others to contribute toward the effectiveness and success of
the organizations of which they are members”. When an organization has leaders
Source: HRM Review, January 2008. © The Icfai University Press. All rights reserved.
4 LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT IN THE NEW MILLENNIUM
at every division, it can survive through all tornados. Some leaders are born,
whereas others are made. The potential employees need to be trained to imbibe
those leadership qualities that would become the base for an organization’s survival.
Leadership development focuses on the development of leadership as a process.
This includes working on building the interpersonal skills, improving team
dynamics between the leader and his/her team at the dyad level, improving the
organizational climate, etc. (Day, 2000).
Every organization is gifted with a large talent pool most of which is latent.
But how far have the organizations been successful in tapping this hidden talent?
How many managers have actually understood the need to groom the potential
leaders within the organization? The highly competitive business world needs
leaders. Only leaders can withstand the continuous threats and challenges that
the environment is posing. And hence arises the need for organizations to
specifically focus on those prospective leaders by honing their leadership skills.
Of late, many organizations have been voluntarily taking up the task of developing
leaders at all levels of the hierarchy by initiating different Leadership Development
Programs (LDP). The ideal motive behind instigating an LDP should be to
establish a ‘Leadership Culture’ across the organization. To begin with, there
have been several approaches to Leadership development, in practice, which would
be discussed in the subsequent sections.
The Leadership Development Process

After surveying the literature available, it can be inferred that the process of
Leadership Development in any organization comprises three major steps.
The first and foremost step would be to identify the need for developing a
large pool of prospective leaders within the organization. Management must view
the process more as a ‘Responsibility’ rather than as an ‘Obligation’, because
developing employees’ leadership competencies would add value to the
organization and help in meeting the challenges of the business in the near future.
Organizations must aggressively look out for individuals with leadership potential
and find ways to nurture and foster the potential thus identified.
The second stage, which is vital, would be deciding upon and implementing
the most feasible and appropriate leadership development technique that would
Leadership Development Processes 5
best fit the organization and the individual. Management can use any of these
techniques—360-degree feedback, executive coaching, mentoring, actions
learning, etc. There are various factors that are to be considered before selecting a
particular training technique—time; cost of training; employees’ comfort with
the LDP; availability of suitable trainers/coaches/ mentors, etc.
Finally, the most important phase of the leadership development process is

the Evaluation and Assessment of the Program. Leadership development would
be incomplete without knowing its success rate. Hence, it is important to adopt
or develop a method for evaluating the effectiveness of the organization’s leadership
development initiatives.
Leadership Development Approaches

Described below are a few of the popular approaches to leadership development.
360-Degree Feedback
360-degree feedback is an approach that can establish a base for any leadership
development program. The performance of a leader would improve only when he
understands others’ perceptions of his leadership abilities and tries to focus on
those areas where he is perceived to be ineffective. This approach offers insights
into the strengths and weaknesses of individuals. The information gathered from
various sources would let the individual identify blind spots and prepare for
developmental plans. As the information is drawn from multiple sources, the
individual bias on the rating is considerably reduced. However, if left unattended,
this approach would go waste. Organizations should take up the responsibility
of arranging counseling sessions or mentoring programs and train the individuals
to acquire those missing competencies, identified from the 360-degree process.
360-degree feedback can serve as a basis to design and select the leadership
development program most suited to the individual’s needs.
Classroom Training
Most leadership development initiatives start with a typical off-the-job classroom
program, wherein trainees are taught the basic concepts and theories of leadership.
This type of training attempts to make the trainees aware of the various principles
of leadership and develop their skills and knowledge. As this approach is merely
theoretical in nature, a major drawback of this technique is the detachment of the
trainee from the actual job setting, which impedes him from applying the acquired
knowledge and assessing himself periodically. The success of the classroom-based
learning depends upon the teacher. A teacher’s success is judged not only by the
amount of knowledge transfer but also by encouragement given towards improving
trainee’s participation, seeking their opinions and comments, thus, involving them
in the session. Hence, it is necessary for the organization to invest considerably in
finding an effective and knowledgeable teacher/trainer, who takes the lion’s share in
making the classroom-based learning a success, by drawing the attention of the
participants through his inspiring talk, by motivating them to understand the
purpose of the training and by ensuring their complete involvement.
During the classroom training, the trainer can use a variety of methods to
impart knowledge regarding leadership. He can use case studies, discussions,
stories, etc. Narrative methods can be used to narrate stories, life experiences, etc.
Refer Box 1 for a description of Narrative Methods.
Box 1: Narrative Methods
Story narration can also prove useful technique for leadership development. This is an off-the-job
training method and can be used as a part of the classroom training method to make learning more
interesting and inspiring by citing real-life examples of great leaders and sharing their success
stories and their leadership styles. Thody (1997) describes how the use of storytelling techniques
serves as a basis for leadership development; by providing a stimulus to vision; gaining information
in familiar formats; the acquisition of knowledge from stimuli, etc. Listening is vital for
understanding the needs, grievances, aspirations, and expectations of the people and thus come
up with a relevant and appropriate action. Through narrative method, trainees would imbibe the
ability to listen attentively and focus on what is being said. Trainees with good listening skills
would be able to maintain good interpersonal skills with peers and work towards building a
harmonious culture within the organization.
Action Learning
To deal with competition in the 21st Century, mere classroom learning may not
be enough. To overcome some of its shortcomings, Reg Revans introduced action
learning as far back as 1945. The following statement captures the spirit of action
learning in his own words:
When, in an epoch of change, tomorrow is necessarily different from yesterday,

and so new things need to be done, what are the questions to be asked before the
solutions are sought. Action learning differs from normal training (education
development) in that its primary objective is to learn how to ask appropriate
questions in conditions of risk, rather than to find the answers to questions that
have already been precisely defined by others—and that do not allow for ambiguous
responses because the examiners have all the approved answers. (Keys 1994).
Revans’ Learning Theory consists of two Inter-related components

a. Programmed knowledge (P): P pertains to knowledge that is usually
transmitted through books and lectures.
b. Questioning Insight (Q): Q is based on experience, historical evidence,
and creativity. Q assists us in resolving problems for which solutions are
not known. Q is essential for leaders in the current global business
environment where no historical solutions exist for solving today’s problems.
Action learning usually takes place in teams called sets, to which each set
member brings his own problem. It is important to have a good mix of age,
experience, ability and diversity among the team members. The set members
meet regularly to learn from each other, discuss problems, and evolve a solution
to be tested in the field. The process is cyclic and members learn from testing the
solutions in real life until the right solution is arrived at. Some of the companies
that have adopted ‘Action learning’ include General Electric Company (GEC).
Employees would actually enjoy action learning as they are provided with real
problems to solve. This also helps in building interpersonal relationships with
peers through working in teams. However, this approach is a little time consuming
for organizations and could even annoy trainees if the management emphasizes
more on meeting deadlines and results rather than on the nature of learning that
is taking place.
Rotational Job Assignments

Through rotational job assignments, individuals can be encouraged to take up
new tasks and projects that would let them learn new skills, deal with new
environments and people, and acquire new knowledge. This approach would not
only minimize the monotony associated with the job, but would boost the
individual’s enthusiasm to take-up challenges. Managers should provide voluntary
and continuous guidance to the individual as he is being exposed to a more
challenging environment with high-responsibility tasks.
Experiential Learning
“Whether it is termed corporate experiential learning or experience-based
training and development... the more levels of an individual—emotional,
imaginative, cognitive, and behavioral—are engaged by a learning
experience, the more powerful the learning will be.”
– Jay Alden Conger, 1992
Experiential is hence described as, ‘a direct encounter with the phenomena being
studied rather than merely thinking about the encounter, or only
considering the possibility of doing something about it.’ (Borzak 1981; Brookfield
1983). Strong experiences are required to understand the value of the knowledge
acquired. Outward Bound Experiential Learning (OBEL) is often used interchangeably
with experiential learning. Refer Box 2 for a brief description of OBEL.
Box 2: Outdoor Challenges

Outward Bound Experiential Learning (OBEL) is one such process where individuals get a chance to
experiment, take risks and learn by applying their knowledge in practical settings. Sometimes
OBEL is also referred to as Adventure Learning. Effective leadership development always starts
with self-knowledge, which is main focus of OBEL, where participants gain self-awareness.
OBEL gives these emerging leaders an opportunity to obtain immediate feedback, by recreating
the situations of daily life and reviewing their leadership performance. Using an outdoor setting,
organizations can provide an environment for employees to acquire leadership skills, learn about
their team orientation, etc. A blend of classroom theories with outdoor experiential activities
would enable the participants to clearly understand a leader’s role while accomplishing
challenging tasks, managing oneself, managing others, and building trust among team members
and leading the team.
Executive Coaching
Executive coaching has evolved as one of the successful leadership development
techniques in recent years, especially in the US, where the attrition rate of CEOs
and other functional heads is higher than that in India. In India, 40% of the
CEOs and functional heads leave within 18 months of joining. While executive
coaching is becoming popular worldwide, not many Indian CEOs have adopted
this approach. A few who have include, Kumar Mangalam Birla. According to
International Coach Federation (ICF) and PwC figures, coaching accounts for
$1.5 bn worldwide. A 2004 survey conducted by Right Management Consultants
in Philadelphia found that 86% of companies used executive coaching. A coach
helps the executive understand review his personal strengths and weaknesses and
then together they draw a solution to the identified problem. Executive coaching
is a one-to-one interaction between an executive who has leadership or managerial
authority and responsibility in an organization and a coach. Coaching can affect
both self-related and job-related outcomes. Executive coaching is an alternative
executive and leadership development program that systematically addresses an
executive’s or leader’s strengths, weaknesses, and ‘soft’ skills in real time (Dingman,
Matviuk, 2007).
Coaching can be particularly effective for a leader in times of change, for

managing younger workers, for helping executives arrive at a better understanding
on how to lead a new generation of employees with a different set of values and
work ethics, and also for developing new ways to attack old problems.
Table: A Summary of Industry Best Practices in Leadership Development
Practice Description Development Target Strengths Weaknesses
Formal Classroom- Skill development Flexible Poor transfer of
program based learning Self-knowledge Efficient learning
Shell for including Leadership principles. Lack ofsupport
a variety of practices. on job.
360 Multi-source ratings Self-knowledge Comprehensive Overwhelming
feedback of performance Behavioral picture amount of data;
organized and change. Buy-in. no guidance on
presented to a manager. how to change;
time and effort.
Coaching Practical, goal- Self-knowledge Personalized Perceived stigma
focused form of Behavioral change. Intensive. (remedial)
one-on-one learning. Expensive.
Job Providing “stretch” Career development Job relevant Conflict between
assign- assignments in terms Skills development Accelerates performance and
ments of role, function, Broader understanding learning. development
or geography. of the business. No structure
for learning.
Contd...
Contd...
Mentoring Advising/ Broader understanding Strong personal Peer jealousy

developmental Advancement catalyst bond. Over dependence.
relationship, usually Lessons learned/
with a more senior avoid mistakes.
manager.
Networks Connecting to Better problem solving. Builds Ad hoc
others in different Learning who to consult organization. Unstructured.
functions and areas. for project help.
Reflection In-depth thinking Socialization Enhanced Time and
about personal Understanding lessons learning guidance to do
experience. of experience Personal. effectively Poor
Self-understanding. job transfer.
Action Project-based Socialization Tied to Time intensive
learning learning directed Teamwork Implement business Leadership
at important strategy. imperatives lessons not clear
business problems. Action-oriented. Over-emphasis
on results.
Outdoor Team-building Teamwork Self- Emotionally Poor job transfer
challenge experiences in understanding. charged Potentially
outdoor/wilderness Action-oriented. dangerous.
settings.
Source: Day and Halpin (2001).
Mentoring
Mentoring happens to be an inexpensive and effective way of knowledge sharing
and can act as tool for fast-track development of future business leaders. During
the training period, each individual would be assigned to a mentor. The mentor’s
job would be to guide them through the program and their performance would be
a reflection of the performance of the board members themselves (Gautam Ghosh,
2007). Typically, a mentor’s job would be to assist the mentee in problem-solving,
providing linkage to people or resources, offering support, etc. However, the role of
mentor gets broadened when he is mentoring for leadership. These mentors have
to infuse other qualities like values, ethics, cross cultural sensitivity, develop
enthusiasm, and respect for peers and many more. Table provides a summary of
the strengths and weaknesses of the different leadership development approaches.
Leadership Development for Succession Planning

Considering the high attrition rates, shortfall of skilled employees and competition
intensifying among companies, organizations are now realizing the necessity of
having a proper succession management system integrated with leadership
development practices. The prime objective is to identify, retain and groom the
prospective leaders to occupy senior positions and accomplish the various
leadership roles successfully. Today, succession management is being reinvented
with specific focus on leadership development. An effective succession management
system can be built only when the CEO and COO of the organization take the
responsibility of owning the system and building the leadership talent. Many
employees, refrain themselves from taking up leadership roles. Hence, the
identification and development of potential leaders needs to be formalized, rather
than being left to chance. Managers play a crucial role in this process. They can
play an enabling role if they can establish a good rapport with their team members.
Managers should encourage their immediate reports to speak about their interests,
career plans, likes and dislikes, etc. This would equip managers with sufficient
information about the strengths and potential competencies in each individual.
Once the talent prevailing in the organization is identified, the managers have to
partner with these potential leaders. They should establish mentoring relationships
with them and then initiate a LDP to inculcate the skills required to become
leaders through formulation of specific and individualized development plans for
each and every employee identified as a future leader. Managers should create
new opportunities for them, and motivate them through appropriate rewarding
practices. With an appropriate succession management system, individuals can
be provided with challenging tasks and opportunities to perform action-oriented
assignments, which would assist them in developing the requisite abilities and
skills continuously. Organizations should ensure that the succession planning
processes are implemented within each work unit, which would consequently
enlarge the opportunities for employees at all levels to act as leaders.
Conclusion
To operate in the highly competitive corporate world, expanding business
geographies, and war for leadership talent, it is essential for any company (i.e.,
executives) to develop cutting-edge skills in the workforce and mould them
into successful future leaders. Some of the leadership development practices

discussed in the article can be integrated to make the organization’s LDP
initiatives more effective.
(Lalithya Rani P is a Research Associate, the Icfai Research Center, Hyderabad.

She can be reached at lalithyarani@icfai.org
Sumati Reddy is a Senior Faculty Member and Consulting Editor, the Icfai Research
Center, Hyderabad. She can be reached at sumathi@icfai.org).
2
21st Century Leadership
Got What It Takes?
Jim Murray
The article highlights the characteristics of a 21st century

leader and offers an enriching perspective on the
competencies required by these leaders for attaining a
winning edge in the competitive market. A leader of the
contemporary century needs to be abreast of the changes
for successfully competing against the forces of globalization
and technological improvements. This article suggests
several techniques by which a leader can upgrade skills and
build up their leadership résumé by focusing upon the
strengths and coping against the weaknesses.
I t has been said that, in the 21st century, the very nature, speed and complexity
of change will change. If that is indeed the case, then so too will the nature of
leadership. What made the leaders of yesterday will not make the leaders
of tomorrow.
Source: Leader Values 2007 (www.leader-values.com). © Jim Murray. Reprinted with permission.
What Will a 21st Century Leader Look Like?

In my judgement, the leader of the past was a doer. The leader of the present is a
planner. And the leader of the future will be a teacher. The job of a 21st century
leader will be to develop capabilities, not necessarily to plan the organization’s
strategic direction. It will be to increase the organization’s capacity to be focused,
agile and resilient. It will be to create, harness and leverage intellectual capital
rather than to deploy other assets. This kind of leader doesn’t need to know
everything there is to know (because that is a practical impossibility). On the
contrary, these leaders will want to be surrounded by people who know a whole
lot more than they do but who will trust them implicitly to weigh their competing
claims and advice.
It might be surprising but, in study after study about the purpose of leadership
in the new millennium, getting results, i.e., making money, doesn’t even figure
in the top requirements. What does figure is getting the process right – making
sure the right people are talking to one another about the right things and have
the right tools to do what they decide needs doing. When that happens, good
results inevitably follow. This is what focus is all about. The 21st century leader
doesn’t focus on results per se. He or she focuses attention squarely on the things
that produce results.
There are really only two ingredients required for organizational success:
leadership and culture. And, since leaders know how to build an organizational
culture of respect, accountability and innovation, nothing of any great consequence
can ever be achieved without leadership. Leaders do make the difference.
Today, more than ever before, we need more people who are willing to lead.
I can tell you for a fact that there are positions of executive responsibility awaiting
you, provided you have what it takes or are willing to learn it. You heard me
correctly. I did say “willing to learn”. The ability to lead others is really a collection
of skills, virtually all of which can be learned or strengthened. We are not born
with leadership qualities; we acquire them through experience – through
observation and listening, and through dedicated, conscientious, continuous
self-evaluation and improvement.
21st Century Leadership: Got What It Takes? 15
Learn to Lead
Not just for your own wellbeing but for those who follow you. As you reach the
highest levels of organizational responsibility and success, don’t forget to take
others with you to become the leaders of tomorrow. Let them be your legacy.
To be a leader, you have to think like a leader. To understand this basic premise
of leadership, you need to agree with two fundamental principles:
1. Successful people think differently than unsuccessful people.
2. We can change the way we think.
In what way do leaders think differently? In my judgement, leaders are

big-picture (not narrow) thinkers. They search for wisdom more so than answers.
They are focussed (not scattered) in their thinking. They are creative
(not restrictive) thinkers, driven by an insatiable curiosity for discovery and
innovation. They are realistic and strategic thinkers. They are possibility thinkers,
reflective thinkers. And they understand the value of shared, unselfish thought.
Your thinking style must be aligned with your leadership aspirations if your
potential is to be realized. For example, what if possibility thinking is not one of
your strengths? Then you have preciously few options other than to resign yourself
to the reality of self-limitation, not just for yourself but for all who work around
you. If you think you can’t do something, then it doesn’t matter how hard you try
because your assumptions will be self-affirming. Napoleon Bonaparte was a great
general with many physical limitations. But mentally, he saw no bounds on his
ability to succeed. It was he who said “The word impossible is not in my dictionary”.
What Other Skills Do 21st Century Leaders Require?

Your power and potential as a leader will be founded primarily on:
1. Your expertise, not your position;
2. Your reputation, which is amassed through consistent and reliable
performance over time but which can be destroyed in an instant by a
single, thoughtless act;
3. Your personal integrity and credibility – which is predicated on walking

the talk every day; and
4. Your ability to negotiate win/win outcomes regardless of the circumstances.
Like everything else, the ability to negotiate is a skill that can be learned and
perfected. Trust me, great leaders must be great negotiators – getting your way
while convincing people of their worth and dignity... that they too are winners in
your presence.
Beyond the ability to negotiate, leaders must be superb managers of their

most precious asset – their time. They must know that the phrase “time
management” is a misnomer. For them, time is never a barrier to getting things
done. Thinking that it is an obstacle is a self-serving and self-defeating assumption.
Self-management, not time management, is the antidote to the reality of
insufficient time. Setting priorities, delegating for the sake of empowering others,
and knowing what not to do are the attributes of leaders.
Understand the importance of the Pareto Principle: if you focus your attention
on those activities that rank in the top 20% in terms of their importance, you
will have an 80% return on your effort. Anything that is not necessary for you to
do personally should be delegated or eliminated. Reorder your priorities – activity
is not the same as accomplishment.
Leaders simplify. Peter Drucker tells us that “If it is not simple, it won’t work”.
The key to organizational success lies in focus. And this cannot be achieved without
clarity. With clarity, borne of simplicity, comes understanding. With understanding
comes focus – knowing what’s important among all the distractions, disagreements
and myriad choices available. With the right kind of focus comes the right kinds
of decisions and actions – the right judgements and behaviours that drive the
organization to accomplish great things and thereby realize its vision. Leaders
must find the simple, compelling phrases that make sometimes complex but
empowering notions understandable by those who must “carry the ball”.
Let me suggest two other very simple notions that leaders understand. One is
the truism that people will act on their own ideas before they will act on yours.
The art of leadership is to get people to believe that your ideas are really theirs,
and then to agree with them. Not only are people empowered, they are more
strongly committed to ownership and follow-through.
Because leaders understand the power of simplification, they also see through
the fads and concentrate on the fundamentals. They are not seduced by quick
fixes and instant panaceas for introducing needed changes. They understand that
building organizations and teams requires a knowledge of some simple truths
which are easily understood. For example, leaders don’t get caught up in the
rhetoric and promise of systems replacing competent, motivated people driven
by a commitment to an overarching vision and values that encourage individual
empowerment, productivity and accountability.
How Do You Build a Leadership Résumé?

For starters, seek out positions that will equip you with personal resilience, not
job security. Be an entrepreneur, not an employee. Chart your contributions to
the organization and the customer, not to your position or title. Take a solution
focus, not a problem focus in everything that you do.
Point the way, not the finger. Challenge assumptions and old ways of doing
things. Ask when you don’t understand (and especially when you think you do).
Measure your progress through the ranks, not by the size of your paycheque, but
by the richness of the work you do and its impact on others. Find nutritious
work and resist work that does not add to your skills.
Learn the art of self-promotion.The day you stop promoting yourself and
your interests is the day you stop advancing. Opportunities rarely go to the most
qualified but to those who promote themselves the best and who are in the right
place, at the right time. This may seem unfair but it is not accidental.
Become a teacher. Indeed, be your own best teacher. To teach yourself, you
must first learn how to teach others. Noel Tichey advises us that “Leaders are first
and foremost teachers”. Pick one of the skill areas in which you believe you are
proficient and build even further on it. Go considerably beyond your competency
– become a master. In so doing, you will become recognized by others for your
acknowledged expertise.
Never stand on the sidelines awaiting an invitation to the game. Step forward
and get involved in new projects and challenging assignments. Get up to bat as
often as you can, and practice your swing whenever and wherever you can.
Take responsibility for your failures, then move on. True leaders blame no one
but themselves. They learn through conscientious self-evaluation of their
performance. They learn best from adversity and negative outcomes, such as being
demoted or fired. The key to your advancement is to learn from your setbacks.
Crisis has a way of revealing who we really are.
All of the above attributes of leadership are skills you can learn – from the
writings of others, from professional development courses, from focused observation
and, ultimately, from conscientious and constructive self-assessment.
I have been privileged to work through leadership challenges and issues with
people holding positions of executive responsibility in the military, universities,
the health care and education sectors, professional associations, large multi-national
corporations, and small entrepreneurially driven companies. In my judgement,
the concept of leadership has become debased by its overuse, much like such
related notions as excellence and quality. We often regret the absence of leadership,
yet we frequently fail to detect its presence. And to generalize is to lose the
essence of what we’re seeking to describe.
Adam Urbanski, co-founder of the Teachers Union Reform Network, has

observed that “Leadership is increasingly being used as a synonym for
administration” and that “we have always been sloppy in our talk about leadership
and management”. Indeed, many people are wont to suggest that there is little
difference between leading and managing – that management is simply another
form of leadership. All this does is lead to role confusion.
One difficulty in understanding what it takes to be a leader is that most

definitions tend to rely on a leader’s characteristics, not on what leaders actually
do. The conventional literature reminds us that leaders are intelligent, hard
working, competitive, caring, flexible, trustworthy, and so on. But we all know
people who possess these characteristics who are not leaders. Focusing on leadership
attributes is therefore, not overly helpful. (Holding a high position is not

synonymous with leadership. The incumbent may simply be the chief bureaucrat.)
I personally like the notion that leadership is knowing where to go, whereas
management is knowing how to get there. I think leadership, simply defined, is
the energizing of others to achieve desired goals. I remember my first boss.
Whenever I had a meeting with him – whether in his office or by chance in the
hall – after that meeting, I knew what to do, I wanted to do it, and I felt I could
do it. Yes, he was a leader. Fortunately, he was also my mentor.
There is an old saying that suggests there are those who make things happen,
those who watch things happen, and those who simply want to know “What
happened?” Likewise, there are those with energy who can make some things
happen. Then there are those who energize others and, as a result, important
things happen. So leadership must surely be the capacity to energize others.
Is Leadership a Matter of Character?

Of course. Heraclitus, an ancient Greek historian, has told us that “A man’s character
is his fate”. It is a simple but profound truth. The essence of a leader’s character, in
my view, is his integrity, his curiosity, his credibility, and his daring. On this
foundation, he must have a guiding vision, without which a leader doesn’t know
what he wants to do with his talent and thus where he wants to go.
The persuasiveness of a message lies in the credibility of the speaker. Every

message that people receive is filtered through the messenger who delivers it. If
you consider the messenger to be credible, then you probably believe the message
has value. I suspect you have all heard of the prescription, know thyself. For me
this means considerably more than a knowledge of your strengths and defining
talents. It includes a knowledge of your hot-buttons, prejudices and weaknesses
– the things you don’t do well. People who can’t figure themselves out end up
making bad, stupid and illogical decisions.
Good leaders begin their career paths as good followers. Leaders and followers
share some important characteristics, particularly the ability to collaborate and
the willingness to listen. Good leaders and good followers ask great questions.
They want to know what and why. That’s how they got to where they are and
that’s how they stay on the leading edge of change.
Paying attention to other people, in addition to being the best way to learn
from them, happens to be one of the most powerful ways of influencing them.
And influencing others is surely what leadership is all bout – getting other people
to get things done. Listening is more than a courtesy, it is a lethal, strategic
weapon in your arsenal of leadership skills. Make whoever you’re listening to feel
like the centre of the universe at that moment in time and the payoff will be a
fiercely loyal, lifelong ally. Doing so means more than making eye contact, it
means making brain contact as well.
What is the biggest mistake a leader can make? In my judgement, it’s taking
too much credit. In fact, a good leader never takes credit. Leaders gain trust,
loyalty, excitement and energy when they pass on the credit to those who have
really done the work. An ego should not be so big that you lose your colleagues’
respect. The self-promotion I spoke of earlier never takes precedence over the
building of strong, loyal, productive teams – as that will be your greatest
accomplishment.
How does a leader gain trust? Without trust, leaders cannot lead. Trust is the
fuel that drives agile and innovative organizations. When people trust one another,
they take risks, they challenge conventional wisdom, they dare to lead. Trust is
the prerequisite to improving organizational performance and achieving sustainable
competitive advantage.
When trust breaks down, communication deteriorates. When communication

breaks down, cooperation becomes more difficult. And when that happens,
bureaucracy flourishes and conflicts inevitably arise. When trust is nurtured, teams
focus on achieving the mission and in operationalizing the organization’s values.
There is no such thing as instant trust. You already know that trust has to be
earned. A leader can’t be phony because people can easily detect phoniness. One
of the ways we generate and sustain trust is by caring about the fate of others, by
being on their side. So always be true to your word and keep confidences. When
leaders say one thing and do another, they quickly lose the trust of their followers.
In a way, distrust is as amorphous but nonetheless pervasive as is carbon

monoxide. You can’t see it, you can’t smell it but, in the end, it will certainly kill
you, your ideas and your organization. The pressure created by continuing, forced
change and attendant employee uncertainty, for example, has the potential to
undermine organizational trust. And this is where, I think, leaders face their
greatest challenges.
Clearly, leaders in the 21st century will know how to grow, harness and leverage
intellectual capital. They will know how to use more of what people know, give
people more to know that is useful, and allow people time to think and do by
minimizing meaningless bureaucracy.
Tomorrow’s leaders will create networks, not hierarchies or silos, to both create
and share knowledge. They will distinguish between the cost of paying people
from the value of investing in them. They will cultivate expertise in the context of
strategy, get smart people to work smarter, make tacit knowledge explicit, and
understand how to train people as well as the limits to training.
(Jim Murray is CEO of optimal solutions international, a company that specializes

in helping organizations reach their full potential. The author can be reached at
jgmurray@granite.sentex.ca or www.smartleaders.ca).
3
Adult Learning Theory and
Scott J Allen
This article addresses the natural, yet overlooked link

between leadership development and adult learning theory.
The article begins with a summary of four adult learning
theories: Behaviorism, Cognitivism, Social Learning
Theory and Constructivism. Each theory is described and
its potential application to leadership development is
discussed. The article concludes with a discussion of Jay
Conger’s four categories of leadership development
programming and their link to theories of adult learning.
A dult learning theory is an important factor in leadership development.

However, it receives only cursory mention by leadership scholars (Conger &
Benjamin, 1999; Goleman, Boyatzis & McKee, 2002). Like adult development,
adult learning is a personal process. Merriam & Caffarella (1999) assert that
“the context of adult life and the societal context shape what an adult needs
and wants to learn and, to a somewhat lesser extent, when and where learning
takes place” (p.1).
Source: Leadership review, Vol 7, Spring 2007, pages 26-37. (www.leadershipreview.org). © Kravis Leadership
Institute at Claremont McKenna College. Reprinted with permission.
Adult Learning Theory and Leadership Development 23
Merriam & Caffarella (1999) highlight a number of adult learning theories.

This article will focus on four: behaviorism, cognitivism, social learning and
constructivism. Behaviorism’s primary purpose is to elicit behavioral change in a
new and desired direction. While behaviorists are concerned with behavioral
change, cognitivists focus on developing “capacity and skills to learn better”
(p. 264). Proponents of social learning examine the intersection of the social
context and the learner. Finally, constructivists are concerned with the learners’
construction of reality and how individuals make meaning from experiences. This
article provides a brief description of each theory and links its application to
leadership development. I also discuss “transfer of learning” – an important element
in any leadership development initiative.
Behaviorism
According to the behaviorists, thinking and feeling have little to do with learning
because each cannot be measured. Advocates of this paradigm have three common
points of agreement. First, behaviorists study current behavior and are not
concerned with the past. Second, proponents suggest that only that what which
can be measured and observed is important. Finally, behaviorists believe in
“specifying the desired results of instruction in measurable terms before it takes
place” (Rothwell and Sredl, 1992, p. 326). As a result, behaviorism is frequently
used in skills and job training. Early behaviorists included Edward Thorndike,
Ivan Pavlov, Clark Hull and B F Skinner
Edward Thorndike began researching how animals learn in 1898. Thorndike

suggested that new learners were like blank slates responding to stimuli in a
haphazard way. Edward Thorndike and others published the first research on the
topic of adult learning in 1928. In his research, “people were tested under timed
conditions on various learning and memory tasks” (Merriam, 2001, p. 3).
Thorndike developed a great deal of theory surrounding stimulus and response
and suggested, “A specific response is connected to a specific stimulus when it is
rewarded... the stimulus, S, is entirely under the control of the experimenter
(or teacher), and in a large measure so is the response, R, for all the experimenter
has to do to connect the particular R to a particular S is to reward the R when the
organism happens to make it” (Knowles, et. al., 1998, p. 24-25).
Thorndike developed a number of laws surrounding learning of animals and

humans but, according to Knowles et. al., (1998), three that stand out were the
law of readiness, the law of exercise, and the law of effect. The law of readiness
focuses on the physical conditions surrounding the learning experience and how
these affect learning. The law of exercise encourages extensive repetition of
experiential activities to master skills or techniques. The law of effect has to do
with the consequences of the newly learned information. Did the intervention
work? Did the intervention fail? Collectively, these three factors will determine if
the new information is valued and/or retained.
Around this time, Ivan Pavlov developed the terms classical conditioning and
operant conditioning. Classical conditioning is best explained using the classic
example of Pavlov’s dog. Pavlov linked a bell with food which, when rung, caused
salivation in the dog. Generally speaking, it forms an association between two
stimuli. Operant conditioning forms an association between behavior and a
consequence. There are four possible consequences to any behavior:
• Something good begins.
• Something good ends.
• Something bad begins.
• Something bad ends.
Others terms introduced by Pavlov include reinforcement, extinction,

generalisation and differentiation. Reinforcement occurs when a stimulus is
continually linked with a positive response. Extinction occurs over time when certain
stimuli are eliminated and a former response is eliminated. Generalization occurs
when a “conditioned reflex to one stimulus can also be elicited by other stimuli,
not necessarily similar to the first” (Knowles, et. al., 1998, p. 26). Finally,
Differentiation occurs when “the initial generalization is overcome by the method
of contrast in which one of a pair of stimuli is regularly reinforced and the other is
not; in the end, the conditioned reflex occurs only to the positive (reinforced)
stimulus and not the to the negative (non-reinforced) stimulus” (Knowles, et. al.,
1998, p. 26).
Clark Hull developed more than 100 hypotheses about learning that he
subsequently tried to prove through laboratory experiments. Like other
behaviorists, Hull believed that all learning was a connection between stimulus
and response. According to Rothwell and Sredl (1992), Hull’s theory can be
summarized as, “The response potential of a given stimulus is the result of
multiplying such intervening variables as habit strength (the number of pervious
and reinforced pairings of a stimulus and a response), drive (the need to meet
certain requirements of the body), stimulus dynamism (the strength of the
stimulus), and incentive (the strength of a reward that will meet body
requirements)” (p. 328). The authors continue with the following example,
“A rat will learn to master a maze if the previous efforts to do so have been
rewarded, the reward met the rat’s needs, the rat recognizes the relationships
between the maze and the reward, and the reward is sufficiently worthwhile to
induce effort” (Rothwell and Sredl, 1992, 328). Although relevant for its time,
the work of Hull may not be relevant today; for instance, it is known that not all
learning can be connected to a stimulus and response. According to Hilgard, “its
primary contribution may turn out to lie not in its substance at all, but rather in
the ideal it set for a genuinely systematic and quantitative psychological system
far different from the schools which so long plagued psychology” (Knowles,
et. al., 1998, p. 27).
Behavioral learning theorists use objectives-centered instruction when creating

learning opportunities. Leadership theories that focus on leader competencies
(such as emotional intelligence) may benefit from this approach. However, creating
an environment where behaviors and actions are measured and observed can be a
complex proposition. Moreover, behaviorists feel that what is being learned should
be reinforced quickly and undesirable performance should be corrected
immediately. In addition, repetition and testing should occur on a regular basis.
As a result, leadership development programs should incorporate a number of
“real time” opportunities for learners to practice and perform new behaviors. This
real time practice includes coaching from independent observers or others and
offering immediate feedback to participants. In addition, designers of leadership
development programs utilizing this learning theory may consider linking the
subject being taught (in this case leadership development) to some form of prestige
or desirable outcome. For instance, a promotion, a degree, a certificate or some

other reward will motivate learners to incorporate and internalise new behaviors.
Hull argued that learners should be placed in situations that elicit anxiety so
they have incentive to learn and master a given topic or skill. According to Rothwell
and Sredl (1992), Hull suggested “learning will only occur when the learner
wants something, must do something and sees learning as a way to achieve what
he or she wants” (p. 335). When applied to leadership development, designers
may incorporate activities that stretch the learners and remove them from their
comfort zones. Further, the activities and learning moments must be tied to the
goals and dreams of learners. McCall, Lombardo & Morrison (1988) would likely
agree based on their research findings.
Objective-centered instruction is relevant to much of the training that exists

within organizations (and potentially the foundation upon which the American
education system rests), because departments and divisions are constantly pressured
to show concrete (many times financial) results for their efforts. Leadership
development programs face these same challenges and a program design with
objectives-centered outcomes will likely appease those funding leadership
development programs. After all, some feel that a part of developing leaders rests
upon the ability for the education to shape new and more productive behaviors;
behaviors that have a positive effect on one’s abilities.
Instructors hoping to utilise this method of teaching should: encourage

repetition of acts performed correctly; give frequent examinations to gather feedback
on the learning process; state objectives clearly in advance; provide many different
variations of the same stimuli (because each stimulus-response bond is unique);
vary subjects so learners do not become fatigued; avoid punishment; make learning
experiences as individualized as possible; measure behavioral change; create an
environment of anxiety and allow learners to reward themselves for their
accomplishments (Rothwell and Sredl, 1992).
In general, behaviorists believe learning is driven by stimulus and response.

Behaviorism takes a very mechanistic approach to learning and, at times, seems
very cold – excluding feelings or anything that cannot be observed. As a result,
“learning occurs through observable and measurable behavior. A change in external
behavior produces changes in internal attitudes, beliefs and values. Human beings
are shaped by their surroundings” (Rothwell & Sredl, 1992, p. 329).
Thus, learners simply respond to stimuli developed by things external to
themselves (teachers, classmates, etc.).
Cognitivism
Unlike behaviorism, cognitivism focuses on the internal aspects of learning.
Cognitivists view people as a part of their environment; having potential to
influence the environment around them. Cognitive theory has a heavy foundation
in Gestalt psychology.
Wolfgang Kohler was the founder of cognitivism and hypothesized that learning
occurs when an individual has insight that shows a relationship between two
distinct components of a larger system or problem. Gestalt theorists view learning
as a uniquely individual event that is about discovering relationships between
things. According to Rothwell and Sredl (1992), Gestalt theorists propose six
principles about the nature of perception:
• The Principle of Direction: Stimuli that appear to be meaningful and form
a pattern will stand out against a neutral background. Observers will
perceive this pattern.
• The Principle of Contiguity: Stimuli that are close together tend to be
perceived as grouped together.
• The Principle of Embeddedness: A large figure with a great number of
stimuli will stand out from small figures with a lesser number of stimuli.
• The Principle of Likeness: Similar objects will tend to be perceived together.
• The Principle of Joint Destiny: Objects that move together will tend to be
perceived together.
• The Principle of Closure: The mind will tend to perceive as complete
otherwise incomplete experiences or patterns (p. 330).
Kohler emphasizes the notion that only part of the information will remain in
the learner’s mind. As a result, the teacher must be sure to revisit “the whole” and
place the smaller parts in context; allowing the parts to take on a new meaning.
Once this has occurred, the teacher must move this information from short- to
long-term memory. Kohler suggests that this occurs through “active learning.”
Active learning involves students in the learning experiences and allows them the
opportunity to instruct and practice new skills or behaviors. Further, repetition
aids in transfer to long-term memory and, after time, students arrive at an
“automatic stage” where the student no longer needs to consciously think about
each step. Only at this point can additional higher level information be introduced.
For instance, once a young girl has mastered how to ride a bike, she will better
comprehend discussions surrounding bike safety or bike maintenance. To discuss
these topics first would be premature and potentially out of context.
In a similar vein, Jerome Brunner developed a theory of learning that includes

three processes. The first is that the learner acquires new information that refines
what was previously known. For learning to occur, it is important that this new
information be counter to previously known information or viewpoints.
The second is transformation which is the manipulation of new information into
action. The final process is an evaluation process whereby the leaner determines
if the new information is adequate for the task at hand.
Another proponent of cognitivism was Kurt Lewin. Lewin was influenced by

phenomenology, which is the belief that people interpret experience and that
interpretation is central to their existence. To Lewin, an individual experiences
life through external and internal stimuli and how they interpret these events
defines how they make meaning of their world. This is central to understanding
an individual’s behavior. Lewin also developed what he called field theory and
“conceptualized each individual as existing in a life space in which many forces
are operating… learning occurs as a result of a change in cognitive structures
produced by changes in two types of forces: (1) change in the structure of the
cognitive field itself, or (2) changes in the internal needs or motivation of the
individual” (Knowles, 1988, p. 30).
According to the cognitivists, experienced-centered instruction is based on

Gestalt theory. Program architects who promote this orientation to learning suggest
that instruction needs to focus on participants having an “understanding” rather
than a behavioral change (Rothwell and Sredl, 1992). In other words, one goal is
for participants to be more in tune with their own processes and ways of knowing
are the primary goals. When introducing a process or new way of conducting
business, a step-by-step model should be introduced and related to the whole.
In addition, cognitivists suggest that a focus on real life problems that have
immediate importance will better assist learners in solving problems that have
immediacy “because unsolved problems create uncomfortable ambiguity for
learners” (Rothwell & Sredl, 1992, p. 335-336). As learners search for solutions
and develop theories, learning will occur. As it relates to leadership development,
architects of developmental experiences may develop case studies that encourage
learners to move through complex problem solving activities and challenge them
to think in new ways. Finally, learning must take place in a safe and comfortable
environment that will assist participants in solving problems and provide them
with opportunities to test assumptions through activity.
Proponents of cognitivism posit that learning is much more than simple behavior
change. They suggest that learners develop new insights and ways of
understanding the world around them. Further, cognitivists assert that learning
opportunities should involve opportunities for learners to be actively involved in
the process; at times developing their own goals and activities.
Social Learning Theory

Albert Bandura (1977) is the founder of social learning theory which suggests
that individuals learn behavior (e.g., leadership, aggression) based on modeling
in their environments. Bandura (1977) suggests “Learning would be exceedingly
laborious, not to mention hazardous, if people had to rely solely on the effects of
their own actions to inform them what to do. Fortunately, most human behavior
is learned observationally through modeling: from observing others one forms an
idea of how new behaviors are performed, and on later occasions this coded
information serves as a guide for action” (p. 22).
Therefore, learning is a relationship between the learner and the environment.

Merriam & Caffarella (1999) suggest, “Behavior is a function of the interaction
between the person with the environment. This is a reciprocal concept in that
people influence their environment, which in turn influences the way they behave”
(p. 260). Interestingly, Charbonneau, Barling, & Kelloway (2000) explain
leadership development through a social learning framework. The authors found

that adolescents tend to mirror behavior displayed by their fathers and in turn,
display these characteristics with their peers. Additionally, Zacharatos, Barling
& Kelloway (2000) found that, if attributes of transformational leadership exist
in youth, this may have a major effect on later leadership in adulthood. In their
research, the authors determined that children who perceived their parents to be
transformational tended to display these behaviors. These same adolescents were
more likely thought of as transformational by their peers and coaches.
Social learning theory is an important learning theory for leadership

development. First, leadership is contextual; what works in one situation may
not work in another. Leadership development opportunities should help
participants better understand their environment and how it affects those within
in it. After all, people are products of their environment and have learned what
is, and is not, socially acceptable within their organization. At times, the real
culture is different from the espoused culture. A culture that promotes
communication, honesty, ethical behavior, and transparency may not accept
individuals with differing values (and vice versa).
In addition, social learning underscores the importance of congruence between

leadership development and the corresponding culture. For example, Moxley &
O’Conner-Wilson (1998) suggest that, “one organization’s leadership
development program focused on helping people develop the skills needed to
effectively operate in a flatter, more team-based environment. Yet, the performance
appraisal and compensation system put more emphasis on individual performance.
The reward system undermined the goal of developing a team-based work
environment” (p. 229). Leadership development initiatives that do not align
with the “real” organisational culture encounter challenges from the outset. Mixed
messages likely occur and, in the end, the individual is forced (or encouraged) to
act in a manner congruent with the organization’s theory-in-use rather than the
espoused theory.
On a more individualised level, social learning emphasizes the need for leaders
or teachers to exemplify the desired behavior(s). Proponents of social learning
assert that teachers or leaders who do not model the desired behavior undermine
efforts to effect lasting change. For instance, supervisors who promote one course
of action, yet do not themselves exemplify this behavior, likely undermine their
own efforts. To summarize, people learn behavior(s) based on modeling in their
environment; this concept can either help or hinder leadership development
initiatives depending on the cultural context once participants return to their
work environments.
Developmentalism/Transformative Learning
While behavioral approaches to adult learning focus on skill and competency
building and social learning theory focuses on one’s environment,
developmentalism closely examines the learner’s meaning-making system
(similar to cognitivism). Linked closely to the concepts of Kegan’s constructivist/
developmental theory, perhaps the best known theory of developmentalism is
Mezirow’s transformative learning (also known as transformational learning).
Transformative learning occurs when individuals critically reflect upon their

environment and learning. Through intense reflection, individuals transform their
thinking and view of the world. Jack Mezirow introduced the topic of
transformative learning in 1978. Central to the theory of transformative learning
is the notion that adults make new meaning of their experiences. In the words of
Mezirow (2000), “That is why it is so important that adult learning emphasize
contextual understanding, critical reflection on assumptions, and validating
meaning by assessing reasons. The justification for much of what we know and
believe, our values and our feelings, depends on the context – biographical,
historical, cultural – in which they are embedded. We make meaning with different
dimensions of awareness and understanding; in adulthood we may more clearly
understand our experiences when we know under what conditions an expressed
idea is true or justified” (p. 4-5).
For Mezirow, adult learning is about developing autonomous thinking which

aligns nicely with the objectives of many leadership development programs.
According to Mezirow (2000), learning occurs in the following ways: by elaborating
existing frames of reference, by learning new frames of reference, by transforming
points of view, or by transforming habits of mind. Learning occurs when meaning
structures (also known as a “frame of reference”) change. Frames of reference are
displayed in two distinct ways: in a habit of mind and in a point of view. A habit of
mind may be a political stance such as liberal or conservative, a preference for
introversion or extroversion and other orientations or world views. A point of view
is the habit of mind expressed and “arbitrarily determines what we see and how we
see it – cause-effect relationships, scenarios of sequences of events, what others will
be like and our idealized self image” (Mezirow, 2000, p. 18).
Imel asserts (1998), “perspective transformation explains how the meaning

structures that adults have acquired over a lifetime become transformed” (n.p.).
Mezirow and others reinforce the need for critical reflection for transformative
learning to occur. Critical reflection assists learners in confronting their political,
economic, social, cultural, and religious viewpoints; allowing individuals to
become more aware of how these (and others) affect their view of the world.
Regarding critical reflection, Brookfield (1996) asserts, “education is centrally
concerned with the development of a critically aware frame of mind, not with the
uncritical assimilation of previously defined skills or bodies of knowledge”
(p. 17). For example, encouraging adults to better understand the reasoning
behind policies, procedures, and cultural norms assists in helping the organization
grow and troubleshoot problems or areas of concern.
Another central theme of Mezirow’s work is the concept of a “disorienting

dilemma.” A disorienting dilemma is a life event or crisis that forces individuals
to see their world, their relationships, and/or their lives in different and new
ways. As an aside, it does not necessarily have to be one event; a disorienting
dilemma can be a string of events or combination of events that cause people to
change their views. Transformative learning fosters a critical change in an
individual’s meaning structures and, as a result, individuals develop new frames
of reference. In a way, transformative learning provides the “how” to Kegan’s
constructivist/developmental theory of development.
As individuals’ frames of reference and meaning-making develop, so do their

views and perspectives of the world. As a result, this method may help participants
increase their self-awareness, which is a major theme in leadership development
literature. For instance, Goleman et. al., (2002) assert that “self-awareness means
having a deep understanding of one’s emotions, as well as one’s strengths and
limitations and one’s values and motives” (p. 40). Personal growth and
self-awareness permeate the literature on leadership development. Personal growth
programs are “based, generally, on the assumption that leaders are individuals
who are deeply in touch with their personal dreams and talents and who will act
to fulfill them” (Conger, 1992, p. 45-46).
Learning based on developmentalism is heavily influenced by stage theorists.

For example, Piaget might suggest that instructors be aware of the learners’ cultural
backgrounds and developmental stages and learning should be tailored to the
needs of the individual needs of participants. As a result, architects of leadership
development programs must be aware of these factors as they progress through
their learning. Further, learning will be maximized when it is tailored to an
individual’s developmental level.
Transformative learning occurs when individuals critically reflect upon their

environment and learning. Through intense reflection, individuals transform their
thinking and view of the world.
Transfer of Learning
An important concept from the adult learning literature is transfer of learning.
Transfer of learning is a crucial piece of leadership development often left
unplanned. Caffarella (2002) defines transfer of learning as “the effective
application by program participants of what they learned as a result of attending
an education or training program” (p. 204). On balance, if the education does
not result in perspective transformation, learning, or change in behavior, it could
be argued that the investment was a poor one. According to Phillips, Jones, and
Schmidt (2000), learning does not transfer to the job in 90 percent of cases. If
true, this is a staggering number for those involved in leadership development.
Caffarella (2002, p. 212) devotes an entire chapter to this topic and highlights a
number of enhancers and barriers to transfer of learning. She also compares these
barriers and enhancers at a number of levels. These levels include:
• Program Participants
• Program Design and Execution
• Program Content
• Changes Required to Apply Learning
• Organizational Context
• Community or Societal Forces
Planning for transfer of learning at all levels of programming is a crucial step

in the leadership development process. For example, I recently taught an
introduction to business course for undergraduates. When discussing a “matrix
organizational structure” or “human resources functions,” a natural barrier is
that there is little match between the learning environment and the application
context. In fact, a student may not have an opportunity to experience this context
for years. Therefore, it is a foreign concept and will likely be lost by the time the
undergraduate experiences it first hand. On the other hand, if I were working
with adult students who work in a matrix organization and interacted with human
resources on a regular basis, a different learning experience would exist.
Of course, this short article only scratches the surface when it comes to transfer
of learning. However, it is an important concept often overlooked by architects of
leadership development interventions. Again, if the assertion made by Phillips,
Jones, and Schmidt holds (2000) (learning does not transfer to the job in 90
percent of cases), then there is much work to be done.
Adult Learning Theory & Leadership Development

An example of how adult learning theory aligns with leadership development
may be found in the work of Jay Conger. In his book Learning to Lead, Conger
(1992) outlines four types of leadership training. Based on his qualitative research,
leadership development programs (or aspects of programs) fall into four categories:
personal growth, conceptual understanding, feedback and skill building. Each of
these categories aligns nicely with one or more of the adult learning theories
mentioned in this article.
Personal growth programs are “based, generally, on the assumption that leaders
are individuals who are deeply in touch with their personal dreams and talents
and who will act to fulfill them” (Conger, 1992, p. 45-46). Essentially, the purpose
of these programs is to increase self-awareness and emphasize self-exploration.

Conger notes that four organizations/movements spawned the growth of these
types of programs – National Training Laboratories, the humanistic psychology
movement, Outward Bound and The Peace Corps. Such programs naturally align
with the tenets found in cognitivism and developmentalism.
The second category is conceptual understanding which primarily focuses on

theories of leadership. Conger notes that these have traditionally occurred in
universities, although in the late 80s and 90s programs such as Kouzes and Posner’s
Leadership Challenge brought some of this thinking to the mainstream. Similar
to personal growth programs, cognitivism and developmentalism may serve as a
guide for designing the learning intervention.
Leadership development through feedback is the third category. Feedback

instruments such as the MBTI and 360-degree instruments are utilized in the
majority of leadership development programs. These are used in an effort to help
individuals locate areas for improvement. A program with feedback as a primary
objective may incorporate any number of learning theories depending on the
objectives of the feedback intervention.
Conger’s final category is skill building. According to Conger, this is the

most common method utilized in leadership development training and has
grown increasingly difficult to teach as our thinking about leadership has
progressed. However, to do it right, these programs take a great deal of time
and must be reinforced back on the job; Conger (1992) notes that “a four or
five-day program can introduce the basics of a skills set to participants, but
cannot truly develop it for most of them” (p. 179). A natural fit for a program
hoping to build the skills of participants is behaviorism which emphasizes trial
and error along with intense feedback.
Conclusion
Although there are no all-encompassing theories of adult learning, it is important
to be aware of what each of the primary theories proposes. Merriam and Caffarella
(1999) suggest that “learning is a personal process… the context of adult life and
the social context shape what an adult needs and wants to learn and, to a somewhat
lesser extent, when and where learning takes place” (p. 1). A leadership
development program that incorporates the thinking of behaviorists, cognitivists,
social learning theorists and developmentalists will not only involve learners at a
higher level, it will help architects of leadership development programming design
and implement interventions and environments more conducive to learning. And
it seems to me, that it what we are trying to do – create interventions and learning
opportunities that are truly transformative in nature.
(Scott J Allen, Ph.D. John Carroll University (Cleveland, OH). He can be reached
at Scott@cldmail.com).
References
Bandura, A. (1977). Social Learning Theory. New York: General Learning Press.
Brookfield, S. (1986). Understanding and facilitating adult learning. San Francisco, CA:
Jossey-Bass.
Caffarella, R. S. (2002). Planning program for adult learners: A practical guide for
educators, trainers, and staff developers. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Charbonneau, D., Barling, J. & Kelloway, E. (2001). Transformational leadership and sports
performance: The mediating role of intrinsic motivation. Journal of Applied Social Psychology,
31 (7), 1521-1534.
Conger, J. (1992). Learning to lead: The art of transforming managers into leaders. San
Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Conger, J. & Benjamin, B. (1999). Building leaders: How successful companies develop the
next generation. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Goleman, D., Boyatzis, R. & McKee, A. (2002). Primal leadership: Realizing the power of
emotional intelligence. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.
Imel, S. (1998). Transformative Learning in Adulthood (Columbus, OH: ERIC
Clearinghouse on Adult Career and Vocational Education. (ERIC Document
Reproduction Service No. ED423426)
Knowles, M. (1998). The adult learner: A neglected species (5th ed.). Houston, TX: Gulf
Publishing Company.
McCall, M. W., Lombardo, M. M., & Morrison, A. M. (1988). The lessons of experience:
How successful executives develop on the job. Lexington, MA: Lexington Books.
Merriam, S. B., & Caffarella, R. S. (1999). Learning in adulthood: A comprehensive guide. San
Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Mezirow, J. & Associates (2000). Learning as transformation: Critical perspectives on a theory in
progress. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Moxley, R. & O’Conner-Wilson, P. (1998). A systems approach to leadership development,
In McCauley, D., Moxley, R., & Van Velsor, E. (Eds.), The center for creative leadership
handbook of leadership development. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Phillips, J., Jones, W. & Schmidt, C. (2000). Level 3 application: Business results. Info Line.
Alexandria, VA: ASTD.
Rothwell, W. J. & Sredl, H. J. (1992). ASTD reference guide to professional human resource
development roles and competencies, volume II (2nd ed.). Amherst, MA: HRD Press.
Zacharatos, A., Barling, J., and Kelloway, E. (2000). Development and effects of
transformational leadership in adolescents. Leadership Quarterly, 11 (2), 211-226.
4
BOOK REVIEW
Growing Your Company’s Leaders

How Great Organizations Use Succession
Management to Sustain Competitive Advantage*
Kunal Gaurav
Traditionally “Succession Management” has been considered

as a mainstay of the Human Resource department with its
primary focus to identify replacement for senior executives,who
might leave the organization in near future due to resignation
or retirement. However, the Modern Succession Management
is an ongoing activity responsible for identifying, assessing,
developing and monitoring the internal talent to ensure the
continuous supply of required talent at all the levels.
I t is a well-known fact that the competitive environment is changing at a fast

rate and if a firm dreams of being successful then it has to ensure that the
right place is occupied by the right person in the organization. This book is
written to help every organization use succession management as a source of
strategic advantage. The book is based on the study (conducted by authors for
* This is a review of the book “Growing Your Company’s Leaders: How Great Organizations Use Succession
Management to Sustain Competitive Advantage” written by Robert M Fulmer and Jay A Conger and published by
AMACOM.
This review earlier appeared in the book “Contemporary Perspectives – Leadership”. © The Icfai University Press.
All rights reserved.
Growing Your Company’s Leaders: How Great Organizations Use Succession... 39
the American productivity and quality center) of six successful global companies
that have created strong, self-perpetuating succession system viz. Dow Chemical,
Bank of America, Dell Computer, Eli Lilly and Company, Pan Canadian Petroleum,
and Sonoco Products Company. This book also examines how these companies
applied succession management practices to identify, track, and develop their
future leaders.
Growing Your Company’s Leaders

This book provides a detailed blueprint for designing an effective succession system
at an organization. It examines:
• The link between succession management and business strategy
• The architecture of good plans and how technology can make them better
• The importance of individual employee development
• Why senior management support is crucial
• How to monitor the effectiveness of the succession management system.
Importance and Need

There is competition between different companies for the human capital because
it is understood that ‘People’ are the key for successful business. Availability of
better career prospects motivates the people to move into other organizations.
Now many small firms are targeting the same kind of talent, that has been
historically reserved for the large firms with a separate recruitment department.
Generation ‘X’ employees have little sense of corporate loyalty because they believe
that loyalty is no longer rewarded. Traditionally succession management has been
considered as a necessary HR function with a primary purpose of identifying
replacements of senior executives, who may leave the organization in the near
future, by developing a list of potential candidates who are ready to move up the
corporate ladder. But the modern day succession management is an ongoing
activity which is responsible for identifying, assessing, developing and monitoring
the internal talent for the next level position. Basically there are two broad purposes
of an effective succession management system; first is to serve the needs of the
organization by ensuring continuous supply of required talent, and second is to
help the internal talent to remain challenged and motivated to prevent job
hopping. The authors opine that effective succession management practices should
have the following characteristics:
• Simple and easy to use

• Development orientation
• Top management support
• Ability to spot talent gap and important “lynchpin” position
• Ability to ensure timely placement to right people on right job
• Built around continual reinvention.
This book also talks about the key dimensions of a succession management
system that promote leadership development such as corporate strategy, sponsors
and owners, talent identification and talent pool, developmental linkage, assessors,
tracking and metrics. Finally, it can be concluded that succession management is
all about defining and identifying talent – what it looks like, who has it, who
needs to develop it, and how it can best be developed.
Top Management Buy-in

Historically, HR function is considered as a natural owner of the succession
management process. The authors suggest that top level management along with
corporate HR should own the succession management process, because the effect
of any succession management system depends on a broad set of owners and
sponsors. When Ken Lewis joined Bank of America, he immediately reviewed the
available talent and accordingly made some plans to develop them to ensure that
“the right people are placed in the right position”. The authors’ study also confirms
that all the well-run organizations have senior management more involved in Succession
Planning. For example, Sonoco executive committee is composed of eight members
including CEO, CFO, and VP; they meet annually for an entire week to discuss
succession planning. The whole discussion is focused on the performance and potential
for the promotion and placement of the individual manager.
In Pan Canadian, the President and CEO is the main driver for the succession
management functions. They established a Center Of Excellence (COE) which is
responsible for assessing, developing and implementing all the succession

management activities and reporting directly to Corporate HR. It is obvious that
without top-level support and commitment, it is almost impossible to operate
an effective succession planning process. One of the greatest advantages of
top-level support is that it ensures a much tighter link to the overall business
strategy and to the corporate value along with timely financial support.
Assessment Tools
The success of any succession management function depends upon accurate
assessment of present and desired future talent. It is also observed that individuals
with high performance rates at one level don’t always show the same fire at the
next level. Best performance organizations use a variety of identification tools to
assess individual talent and talent pool along with different dimensions of current
performance as well as their potential.
The Competency Model (assessing individuals on the basis of their competency)

is found to be the most effective when they focus on few items that set effective
leaders in the organization apart from less effective ones, rather than listing every
positive trait that all leaders might possess. This model also uses performance
matrix, promotability matrix and multi-rater 360-degree feedback as the sources
of different information for succession management. Best practice organizations
begin their identification process by establishing competencies for each position.
These are established core competency and leadership competency.
Maintaining Unique Talent Base

Unique talent base of an organization is still considered as a competitive advantage
for that organization. McKinsey recommended a three-tier system for sorting
employees. Those in top group are put on the fast track to leadership in both
assignment and compensation, those in middle group are encouraged towards
future group of leadership, those at the bottom of the pyramid are pressurized to
“shape up or ship out”. This system is also known as “rank and yank”. On the one
hand this “rank and yank” system is shortsighted and believes in “survival of the
fittest” approach, on the other hand “war for the talent” believes in questioning
that; where are the leaders of tomorrow coming from? The probable answer
suggests that the leaders of tomorrow are most likely to be coming from inside
the company. These people have immense talent, if given an opportunity they
will always prove themselves and if these talents are unnoticed they may leave the
organization for a better career option.
Identifying high potential employees is not enough; it should be linked with

developing those talents to make them suitable for next level position. Pan
Canadian’s Leadership development framework is based on “Hub & Spoke” system
in which “leadership competency development” is the hub and spokes are
succession management, performance management, mentoring, on the job
experience and stretch development opportunity.
Evaluating Succession Management

Developing an effective leadership talent base is a long-term investment for the
organization.
The ultimate effectiveness of any succession system depends on its ability to

place talented individuals in the right opportunity at the right moment, to retain
that talent over time, and to produce a steady and adequate supply of competent
leaders, given on hand and upcoming requirements faced by the organization. In
this line tracking the individual progress is a necessary dimension of a best practice
succession process.
Combinations of qualitative and quantitative assessment methods ensure the

effectiveness of an evaluation program. Higher retention rate is a positive sign for
the success of succession process. That is why Dow Chemical measures the
effectiveness by comparing its future leaders’ attrition rate with the company’s
global attrition rate.
Effectiveness can also be measured by comparing the future talent gap with
the number of candidates ready to move for the required position. Bank of America
relies on several ways to measure the effectiveness; by measuring the performance
goal, by tracking the number of “ready now” replacement and by knowing the
actual diversity mix of the employees.
Trends
The renovation of succession management over the last one decade has been very
exciting. Succession processes will continue to become an integral part of everyday
life of the organization. Technology will play a very important role in facilitating
succession management process. Amount of effort will increase at training, a line
manager and executives to perform objective assessment.
The present succession program relies heavily upon 360-degree feedback; as

an information source about individual capability. There is a possibility of
misleading information by rater to protect the colleague; this can trouble the
whole succession planning. So, great caution should be taken as we consider
360-degree feedback as an assessment or administration tool in succession
management. Along with future trends, this book also talks about some challenges
succession management is expected to face in future.
Conclusion
Succession Management is not only about getting people to reach for common
goals by helping them; it is also about developing successors who can follow suit.
Such leadership, we learn, was behind the success of Eli Lilly and Company, Dell
Computer Corp., Bank of America, and Dow Chemical.
According to the authors, leadership is the most important factor behind the
“sustainability” of many a successful company’s growth.
Although this book is a summarized version of the research study of the authors,
it does not read like an academic article. Rather, the authors have achieved an
approachable style that gets to the point of the results and how managers can
benefit from them. Readers can get real life experience because the book is based
on first-hand information.
The authors have also given some specific information that helps a lot in
designing and redesigning an organization’s succession management program.
This book is worth reading for management educators, researchers, HR
practitioners and management students to have an insight into what makes an
organization best in its efficiency and effectiveness, with an understanding about
how to prepare an organization to remain competitive forever.
(Kunal Gaurav, Research Scholar, the Icfai Institute for Management Teachers,
Hyderabad. He can be reached at kunaliimt@gmail.com).
5
BOOK REVIEW
The Power of 360 Degree Feedback

Maximizing Managerial and Leadership Effectiveness*
Shubhasheesh Bhattacharya
The book, ‘The Power of 360 Degree Feedback – Maximizing

Managerial and Leadership Effectiveness’, discusses
developing leadership among managers. The authors, by
using their real-time experiences in conducting workshops
and 360 degree feedback from senior and top level managers,
discuss the qualities, roles and different managerial styles
of an effective leader and the ways to develop conducive
environment for grooming effective leader-manager.
I n this book, the authors explain what an effective personality is and how a
manager can become effective. The book discusses the qualities of leaders, the
roles performed by leaders, and the different leadership styles that make them
effective. It further explains how delegation of power is an important competence,
required to encourage leadership activities and how it is helpful for managers to
focus on larger issues. The process of 360 degree feedback is explained very well.
* This is a review of the book “The Power of 360 Degree Feedback: Maximizing Managerial and Leadership
Effectiveness” written by T V Rao and Raju Rao and published by Response Books, a Division of Sage
Publications, 2005.
The Power of 360 Degree Feedback: Maximizing Managerial and Leadership... 45
The actual experiences and the tools of this feedback process are explained.
The authors have also explained their experiences of using 360 degree feedback
in various organizations, how training needs are identified and how it is used for
coaching and developing competencies.
An effective person has a high degree of self-awareness, knows his strengths

and weaknesses. The 360 degree feedback is one of the most effective tools to
reduce blind spots, use hidden talents and capabilities, and initiate actions to
discover new areas or competencies. Apart from self-awareness, there are some
other qualities which enhance personal and managerial effectiveness, e.g.,
action-orientation, self-disclosure, receptivity to feedback, interpersonal sensitivity,
self-confidence, trustworthiness, goal-orientation, drive, passion, etc.
A manager manages day-to-day activities (transactional role), whereas a leader

gives direction (transformational role). All leaders can also be managers, but all
managers need not necessarily be leaders. To be effective, every manager is also
required to play the leadership role. Four types of competencies are required to
make an impact as a leader-manager.
These are technical competencies, managerial competencies, human relations

competencies, and conceptual competencies. Each of these competencies includes
knowledge, attitudes, values, motives, self-awareness and skills. The combinations
that make a manager effective may vary from time-to-time and depend on the
nature of the business or organizational activity, environment, etc.
Technical competence is essential to understand, design, plan and conduct

business. This includes knowledge relating to own business/product line,
competitors, technology, manufacturing process, etc.
Managerial competence is required to manage business operations effectively.

It includes skills like people management, customer management, team
management, public relations, etc.
Human relations competence includes the skills to develop people, systems,

culture, values, etc. To make the best impact, the leader-manager should use
appropriate styles, have the right kind of beliefs and attitudes, and be able to
exhibit a high level of sensitivity.
Conceptual competence includes the ability to integrate information and link

parts, ability to look into future, ability to visualize invisible, ability to anticipate
environmental changes, etc.
There are around 3,000 empirical investigations on leadership and over 70

definitions. Sumantra Ghoshal and Bartlett’s lessons from case studies for the role
of top management indicate that it may be true that risks can be reduced by
introducing strategy, structures, systems, etc., but it should be recognized that the
diversity of human skills and the unpredictability of the human nature make
initiative, creativity and entrepreneurship possible. The basic role of top management
is to recapture valuable human qualities by individualizing the corporation.
Various studies reviewed earlier indicate the following:
Leadership is critical for business development; leadership is not limited to

few people in the organization. Each one’s leadership competencies can be
developed, leaders need to be developed for growth and survival, managers should
explore their own talent and develop leadership competencies, self-awareness is a
first critical step, organizational programs and plans are required to develop
leadership talent.
Zenger and Folkman (2003) have identified about 20 remarkable insights on

the basis of their study using 360 degree feedback data of about 2,00,000 managers,
which was assessed by over 20,000 assessors using 20 different instruments. From
this study, the following implications can be drawn for building competencies:
1. Display high personal character.
2. Start doing small things, leading to big things.
3. Excel at something.
4. Connect competencies and leverage combinations.
5. Use a non-linear approach to become a better leader.
6. Build on your strengths.
7. Remedy fatal flaws.
8. Work on these fatal flaws fast and vigorously.
A study on the 360 degree feedback collected by TVRLS of over 3,000 senior
and top level managers from about 100 organizations, shows that the most neglected
roles are: Articulating vision and values, inspiring and developing subordinates,
understanding and meeting internal customer needs and requirements, teamwork
and team-building, and culture-building and institutionalization.
Creating a Proper Motivational Climate

The following factors can help leaders and managers to create a proper motivational
climate: A climate of independence and interdependence rather than dependence,
healthy competition through recognition of good work, approach and
problem-solving rather than avoidance, ideal climate through personal example,
and motivate people through guidance and counseling.
Delegation involves eight essential steps (Pareek, 1994). They are as follows:
Jointly define the boundaries, provide needed competencies, provide needed
resources, monitor, but do not closely supervise, reward discretion and initiative,
respect role boundaries jointly analyze mistakes to plan the future, and review
delegation down the line.
The forces that facilitate the delegation process are competence of delegate,
eagerness to take responsibility, overload of the delegator, inner high sense of
security of the delegator, mutual trust, and entrepreneurial culture.
The forces that hinder the delegation process are high need for dependency of
delegatee (rather than need for independency), lack of initiative, high control
needs of the delegator, inability to groom juniors, lack of role-clarity, crisis
management in the organization, and autocratic/bureaucratic culture.
Following seem to be main areas for promoting delegation change of

culture, climate and ethos, clarity of roles, managerial styles and behavior and
competence building.
The Human Resource Development Manager of Birla Group company reported

that one of the senior executives had undergone 360 degree feedback. The senior
executive was perceived as a task-oriented person, working in isolation, not sharing
information with team members, highly cost-conscious, giving less importance
to people development related matters, always speak about profitability/

productivity, and show less involvement with local government officials.
After the 360 degree feedback exercise, he was found to be sharing all information
with team members, team-working, talking about people-development-related
matters, attending training programs, seminars, etc., believing that the company’s
image building is with people and their attitudinal aspects, more involvement
with union leaders, local government, etc.
Some of us are more aware of our strengths only and take our weaknesses and
their negative impact on others for granted. Others are more aware of their
weaknesses but take them for granted as a part of their personality and even
consider them as “God-given.” This lowers their self-worth and they carry it with
them. Such people set low expectations for themselves so that they do not have to
face failures. They blame others for their inadequacies.
Kurt Lewin introduced “T-Group Training.” In this methodology, an individual

is required to work with a group of eight to ten other individuals, who are strangers
to each other. Assumption is that in a group of strangers, individuals have nothing
at stake in giving negative feedback. Known people may not be giving frank and
objective feedback. T-Groups are able to give lot of insight about the individuals.
Basic Objectives of 360 Degree Feedback

The following are the basic objectives of 360 degree feedback: Providing an insight
into the strengths and weaknesses of individuals, identifying developmental needs
and preparing developmental plans for the individuals, generating data to serve
as a more objective basis for rewards and personnel related decisions, reinforcing
other change management efforts and interventions for organizational effectiveness,
serving as a basis for performance-linked pay, aligning individual and group goals
with organizational vision, values, goals, culture building, leadership development,
potential appraisal, career planning and succession planning, team building, role
clarity, increased accountability, etc.
Some important prerequisites for participation in 360 degree feedback are top
management support and commitment, and their willingness to subject themselves
for an assessment by their subordinates and colleagues, people take feedback
with positive spirit, HR department having a high level of credibility, managers

who are interested in learning about themselves, no interventions, and handling
softer issues well.
In 360 degree feedback, multiple perspective evaluation is more complete

and accurate than traditional top-down evaluation. Self-evaluation aspect of 360
degree is very important. Self-evaluations force employees and managers to sit
down and think about their strengths and weaknesses.
Some drawbacks are there. For example, subordinates may rate bosses high
because they may be afraid of retaliation. Peers may tend to evaluate each other
positively. Or peers who are competing with each other may tend to rate their
colleagues on the lower side.
Many experts advise that 360 degree feedback should be used to help managers
and employees identify the strengths and weaknesses. It should not be used for
taking decisions like salary raise, promotions, etc.
While using 360 degree feedback, there should be proper alignment between
individual and organizational goals. It should be linked to the strategy of the
organization, the change needs to be monitored, and business-related feedback is
to be more focused. One of the most important aspects of the 360 degree feedback
is that the employees should have trust in the process, accept the feedback with
positive spirit and make proper use of it (irrespective of whether the feedback is
positive or negative).
The 360 degree feedback can be used for building competence. Effective
management and leadership qualities are viewed as four sets of variables: Roles,
Styles, Delegation and Qualities. This is called RSDQ model.
The 360 degree feedback instruments of TVRLS were administered in many

organizations like Aditya Birla Group, Tata Finance Ltd., Novell India Ltd., Bajaj
Auto Ltd., Amway India, Bharti Enterprises, Taj Group of Hotels, Titan, Tata
Cummins, etc.
The book discusses developing leadership in school principals through 360

degree feedback; assessing teachers and parents through 360 degree feedback;
experience of Indian School of Business (ISB) on peer feedback for students; and
360 degree feedback for NGOs.
Human Resource department was found to perform some of the roles like
promoting the concept through orientation workshops, acting as the coordinating
body, finalizing the list of assessors, sending the questionnaires, compiling the
feedback and preparing the profile, liaising with the external agency in preparing
feedback profiles, conducting counseling sessions and reviewing developments of
post-360 degree feedback, etc.
Some of the important points, emerged from feedback in the area of 360
degree feedback, are feedback from multiple sources has more credibility, as
individual biases are minimized. It is an efficient tool, mainly because it
emphasizes differences in self-perception and reality. It has positive impacts like
strengthening leadership competencies, increased customer orientation, greater
sensitivity, increased team orientation, etc. It is also a powerful stimulator for
change, especially in the area of five components of emotional intelligence, namely:
1. Persistence in the face of failure.
2. Emotional control in dealing with interpersonal stress and conflict.
3. Humility or lack of arrogance while dealing with others.
4. Interpersonal sensitivity and empathy.
5. Self-awareness and insight.
This is a good book on 360 degree feedback, having a good blend of theory
and practice. A must read book for all concerned, especially for academicians and
management practitioners.
(Shubhasheesh Bhattacharya, Faculty Member, the Icfai Business School, Pune.)

From International Management to Leadership – Implications... 51
6
From International Management to
Leadership – Implications for
Cross-Cultural Leadership Development
David Laughton
Management has changed today. Earlier, the emphasis was

on organisational efficiency and productivity. The focus
today in this new age of global competition is to increase
corporate influence across countries, cultures and territorial
boundaries. To ensure that this goal is met, the need of the
hour is to have a global manager, who has the mindset, ability
and the desire to survive and succeed in a cross-cultural
and multicultural context. Through this article, the author
highlights what kind of leadership and management skills
are required from leaders to fulfil this need and also how
companies can assist in this endeavour.
Introduction
With the advent of globalisation the transnational corporation has become a key
agent in the evolving dynamic of the world economic system, and the global
process of wealth creation. As companies have moved from international and
The article earlier appeared in the book “Effective Leadership: Lessons in a Cross Cultural Context” published by the
Icfai University Press. © David Laughton. Printed with permission.
multidomestic business strategies to truly global strategies, the challenges to

managers in global companies have become both more complex and demanding.
If the dominant theme of 20th century management of large enterprises was
ensuring the efficiency of vertically integrated corporations, then the theme of
the early part of the 21st century will be the leveraging of company competencies
across international borders. This calls for a new breed of managers, one with a
global mindset and the skills, capabilities and personal disposition to succeed in
a variety of different cultural contexts. This article will suggest the nature of
management and leadership skills required to succeed in the age of global
companies and global competition, and will outline ways in which companies
can prepare and develop the global leadership skills required of their executives if
they are to contribute to this global business agenda.
Understanding Managers
The investigation into the nature of management in organisations became an
important concern in the twentieth century, as the growth and size of businesses
presented challenges to co-ordination and decision-making. Early writings on
this subject focused on the essence of the perceived process and abstracted the
key elements. For example, Barnard writing in 1938 suggested that:
“Executive work is not that of the organisation but the specialised work of maintaining
the organisation in operation”.
– Barnard, C, 1938
Later, Brech put forward the view that management should be seen as:
“A social process entailing responsibility for the effective and economic planning
and regulation of operations of an enterprise, in fulfilment of given purposes or tasks”.
– Brech, E F L. 1975
This would involve the activities of judgement and decision-making, using

data to control progress, guidance and motivation of personnel. These views were
echoed in the work of the great researcher into management practice in the
twentieth century, Henry Mintzberg. Mintzberg identified three general roles
performed by managers: interpersonal roles, e.g., leader or figurehead;

informational roles, e.g., the monitoring or dissemination of information; and
decisional roles, e.g., resource allocator or disturbance handler. Management
education drew upon these ideas in the content of management training and
development initiatives, attempting to equip managers with the knowledge that
would allow them to be successful in their roles. But not always successfully. The
best students were not always, the best managers, and the tendency to reduce
management to a list of technical skills became increasingly problematical for
both researchers and management developers alike. In answer to the question
“What do managers do all day?” Carlson’s research (Carlson 1951) suggested
that they go to meetings and talk to people. The work of senior managers was
characterised by long hours, taking work home and travel. Top managers were
seen as a figure head for the company, spending 44% of their time away from the
company and 33% of their time on visits and meetings at other places. Their
work was highly interactive, with 80% of their time spent in meetings, conferences
and discussions, with consequently little time for reading, thinking and planning.
Only 10% of their time was spent in their offices and even this time was highly
fragmented, on a range of tasks and interruptions. They had a preference for
verbal rather than written communication, and a deep understanding of the nature
of their work and the demands of their role. Meetings and discussions with others
had the purpose of obtaining information to enable the monitoring and control
of events.
Mintzberg himself arrived at similar findings to Carlson’s but went further.

Mintzberg (1973) suggested that managerial work is actually unprogrammed,
which is at the heart of its complexity. Managers are seen to operate through the
exercise of power, much of which is based upon the possession of information,
often accumulated through informal mechanisms. Managers’ work is characterised
by brevity, variety and fragmentation, it is interactive rather than contemplative,
and quasi-intuitive rather than a scientific process. This view of management as
an amalgam of skills, attributes, behaviours and competencies is echoed in more
recent writings on the nature of management. Pedler, Burgoyne and Boydell for
example identify a number of management “qualities,” which reflect the required
“hard” and “soft” elements in the diagnosis of the managerial role:
• Command of basic facts

• Relevant professional knowledge
• Continuing sensitivity to events
• Problem-solving, analytical, and decision-judgement making skills
• Social skills and abilities
• Emotional – resilience
• Proactivity-inclination to respond purposefully to events
• Creativity
• Mental agility
• Balanced learning habits and skills
• Self-knowledge
Clearly, there is a task of interpretation here, to define in more detail what

these labels mean, but the conception of management as a mix of technical,
social, personal and inter-personal skills is evident. For any aspiring manager the
challenge is a formidable one, but is further complicated in international
organisations due to the cultural dimensions of business activity: international
managers have to operate in environments where the norms and values are different
to their indigenous ones, adding an additional level of complexity. At its simplest,
living in a different country means the ways in which perceiving, acting and
valuing have been traditionally undertaken are no longer appropriate; what worked
in the home country organisation doesn’t usually work in the host country
organisation. An additional level of managerial competencies becomes relevant,
over and above the ones that have been described.
International Managers
We distinguish three different aspects of what might be termed cross-cultural
capability for international managers.
The first aspect is cross-cultural sensitivity, i.e., an appreciation of, and

responsiveness to, cultural differences. Managing within the context of cultural
differences has implications for a variety of management practices, such as
motivation of employees, communications and human resource deployment.

Bonvillian and Nowlin (1994) identify a number of behavioural manifestations
of cultural differences such as communications, aesthetics, time orientation and
personal achievement. The most famous research in this area is that conducted
by Hofstede (1991), who suggested four attitudinal dimensions of cultural
differences based upon the notions of power distance, uncertainty avoidance,
individualism and masculinity. Other researchers, such as Hampden-Turner and
Trompenaars (1993) have linked the values embedded within certain cultures to
the details of the wealth creation processes of those societies. They identify seven
valuing processes, each represented as a tension, with outcomes influenced by
the culturally conditioned balance within these tensions: universalism versus
particularism, analysing versus integrating, individualism versus communitarianism.
The challenge for the manager in this context is to harness cultural awareness in
the process of value creation for the organisation. Thus, the notion of cross-cultural
business skills becomes important in its own right.
A variety of researchers have suggested a typology of skills required by global

executives. For Bigelow (1994) these were as follows:
• Cultural and organisational understanding
• Adaptability
• Establishing relations
• System and multiple perspective thinking
• Attitudes and perceptions
• Sensitivity
• Language
• Culturally influenced decision-making
• Diplomacy
• Cross-cultural
For Lane and Distefano (1992) the abilities of global executives included
the following:
To –
• Develop and use global business skills
• Manage change and transition
• Manage cultural diversity
• Design and function in flexible organisation structures
• Work with others and in teams
• Communicate
• Learn and transfer knowledge in an organisation
And, for Adler and Bartholomew (1992), transnational management skills were:
• Global perspective
• Local responsiveness
• Synergistic learning
• Transition and adaptation
• Cross-cultural interaction
• Collaboration
• Foreign experience
These typologies produce a mix of technical skills, ways of thinking and ways
of behaving considered to be effective for executives working in an international
context. They suggest a third aspect to cross-cultural capability, which can be
called international management competence.
International management competence is a term used to suggest the ways of

thinking and ways of being that are specific to this aspect of agency. Ratiu (1983)
provides an early example of this kind of research, where he profiled managers
that were both more and less able to think internationally; some of the results of
this research were summarised by Hodgetts and Luthan (1994) below.
Wills and Barham suggest that being an international manager is associated

with a deep, holistic core competence, rooted within a person, constituted by
three interlinking parts: cognitive complexity, emotional energy and psychological
Characteristic More Able Managers Less Able Managers

Personal objectives Be able to adapt to individual people Be able to adapt to society
Perceived requirements No special skills are needed; effective Special skills are needed, such
for successful adaptation depends on the demands as patience, empathy, honesty,
interaction with others of the situation broadmindedness, flexibility
Questions to ask in What is happening? Search for Why is this happening? Search
adapting to new descriptions, interpretations and for explanations and
cultures meanings reasons
Relevant data in making Feelings and impressions are most Factors and information are
decisions important most important
Source: Hodgetts and Luthans (1994) based on Ratiu (1983).
maturity (Wills and Barham 1994). Each of these three aspects is further divided.
Cognitively complex individuals are observed to exhibit cultural empathy with
colleagues around them; the power of active listening (integrating both simple
and complex forms of information); and a sense of humility or a humble attitude
of mind, where they are happy to sound out and be guided by other individuals.
Emotional energy embodies emotional self-awareness; emotional resilience, or
the ability to open up and confront difficult emotional situations; and risk
acceptance i.e., a positive attitude to risk. Psychologically mature individuals
demonstrate a curiosity to learn, with all experience being viewed as a possibility
to learn; an orientation to time i.e., an ability to make the most of the present;
and personal morality manifested in a strong belief in the equality of human
rights and respect for the dignity of individuals. This framework emphasises the
psychological traits required by successful international managers. As such, it
rejects the view that international management is simply a matter of technical
skills or technique.
Indeed, the psychological attributes of those involved with international

organisations become crucial to their effectiveness and performance. This is
something which has been increasingly recognised by companies. Boutet, Milsolm
and Mercer (2000) for example, report the results of a review by Rothman’s
international to ensure its management competencies framework was fit for purpose
for an internationally diversified organisation. The company’s original eight
management competencies were subject to cross-cultural validation. The suggested
behaviours associated with each competence were then sensitised to this cross-
cultural perspective, as long as this was not deemed to clash with the company’s
core values. The results were a more sophisticated set of key behaviours associated
with each competence which were designed to be applicable across all the markets
within which Rothmans then operated. The example below demonstrates the
revised competency of leadership:
Definition Themes Key Behaviours

Teamleadership Setting direction 1. Leads by example, developing enthusiasm and
Sets direction, Gaining commitment commitment to the organisation’s goals and
mobilises effort Empowerment values.
and gains Personal visibility 2. Translates the overall strategy into something
commitment to meaningful and tangible for own team.
achieve business
3. Aligns the organisation with Rothman’s strategic
objectives. This
priorities, allocating resources to support their
involves
achievement.
developing a
culture of 4. Harnesses the expertise and contributions of
ownership, trust diverse individuals within and across functions.
and accessibility 5. Delegates activities and responsibilities to
maximise the team performance.
6. Makes sure everyone in the team has the
opportunity to contribute.
7. Encourages individuals to be accountable and to
identify their best contribution to the business.
8. Accepts responsibility for poor as well as good
team performance.
9. Makes self accessible and approachable to
others.
10.Identifies and removes obstacles preventing
team from reaching their objectives
Source: Boutet,, M. Milsolm, J. and Mercer, C. (1999-2000) page 28.
Clearly “… developing a culture of ownership, trust and accessibility” will be

approached in different ways in different cultural contexts, and harnessing
“… the expertise and contributions of diverse individuals within and across
functions” will also vary depending upon the cultural milieu within which the
organisation operates; international managers will, therefore, require the mental
toolkit and approach to respond to such contingent situations. The question of
how such attributes may be developed by individuals will be returned to later.

But first, it is appropriate to explore the difference between management and
leadership.
Management and Leadership

This task is informed by the now voluminous literature which reflects upon
leadership in organisations. Having said this, the nature of leadership is still
perceived by some to be a nebulous concept. At an over-simplistic level, leaders
are seen as people who do the right things, where managers are seen to be people
who do things right. Managers are seen to be involved in a process of exchange
with subordinates, with the aim of achieving task completion in return for some
form of organisational reward. In contrast, leaders are seen to be visionary and
inspirational, having the ability to encourage individuals to meet organisational
goals through high levels of commitment. At a more sophisticated level, Rausch
and Washbush (2000) perceive the role of leaders as one of alignment:
“…leaders must bring alignment between the characteristics and needs of the
organisational unit, or of the task, with the characteristics and needs of the people
involved and/or affected stakeholders.”
– Rausch and Washbush (2000)
They use a three Cs framework to illustrate this point:
The Organization
Performance
Control Competence Climate
Attitudes Knowledge and skills Needs
The Individual
The process of aligning, therefore, focuses upon the control needs of

organisation/task and attitudes of staff in relation to methods used to achieve and
exercise control; the competence needs of organisation/task and knowledge, skills
and abilities of stakeholders; and the climate offered by the organisation and the
psychological and tangible needs of staff members. This begs the question of how
leaders operate in response to this alignment challenge.
McCormick and Ilgen (1985) put forward a typology of leadership approaches

based upon a review of previous literature: positional, personal and processional.
The positional dimension is related to the job and position that a person is in,
and the exercise of the power and authority which comes with the job; little or
no credit is given to the individual in his or her own right. The personal dimension
is where the personal attribute of the individual enables him or her to be a leader.
The processional dimension focuses upon the process of leadership and about
what people have to do in order to influence others and achieve group goals; this
process is influenced by both the person and the job. Related to these three basic
concepts of leadership are three major theories of leadership: trait theory – relating
to the person; behaviour theory – relating to processional approaches; and
situation-moderation theories – looking at contextual influences on leadership
styles and effectiveness.
Research suggests that no one style or approach to leadership is optimal, and

that successful leaders switch between approaches in a contingent manner (Fiedler,
1967). This point has been taken up in the recent work of Goleman (2000) who
suggests that leaders who achieve the best business results utilise several leadership
styles, and switch between these as appropriate.
For Goleman, the ability to develop and use these leadership approaches in a
business context is related to the emotional intelligence of an individual:
Emotional Intelligence Leadership Styles Organisational
Self-awareness Coercive Cimate
Self-management Authoritative Performance
Social awareness Affiliative
Social skills Democratic
Pace setting
Coaching
Source: Goleman (2000).
Goleman’s Six Leaderhip Styles
Theme Coercive Authoritative Affiliative Democratic Pace Setting Coaching

The leader’s Demands Mobilises Creates harmony Forges consensus Sets high Develops
modus immediate people towards a and builds through standards for people for
operandi compliance vision emotional bonds participation performance the future
The style in a “Do what I tell “Come with “People come “What do you “Do as I do, “Try this”
phrase you” me” first” think” now”
Underlying Drive to Self-confidence, Empathy, Collaboration. Conscientiousness, Developing
emotional achieve, empathy, building Team drive to others,
intelligence initiative, change relationships, leadership, achieve, empathy,
competencies self-control catalyst communication communication initiative self-awareness
When style In a crisis, to kick When changes To heal rifts in a To build buy-in or To get quick To help an employee
works best start a require a new team or to consensus, or to results from a improve
turnaround, or vision, or when a motivate people get input from highly motivated performance or
with problem clear direction is during stressful valuable and competent develop long-term
employees needed circumstances employees team strengths
Overall impact Negative Most strongly Positive Positive Negative Positive
on climate positive
Source: Goleman, D. “Leadership that gets results,” Harvard Business Review, March-April 2000.
From International Management to Leadership – Implications...
61
Interestingly, Goleman does not discuss which of these leadership styles is

more important in particular cultural contexts. Clearly, and following from the
discussion so far, leadership styles will need to be sensitised to the local operating
environment to be effective. This is precisely the research that has been undertaken
as part of the GLOBE project (Global Leadership and Organisational Behaviour
Effectiveness). This research programme comprised a network of 170 scholars
and researchers from 62 countries who examined the impact of cultural variables
on leadership and organisational processes. Data was collected from more than
18,000 managers from countries representing the majority of the world’s
population; and important objective was to
China US
establish which leadership behaviours were Intuitive Rational
universally accepted and which were Aesthetic Scientific
influenced by cultural values. Leadership Introverted Extroverted
behaviours that were generally acceptable Self-restrained Aggressive
included being trustworthy, encouraging, Dependent Independent
effective bargaining, skilled administration and Procrastinating Active
communication, and team building. Those Implicit Explicit
found to be culturally contingent included Synthetic Analytical
charisma, team orientation, self-protection, Patient Impatient
participative, humane and autonomous Group oriented Individualistic
(Hartog et al 1999). By way of illustration, Desire for eternity Eager to
change
the work of Fan Xing (1995) is useful to
(i.e. continuity)
indicate how leadership approaches between
China and the US would need to be different in order to be effective. The cultural
traits of these countries are shown in the adjacent table.
The clear implication is that a leadership approach adopted in one country

would not be appropriate in the other one, and vice versa. This view is corroborated
by research undertaken by Glinlow et al (1999). Their suggestions are detailed
below:
The relationship between desirable leadership styles and other characteristics

in three nations.
US Japan Taiwan
A. Collectivism Low High Very high
Important leader The ability to help The ability to The ability to
qualification individual members generate facilitate
to realise their full consensus co-operation
potential
B. Egalitarianism Low High
Normative leader Dispense rewards/ Be fair to everyone Medium
behaviour punishments based and insure that Recognise and reward best
on individual favouritism is not performers, but encourage
performance of played in rewarding or worst ones as well; keep
employees reward differentiation the range narrow
C. Organisational Not important Very important Important
loyalty
Important leader Seniority is High seniority is a Seniority counts but
qualification downplayed desirable leader kinship/connection to the
qualification owners or executives is
more important
D. Belief in the Not strong Strong Strong
uniformity of
wisdom
Major leader role Convey Listen to ideas, Facilitate two-way
expected organisational vision complaints, or communications and
and goals to opinions and consider good ideas or
subordinates respond suggestions
E. Belief in the Not strong Strong Moderate
homogeneity of
potential
Emphasis on leader Experts in Broad-scope skills Broad scope experience is
training specialised areas and experiences balanced with specialised
are emphasised emphasised training
Source: Glinlow et. al., (1999).
Developing leaders in organisations is both a crucial and complex human

resource challenge. Developing global leaders, those who are effective in a number
of different cultural environments, is even more difficult. It is to this process of
global leadership development that we now turn.
Developing Global Leaders

It would be appropriate to gain insight into this issue from global companies
themselves. One of the most analysed companies in the 1990s in Business School
curricula was ABB (Asea Brown Boveri). ABB’s management development
philosophy has been summarised as follows:
Managers develop –
70% on the job
20% by the influence of others
10% as a result of courses and seminars
(Barham and Heimer, date? P336)
Or as Olsson, who was in charge of developing ABB’s senior managers puts it:
“Exposing talented people to demanding assignments and providing feedback and
support – that is the key to management development”.
– Barham and Heimer, date? P 326
These views were echoed by Percy Barnevik himself, who led ABB for
many years:
“Global managers are made, not born. There are many things you can do.
Obviously you rotate people around the world. There is no substitute for line
experience in three or four countries to create a global perspective. You also
encourage people to work in mixed nationality teams. You force them to create
personal alliances across borders, which means that you sometimes interfere in
hiring decisions”.
– Barham and Heimer, date? 333
In other words the notion of experiential learning is seen as key. For Stewart
Black and Gregerson, (1999) this experiential learning is most successfully achieved
when it is part of a holistic view of global leadership development, which consists
of the following: the motivation for sending senior corporate personnel abroad
should focus on knowledge creation and global leadership development (as opposed
to, for e.g., rewarding people or getting them out of the way); personnel assigned
abroad should have technical skills which are matched or even exceeded by their
cross-cultural abilities; and expatriate assignments should be completed by a
deliberate repatriation process, where executives are encouraged to reflect on their
experiences, required to put this to work, and integrated back into the
organisation. Given the costs of expatriate failure, with expatriates costing two or
three times as much as their equivalents in the home country operation, there is
clearly a commercial imperative to maximise the effectiveness of this process.
In terms of education and training, companies can support the development of

global leadership skills and create the foundations of experiential learning by offering
programmes which foster cultural awareness and cross-cultural leadership skills.
Berger (1996) describes Clackworthy’s notion of a cultural learning curve (which
plots the developmental and attitudinal dimensions of cultural learning, combined
in the table below), and suggests how these can be mapped on to stages in skills
development to create an understanding of cross-cultural competence:
Stages of Cultural Awareness Stages of Skill Development

Ignorance/local expert Entry level skills
Realisation/tourist Recognition of strengths and weaknesses and skills gap
Understanding/curious sojourner Comprehension of nature and dimensions of skills
development
Synthesis/bicultural expert Achievement of skills-based capabilities
Selection/integrator Combining skills approaches to construct meta capabilities
Deftness/leader Negotiation tasks to allow utilisation of meta capabilities
Source: Berger (1996).
Stewart Black and Mendenhall (1991) suggest a typology which links the
nature and choice of teaching/training methods in relation to training rigour
(degree of cognitive involvement of the learner):
Cognitive Nature of Examples of

Engagement Teaching Methods Teaching Methods
Level 1 Factual Lectures, books, videos, guest speakers, comparative
Low exercises, research exercises
Level 2 Analytical Classroom language training, case studies, interactive
Medium CD-Rom, projects e.g., international marketing
Level 3 Experiential Multicultural groupwork, self-diagnosis of cultural traits,
High role plays, simulations, international work experience,
visits, personal development portfolios
Adapted from Stewart Black and Mendenhall (1991).
Corporate educators can learn much from the burgeoning literature on

developing cross-cultural competence in educational contexts. This literature has
focused upon the problems of meeting such a challenge (e.g., many students
have limited international experiences) and some of the opportunities (e.g., the
globalisation of education systems, particularly higher education, is producing
multicultural classrooms). Ramburuth and Welch (2005), for e.g., describe an
integrated framework for developing cross-cultural competence they have used
in their own teaching. This is described below, and has been used with groups of
students of mixed cultures:
Awareness Application Extension
Instructor Self-awareness/ Cross-cultural Virtual
awareness awareness of others/ cooperation/ classroom
awareness of other learning global
cultures partnerships linkages
Diversity Multi-stage Student Online

audit activity: ‘How generated case
we are different” cases discussion
Classroom exercises
The framework is developmental in its approach and is mapped on to the

elements of cross-cultural capability described earlier in this article. Positive
feedback from students has supported the validity of this specific approach.
Conclusion
This article has reviewed the nature of management, international management
and leadership in international organisations, and suggested the competencies
required of managers in global corporations in the twenty first century, as well as
providing insights into how companies can develop these competencies in their
executives. Although this is a considerable challenge, it is clearly one that is
achievable, if approached in an appropriate manner (Stewart Black and Gregerson,
1999). The downside risk of failure is siginficant and costly, both to companies
and the individual executives involved. The implications of this article are that
companies need to address global management development as a central feature
of their international human resource strategy, in a systematic and considered
way, drawing upon the findings of management, training and educational research.
In doing so, they contribute another element to the dynamic of the globalisation
of business activity.
(David Laughton is a Professor at the Faculty of Organisation and Management,

Sheffield Hallam University, UK. He can be reached at D.J.Laughton@shu.ac.uk).
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Section II
Assessment of Leadership
Development
7
Trends and Perspectives in Management
and Leadership Development*
Richard Bolden
In this article I review recent trends in management and

leadership development in the UK, arguing that much of the
current growth is driven by financial, political and market
pressures, to the relative neglect of philosophical and
pedagogical perspectives on the nature and purpose of
management, leadership and education within contemporary
society. Whilst there is a general shift from formalised
programmes towards flexible, experiential and customised
provision, it seems that insufficient attention remains directed
towards individual and organisational needs and
requirements. Thus, for example, the majority of provision
remains focused on the development of ‘leaders’ rather than
the contextually embedded and collective processes of
‘leadership’. Management and leadership are presented as
distinct rather than integrated and complementary activities/
processes and limited consideration is given to the impact of
contextual factors on individual and organisational
performance. The article concludes with a series of questions/
issues for individuals and organisations to consider when
investing in leadership and/or management development.
Source: Business Leadership Review IV:II, April 2007 (www.mbaworld.com/blr). © Richard Bolden. Reprinted with
permission.
The Contemporary Context of Management and Leadership

Development
Management and executive education is big business, with approximately $50
billion spent per year on leadership development alone.1 In a 2003 survey, the
Financial Times found leading European companies to be spending on average
£3,336 per participant per year on executive education; 42% of respondents had
a corporate university, with a further 12% looking to establish one over the next
couple of years, and of the topics offered, leadership, followed by general
management, were the most common.2
Within UK Higher Education, the number of business schools has increased

from two in the mid-1960s to more than 100 in the mid-1990s3 and in the
years between 1996-97 and 2004-05, the number of students of Business and
Administrative studies rose by 35% (from 222,321 to 299,310) with the greatest
rate of change for post-graduate students (up by 60%).4
What has driven such a shift? Certainly, as many academics have argued, there has
been an attempt to emulate the success of American business schools, but there has
also been a range of other factors at work. Since the 1980s, British government policy
has consistently promoted the importance of management capability, provoking
employers to take management development seriously. Declining public-funding
has encouraged universities to seek alternative income streams, and various supply-
side pressure groups have promoted public awareness that business education is a
‘good thing’. From the demand-side, there is evidence that organisations are increasingly
valuing (and recruiting) students with business and management qualifications and
students are seeing this as a desirable career route.
From an employer perspective the imperative to enhance management and

leadership capability arises from the changing nature of work, especially the need
to cope with increased competition and “more or less continuous upheavals in
their organisations”5, demanding increased intellectual flexibility and alertness
as well as relevant skills, abilities, knowledge and self-awareness.
Despite the plethora of management and leadership development now available

and the increasing level of demand, however, there remains a significant question
as to the extent to which current provision meets the needs of organisations.
Trends and Perspectives in Management and Leadership Development 75
Taylor et. al. 6 conclude that “the global challenges now occurring demand
approaches to leadership education that are profoundly different from those that
have served well in the past”.
Changing conceptions of the nature of management and leadership, along

with challenges to traditional approaches to their development, are driving a
number of trends in management and leadership education. Williams7 identifies
a particular increase in demand for postgraduate and short course or executive
education within university provision. Hirsh and Carter8 identify an increasing
modularisation and flexibility within all types of formal training programmes, an
increasing demand and provision of informal and personal development (including
mentoring, coaching, 360 degree feedback, project working, learning sets and
team facilitation) and a shift from managed career structures to more open internal
job markets. Central to many of these trends is a shift towards more flexible,
experiential and informal approaches, tailored to the requirements of individuals
and organisations. Such a shift requires the reversal of many traditional educational
priorities: from theory to practice, parts to systems, states and roles to processes,
knowledge to learning, individual knowledge to partnerships, and detached
analysis to reflexive9 understanding. A representation of how this impacts upon
programme structure and content is displayed in Table 1.
Table 1: Changing Trends in Leadership Development10
Key Trends From To
The Programme • Prescribed course • Study programme & real issues
• Standard • Customised
• Theoretical • Theory in context
The Time-frame • One-off event • A journey with ongoing support
The Mode • Lecturing/ • Participatory, interactive & applied
listening • Experiential & conceptual
• Conceptual
The Focus • Individuals • Individuals within a group, for a purpose
The Consultant • Supplier • Partner, co-designer, facilitator, & coach
Underlying these changes are a number of transforming concepts about the

purpose of management and leadership development. There are, of course, the
practical concerns of creating more effective managers and leaders, enhancing the
competitiveness of organisations and providing programmes that people will pay

for, but associated with these are changing philosophical perspectives on the role of
management and leadership within organisations and how best to develop them.
Mole makes a distinction between the notions of management training,

education and development.11 The focus of training, he argues, is the employee’s
present job; the focus of education is the employee’s future job; and the focus of
development is the organisation. Whilst some of the more traditional modes of
provision, especially formal management programmes aimed at disseminating
skills and knowledge, tend to adopt a training approach, it is clear that the current
trend is more towards education and development: “development programmes
prepare individuals to move in the new directions that organisational change
may require”.12
A similar distinction is made by Bush and Glover13 in their review of leadership

development, where three contrasting models of leadership development are identified.
These include the ‘scientific’ (managerial/technicist) that depends on training to
meet clearly defined targets; the ‘humanist’ (empowerment/persuasive) which is more
people-focussed and emphasises strategically planned transformational interaction;
and the ‘pragmatic’ (rational/reactive), which is project-focussed with an emphasis
on the immediate needs of individuals and groups.
It is possible to identify relative merits and weaknesses of each of these

approaches and an associated series of development activities, yet each also
represents a significant philosophical perspective on the nature of management
and leadership in organisations. Holman14 cites four recurring themes in debates
about the purpose, nature and value of Higher Education (as identified by
Barnett15); and adds a fifth relevant to the understanding of management education
in particular:
1. Epistemological: reflecting assumptions on the nature of knowledge pursued;

2. Pedagogical: referring to the nature of the learning process, the intended
outcomes and the teaching methods;
3. Organisational: regarding the management and organisation of education;
4. Social: reflecting the perceived role of education in society; and
5. Management: referring to conceptions on the nature of management practice.

Given the diversity of views on each of these themes it is unsurprising that
a range of qualitatively different approaches to management and leadership
development have evolved. On the basis of his review Holman identifies
four contemporary models of management education (see Table 2) but
concludes that academic liberalism and experiential vocationalism are
somewhat wanting as approaches to the development of practicing managers
(the former due to its over-reliance on theory and the latter for its over-
reliance on action). He proposes, instead, that experiential liberalism and
Table 2: Contemporary Models of Management Education16

Academic Assumes that management education should be primarily concernedwith
liberalism the pursuit of objective knowledge about management. It thus seeks to
disseminate generic principles and theories that can be applied in a relatively
scientific and rational manner. From this perspective the aim of management
development should be to create the ‘management scientist’, capable of
analysis and the application of theoretical principles. Primary teaching methods
would include lectures, seminars, case studies and experimentation.
Experiential Shares many of the same assumptions as academic liberalism but argues for a
liberalism more practical approach, grounded in managerial experience rather than
theory. The principle aim of this approach is to create the ‘reflective
practitioner’ equipped with appropriate practical skills and knowledge and
the ability to adapt to and learn from the situation. Primary teaching methods
would include group work, action learning and self development.
Experiential Arises from economic and organisational concerns to argue that the
vocationalism main role of management education is to provide managers with the relevant
skills and knowledge required by organisations. The principle of this approach
is to create the ‘competent manager’ equipped with the necessary
interpersonal and technical competencies required by organisations. Primary
teaching methods would include competence based approaches such as the
National Occupational Standards in Management and Leadership (MSC, 2004).
Experiential/ Seeks to “emancipate managers and other employees in the organisation
critical from oppression and alienation” (Holman, 2000: 208). To this extent, it shares
much in common with experiential liberalism although it demands a more
critical level of reflection that enables people to become reflexive about their
own knowledge and actions and to formulate practical, non-instrumental and
emancipative forms of action. The principle of this approach is, therefore, to
create the ‘critical practitioner’ able to challenge and develop new modes of
action. Primary teaching methods would include approaches incorporating
critical action learning and critical reflection.
experiential/critical approaches are most likely to create managers capable

of meeting the future needs of organisations and society. Their experiential
pedagogies go a long way to promoting learning and development because
of the way in which they build upon ’natural’ learning at work and the
ability to address the complexity and non-mechanistic nature of actual
management practice.
In the context of this debate on the nature and purpose of management and
leadership education it is perhaps unsurprising that we are seeing a trend from
traditional formal programmes towards more flexible, experiential initiatives, but
there are also a number of other trends, such as those identified by Weindling.17
In particular, it is noted that remarkably few programmes are underpinned with
explicit theories of management and leadership practice and/or the educational
processes associated with their development; and, despite widespread recognition
of the value of systematic needs analysis, this remains largely absent in practice.
Hirsh and Carter18 identify three significant tensions facing providers of

management education. Firstly, alongside the modularisation of formal
programmes into ‘bite size chunks’ there is increasing pressure to provide holistic
programmes applicable to leaders and managers at all levels of the organisation.
Secondly, the increase in personalised learning such as coaching and 360 degree
appraisal poses serious resourcing challenges due to the increased time required
for tailoring and supporting provision. And thirdly, with the shift away from
traditional career structures and lifetime employment, managers are receiving
little support for long-term career planning.
We can, therefore, see that there are a wide range of factors influencing the
current range and types of management and leadership development provision in
this country. Some of these are practical concerns arising from the historical
development of management education in the UK and the challenges facing
organisations, whilst others are more conceptual – what are our assumptions on
the purpose of education, the nature of management and leadership, and the
relative importance placed on the individual versus the collective? None of these
issues are easily resolved, but without an awareness of the fundamental concerns
and underlying assumptions it will be difficult to select an effective approach to
leadership development.
Leadership and Management Development: Similarities and Differences

In the discussion so far, the terms ‘management’ and ‘leadership’ development
have been used largely interchangeably as there is a significant degree of overlap.
But what exactly is leadership (as opposed to management) development and
how can individuals and organisations get the most out of it?
Day19 proposes that leadership development is distinct from management

development in the extent to which it involves preparing people for roles and
situations beyond their current experience.20 Management development, he argues,
equips managers with the knowledge, skills and abilities to enhance performance
on known tasks through the application of proven solutions, whilst leadership
development is defined as “orientated towards building capacity in anticipation of
unforeseen challenges”. He continues by making a distinction between leader and
leadership development, whereby leader development is about developing individuals
in leadership roles, whilst leadership development takes a more relational view of
leadership as a process involving everyone within the organisation. To this extent,
Day views leadership development as being fundamentally concerned with the
development of collective organisational capacity.
This distinction is useful in encouraging us to consider what it is that we wish

to achieve through executive development, even if Day’s concept of leadership
development may be somewhat idealistic in practice. ‘Leader development’ is an
investment in human capital to enhance intrapersonal competence for selected
individuals, whereas ‘leadership development’ is an investment in social capital
to develop interpersonal networks and cooperation within organisations and other
social systems. According to Day, both are important although traditionally
development programmes have tended to focus exclusively on the former.
Even when considering leadership development in this broader context, however,

it remains difficult to specify what exactly constitutes leadership development, as
opposed to any other form of development. Campbell et. al., argue that the current
diversity of perspectives on leadership development is misleading as it may encourage
practitioners and researchers to suggest that, firstly, leadership development
constitutes any understanding that develops individual(s), and secondly that all
development activities are equally useful/effective.21
Like Day, in their review, Campbell and his colleagues identify that the field
of leadership development is dominated by individualistic approaches to
development. Such approaches focus on developing five principle categories:
1. intrapersonal attributes;
2. interpersonal qualities;
3. cognitive abilities;
4. communication skills; and
5. task-specific skills.
At the intrapersonal level it could be argued that “there is no difference between

becoming an effective leader and becoming a fully integrated human being”,22
and thus Campbell et al. conclude that “there is little reason to label this leadership
development, except in the broad sense that the developing individuals hold
leadership positions”. 23 The interpersonal level fits more closely with Day’s
conception of ‘leadership development’, viewing leadership as a social influence
process and the goal of development to enhance inter-personal competence in
order to obtain the trust, respect and commitment of others. The additional
three categories (cognitive, communication and task-specific skills) are a range of
personal capabilities that help enhance an individual’s inter-personal influence.
In each case a challenge remains as to how to differentiate the types of skills
required by ‘leaders’ as opposed to ‘managers’ and/or ‘followers’ and the response
remains largely dependent on your theoretical and philosophical views on the
nature of leadership.
Campbell and colleagues take Katz and Kahn’s24 notion of leadership as

‘incremental influence’ as the foundation for their conception of leadership
development. Thus, the aim of leadership development is to enhance “inter-
personal influence over and above the influence that stems from a person’s positional
authority or legitimate power”. 25 From this perspective, the most effective
leadership development methods are likely to be those that develop core
influencing skills including values that can serve as a ‘moral compass’, problem-
defining and problem-solving skills, task facilitation skills, and communication
and motivational skills.
In our own experience of developing people in leadership positions at the

Centre for Leadership Studies, we tend to take the view that it is important to
develop all of these skills within a contextual appreciation of the cultural and
organisational environment. When considering leadership development, rather
than management development, the primary emphasis is on enabling people to
think beyond the apparent restrictions of their current role and to develop the
critical capabilities to move between operational and strategic modes as required
– to balance an attention for detail with an understanding of the bigger picture.
To this extent, leadership development may well incorporate elements of more

typical management and self-development programmes (including time
management, project management, delegation, self-awareness, etc.) but with the
objective of creating a reflexive space in which the leader/manager can critically
reflect upon current practice and experience. There is no reason to consider,
therefore, that leadership development should only be offered to senior managers
and, indeed, there would be good reason to encourage this kind of development
throughout the organisation to enhance collective as well as individual capacity.
The nature of the required intervention, however, is likely to vary depending on
the job role and current level of experience of the participants.
Approaches to Leadership Development

With the multitude of ways in which leadership and leadership development can
be conceived and the many purposes they serve, it is not surprising that a wide
array of development approaches and techniques have evolved. In a major European
study, Mabey and Ramirez 26 ranked HR and Line Manager preferences for
management development methods in European companies as follows:
1. internal skills programmes
2. external courses, seminars and conferences
3. mentoring/coaching
4. formal qualifications
5. in-company job-rotation
6. external assignments, placements and/or secondments
7. E-learning.
In all countries in the study there was a relatively low preference for
on-the-job development (such as job rotation and assignments) and a strikingly
low uptake of E-learning given the interest of providers in this form of delivery.
Within the UK there is a higher than average use of qualifications-based
development, despite the relatively low rating of this with regards to “what
makes an effective manager”.
Storey27 proposes that most training and development interventions offered

in-house and by external training providers can be classified into four types:
1. Learning about leadership and organisations: primarily involves traditional

classroom and workshop methods to present leadership theory and research.
2. Self/team analysis and exploration of leadership styles: a series of methods
(including psychometrics, 360 degree feedback, coaching and sensitivity
training) to raise awareness of self and others and how this impacts upon
leadership styles.
3. Experiential learning and simulation: approaches that emphasise the
importance of ‘learning by doing’, such as outward bound courses, action
learning and role play.
4. Top level strategy courses: executive development courses designed for senior
managers. Often associated with prestigious business schools and
qualifications.
In addition to these types of courses/programmes, there is also a whole array

of more informal leadership development activities conducted within
organisations, including projects and secondments, seminars, career planning
and mentoring.
Storey also highlights a tension within most leadership development initiatives:
“There is a fundamental dilemma that haunts many leadership development

events. Because leadership is perceived as fundamentally about ‘doing’
rather than ‘knowing’, there is an inherent bias towards activity-focussed
and indeed briskly paced encounters… In consequence, there is little time
for reflection or strategic thinking. These characteristics of leadership
development events are self-evidently in tension with the kind of clear

thinking supposedly required of top leaders.”28
If we now consider the relative popularity and use of different development

approaches it remains clear that, despite the shift towards more flexible and tailored
provision discussed earlier, large companies still use more formal than informal
training. Furthermore, much of this remains in a traditional face-to-face mode
rather than via e-learning, which tends to be used to support rather than replace
traditional methods.
With regards to personalised and tailored provision, coaching is particularly

popular with organisations and managers but its extension to large numbers of
individuals is limited by cost and the availability of high quality coaches. 360
degree feedback, like many approaches, is found to be most powerful when
integrated within a comprehensive development programme and is significantly
affected by the following three factors: a work context supportive of skills
development, the belief of the participant that people can improve their skills,
and a belief that they themselves are capable of improving and developing.
Mabey29 found that successful companies use a variety of formal, informal

and external approaches to development and Burgoyne et. al.30 conclude that:
“The evidence on how management and leadership works is that it works

in different ways in different situations. The practical implication of this is
that to get the benefit of management and leadership development requires
the design of appropriate approaches for specific situations rather than the
adoption of a universal model of best practice.”
Furthermore, Burgoyne and colleagues propose that the relative effectiveness

of any development approach will be strongly influenced by the participants’
past experience, personal character and preferred learning style. Other key factors
include the organisational context, need for buy-in from participants, and the
ethos of learning within the organisation.
Thus, the choice of development approach is not a simple one. For maximum
effect, we need to carefully consider what it is that we seek to develop and how
best this can be achieved. If, for example, we wish to develop a culture of shared,
considerate and reflective leadership within our organisation, is it wise just to
send individual ‘leaders’ on action-packed or highly prescriptive leadership
training courses? Chia 31 recounts a Japanese management development
programme for high-potential leaders that takes a different approach – they
were taken to a retreat in the mountains and encouraged to learn the art of tea
pouring and observing the movement of carp. Such a program sought to develop
a sensitivity, creativity and imagination that could not be achieved through
more traditional approaches.
It is also worth noting that the very process of leadership development serves
many purposes beyond simply developing talent. Executive education can be an
effective retention strategy that helps drive the motivation, enthusiasm and
commitment of participants. It can serve as a reward, and can also help in
teambuilding and engendering a sense of shared purpose. On the flipside, singling
out certain individuals over others for involvement in leadership development
can lead to unintended consequences such as disappointment, alienation and
resistance. Little can be more demotivating than having a colleague or superior
go off on all-expenses-paid trip only to come back and try to change everything
and tell you how to do your job better!
Selecting a Management and/or Leadership Development Approach

With the plethora of development initiatives currently on offer and the wide
range of providers, the practical issue of deciding which to go for can be
confounding. From extensive experience of working with management and
leadership development over many years and different contexts, Gosling and
Mintzberg32 propose seven basic tenets upon which true management education
should be built:
1. Management education should be restricted to practicing managers, selected
on the basis of performance.
2. Management education and practice should be concurrent and integrated.
3. Management education should leverage work and life experience.
4. The key to learning is thoughtful reflection.
5. Management development should result in organisation development.

6. Management education must be an interactive process.
7. Every aspect of the education must facilitate learning.
The implications of these tenets are manifold both for those purchasing and
participating in management and leadership development as well as those
providing it. Of particular significance is the emphasis on the interplay between
practice and reflection, individual and organisational development, and the
provider and participant.
“There is a certain quality of conversation that takes place in a well-managed

classroom that is almost unique, where the fruits of experience, theory and reflection
are brought together into a new understanding and commitment.”33
This approach “points toward a new partnership between companies and

business schools that would enhance the level and depth of conversations about
the field of management and organisational development on both sides of the
equation”34. Leadership development, particularly the opportunity to step back
and reflect upon practice, should be built into all aspects of organisational
functioning. Likewise, development does not just occur in the classroom – there
are opportunities to learn from just about everything and, indeed, this richness
and diversity of learning is pivotal to developing balanced, reflective, yet decisive
leadership as and when required:
“Leadership is not taught and leadership is not learned. Leadership is

learning.” 35
So, what can we do to ensure that we get the most out of leadership
development?
Well, firstly critically evaluate current conceptions of the nature of leadership

and learning within your organisation. To a large extent you reap what you sow –
if development and reward systems favour individual recognition over collective
engagement then they are unlikely to result in a culture that encourages
collaboration and shared leadership.
Next, think carefully about the development needs of both individuals and
the organisation. Consider ways in which the impact of development can be
evaluated from a range of perspectives; how benefits can be optimised both for
individuals and the organisations they serve; and how development needs may
change over time.
On the basis of these considerations, explore a range of development options

from a number of providers. Enter into a discussion with providers to see how
programmes could be tailored to your requirements; how they could maximise
the benefits of experiential and reflective learning; and how the learning can be
transferred and sustained within the workplace. Approaches that integrate a variety
of learning methods are particularly effective, especially when combined with
opportunities for receiving and discussing individual feedback.
Ensure that learning and development are recognised as essential and valued
activities within your organisation and that everyone is encouraged and supported
in their learning. The quality of management processes preceding and following
development activities are a key predictor of impact and instrumental in ensuring
that newly learned competencies are put into practice.
Review other organisational systems and processes, especially HR strategy,

and how these interface with and support leadership and management
development. Purcell et al.36 found that the manner in which HR practices are
implemented is a greater predictor of success than which practices are adopted.
A sophisticated approach that enables one to go ‘the extra mile’ is most likely
to be effective.
Identify and remove/limit personal barriers to learning and the exercise of

leadership. Gill37 identifies a range of psychological barriers to effective leadership,
including low self-esteem, lack of self confidence, fear of failure or disapproval,
cognitive ‘constriction’ and adverse consequences of stress. To overcome these he
recommends a range of techniques, including desensitisation, reinforcement,
psychological re-enactment, social skills development and group dynamics.
Consider the role and impact of organisational culture and context. What is
the nature of the task? How experienced and able are employees? And what are
appropriate ways of conceiving of performance? In many sectors, focussing on

economic outcomes alone is wholly inappropriate. What drives people to work in
healthcare, education or the military are quite different from one another, and
from more commercially-orientated sectors. To engage, motivate and inspire
people, goals and objectives must be couched in culturally appropriate values
and language.
Take an appreciative rather than deficit approach to development. Build upon

strengths that already exist and find ways of working with or around weaknesses.
The key to effective leader development is not filling in gaps in competency, but
nurturing a unique and genuine approach to leadership. Gosling and Murphy38
talk of the importance of continuity in the change process. There may be a time
and place for dramatic transformational change, but in the majority of cases a
more subtle and considerate approach that builds upon existing individual and
organisational capabilities is what is required.
And finally, take the long-term view to leadership and organisational

development. In creating genuine and sustainable leadership within organisations
there is no quick fix (despite what consultants may promise). A series of initiatives
following the latest management fads is more likely to engender a climate of
cynicism than engagement. ‘Leadership’ too, has suffered at the hands of faddism,
with each guru stating their 7, 8, 9 or 10 principles more vociferously than the
last. It pays to be selective and critical in what you sign up to and to consider
how development activities fit within the longer-term life and career span of
organisations and individuals.
(Richard Bolden, Research Fellow, Centre for Leadership Studies, University of Exeter.
The author can be reached at Richard.Bolden@exeter.ac.uk).
Further Reading
For further elaboration on the arguments in this article please see the following:
Bolden, R. (ed.) (2006) Leadership Development in Context. LSW Research Report, Centre for
Leadership Studies, University of Exeter. URL: (www.leadership-studies.com/lsw/
lswreports.htm).
Bolden, R. (ed.) (2005) What is Leadership Development: Purpose and practice. LSW Research
Report, Centre for Leadership Studies, University of Exeter. URL: (www.leadership-
studies.com/lsw/lswreports.htm).
References
1. Raelin, J. (2004), ‘Don’t Bother Putting Leadership Into People’, Academy of Management
Executive, 18, pp. 131-135.
2. Financial Times (2003), ‘Companies Still Value Training’, Financial Times, Monday,
September 8th, Special Report on Business Education.
3. Crainer, S. (1998), ‘Battle of the Business Schools’, Management Today, September, pp. 54-58.
4. Higher Education Statistics Agency, (2006), Student Tables by Subject of Study 1996/7 and
2004/5, URL: http://www.hesa.ac.uk/holisdocs/pubinfo/stud.htm, accessed 05/03/07.
5. Hirsh, W. and Carter, A. (2002), New Directions in Management Development, IES Report
387, Brighton: Institute for Employment Studies.
6. Taylor, M., De Guerre, D., Gavin, J. and Kass, R. (2002), ‘Graduate Leadership Education
For Dynamic Human Systems’, Management Learning, 33(3), pp. 349-369.
7. Williams, S. (2000), Management and Leadership Teaching: Present Trends and Future
Demand, London: Council for Excellence in Management and Leadership (URL:
www.managementand leadershipcouncil.org/downloads/r25.pdf ).
8. Hirsh and Carter, (2002), op. cit.
9. Reflexivity is defined as “a directing back on itself ” (Dictionary.com, 2005). Reflexive
understanding thus refers to the ability for critical self-reflection in relation to previous
knowledge and experience.
10. West, M. and Jackson, D. (2002), ‘Developing School Leaders: A Comparative Study of
School Preparation Programmes’, paper presented at AERA Annual Conference, New
Orleans, April
11. Mole, G. (2000), Managing Management Development, Buckingham: Open University
Press
12. Ibid, p. 22
13. Bush, T. and Glover, D. (2004), Leadership Development: Evidence and Beliefs, Nottingham:
National College for School Leadership, pp. 19 (URL: www.ncsl.org.uk/media/F7A/88/
bush-school-leadership-full.pdf )
14. Holman, D., (2000), ‘Contemporary Models of Management Education in the UK’,
Management Learning, 31(2), pp. 197-217
15. Barnett, R. (1990), The Idea of Higher Education, Buckingham: SRHE/Open University
Press; Barnett, R. (1994), The Limits of Competence: Knowledge, Higher Education and
Society, Buckingham: SRHE/Open University Press.
16. Holman (2000), op.cit.

17. Weindling, D. (2003), Leadership Development in Practice: Trends and Innovations,
Nottingham: National College for School Leadership (URL: www.ncsl.org.uk/media/F7B/
96/randd-leaddev1.pdf )
18. Hirsh and Carter, (2002), op. cit.
19. Ibid, p. 582.
20. Day, D. (2001), ‘Leadership Development: A Review in Context’, Leadership Quarterly,
11(4), pp, 581-613.
21. Campbell, D., Dardis, G. and Campbell, K. (2003), ‘Enhancing Incremental Influence:
A Focused Approach to Leadership Development’, Journal of Leadership and
Organisational Studies, 10(1), 29-44.
22. Bennis, W. (1999), ‘The Leadership Advantage’, Leader to Leader, 12, pp. 18-23, p. 23
23. Ibid, p. 31
24. Katz, D. and Kahn, R., (1978), The Social Psychology of Organisations, New York: Wiley.
25. Campbell et. al., (2003), op. cit. p. 39
26. Mabey, C. and Ramirez, M. (2004), Developing Managers: A European Perspective, London:
Chartered Management Institute, p. 20
27. Storey, J. (2004), ‘Changing Theories of Leadership and Leadership Development’, in J.
Storey (ed), Leadership in Organisations: Current Issues and Key Trends, London: Routledge,
p. 26
28. Ibid, p. 27
29. Mabey, C. (2002), ‘Mapping Management Development’, Journal of Management Studies,
39(8), pp. 1139-1160
30. Burgoyne, J., Hirsh, W. and Williams, S., (2004), The Development of Management and
Leadership Capability and its Contribution to Performance: the evidence, the prospects and the
research need. London: Department for Education and Skills p. 49, (URL: www.dfes.gov.uk/
research/data/uploadfiles/RR560.pdf )
31. Chia, R. (1996), ‘Teaching Paradigm Shifting in Management Education: University
Business Schools and Entrepreneurial Imagination’, Journal of Management Studies, 33(4), pp.
409-428.
32. Gosling, J. and Mintzberg, H. (2004), ‘The Education of Practicing Managers’, Sloan
Management Review, 45(4), pp. 19-22
33. Ibid, p. 22
34. Ibid, p. 22
35. Antonacopoulou, E.P., and Bento, R.E., (2004), ‘Methods of ‘learning leadership’: taught
and experiential’ in J. Storey (ed.) Leadership in Organisations: Current issues and key trends,
London: Routledge, p. 82.
36. Purcell, J., Kinnie, N., Hutchinson, S., Rayton, B. and Swart, J., (2003), Understanding the
People and Performance Link: Unlocking the Black Box, London: CIPD.
37. Gill, R. (2001), ‘Can You ‘Teach’ Leadership?’ Paper presented at the BEST conference,
Business, Management and Accountancy Education: Maintaining Quality in Changing
Times, Windermere, Cumbria, April.
38. Gosling, J. and Murphy, A., (2004), Leading Continuity, Working Paper, Centre for
Leadership Studies, University of Exeter.
Making Leadership Actionable: What we are Learning and How we Can... 91
8
Making Leadership Actionable
What we are Learning and
How we Can Use It
Russ Volckmann
Much of the popular and academic literature on leadership

has led to advice about what is required for effective
leadership. This advice is usually flawed in that it does not
provide guidance for how to learn to effectively apply the
advice or because the advice is based on the practices of an
individual in a specific context, a context that may or may
not apply to the learner’s situation. An approach to
leadership development based on seeing leadership as an
emergent phenomenon, rather than just something that an
individual does, is suggested.
Introduction
When we scan the literature on leadership, we find many books and articles
representing the principles and practices of the individual leader. Much of this
work, despite the level of research or experience that underlies it, amounts to
prescriptions—a list of “shoulds” advising how to be a successful and effective leader.
Source: Leadership review, Vol 6, Summer 2006, pages 92-103. (www.leadershipreview.org). © Kravis Leadership
Institute at Claremont McKenna College. Reprinted with permission.
There is nothing inherently wrong with such prescriptions. Indeed, it is valuable

to have the products of consultant and academic research. It is valuable to know
about the lessons of leadership gleaned from leaders like Jack Welch (2001) or
from the observations of consultants. And it is valuable to consider models of
leadership offered by people like Jim Collins (2001) and his notion of level
5 leadership. It is important to consider the approach of Goleman, et. al., (2002)
with its focus on emotional intelligence and leadership.
Chris Argyris (2000) has, however, challenged all of us to rethink our work on
leadership and other management and business topics from the point of view of
whether the advice or models are truly actionable. Argyris does not debate that
much of the advice offered in most of the publications on leadership is thoughtful,
has good intentions and can even be enlightening. Instead, he questions the
efficacy of such advice in guiding effective leadership behavior.
Argyris (2000, pp.7-8) offers three tests for the validity of advice. Valid advice
“leads to the consequences that it predicts will occur, 2) its effectiveness persists
so long as no unforeseen conditions interfere, and 3) it can be implemented and
tested in the world of everyday practice.”
He goes on to state: “There are four tests for the actionability of advice. It
specifies the detailed, concrete behaviors required to achieve the intended
consequences; it must be crafted in the form of designs [for action—rv] that
contain causal statements; people must have, or be able to be taught the concepts
and skills required to implement those causal statements; and the context in
which it is to be implemented does not prevent its implementation.”
Therefore, when we are considering how useful our work on leadership theory
and development is, these questions must be addressed:
• Do the behaviors that we are advocating lead directly and unequivocally to
the results we intend?
• Are we clear about causal relationships between actions and results?
• Can people learn to recognize and respond to situations to use the
recommended skills and concepts?
• To what degree is context relevant to the action leading to intended results?
At the heart of Argyris’ argument is that much of the advice offered is espoused
theory. In espoused theory we find the principles and precepts that we hold as
truths, as guides to behavior. There are gaps between espoused theory and theory-
in-use—what we actually do. How we behave and respond is our theory-in-use.
Such gaps exist for all of us, whether we are in formal leadership positions or not.
When we give flawed advice we are feeding espoused theory and not contributing
a great deal to theory-in-use.
The State of our Advice

To the degree that leadership development and practice rely on the advice given
to those who aspire to leadership roles it is critical that the advice be actionable.
Not only does the advice influence individuals who may read some of the books
on leadership, but also the design and delivery of leadership education and training
programs. Since billions are spent each year on such programs having this guidance
be actionable is all the more important. In the examples provided here advice on
teamwork, listening to one’s own voice, trust, and the role of learning in relation
to leadership are explored. Argyris’ criteria are applied to each.
Teamwork. An entrepreneur and CEO (I will call him Arlen) of a service company
has consistently espoused teamwork. He would tell his staff that in order for them
to be effective with their clients they needed to address client needs as a team. Yet
he did not participate in the team or engage other executives as a team. He met
with them separately, issued orders and expected them to do what they were told.
He would tell his staff how they should support clients and then absent himself
from further involvement, except to find fault when things went wrong.
This strongly introverted leader did exhibit considerable strengths. Arlen built
a strong company—with the help of others. He has a capacity to inspire others
and to share his optimistic enthusiasm in a way that attracts others. Once attracted,
however, many have found his leadership style to be demoralizing. Data gathered
from members of his executive team pinpointed specific behaviors that undermined
his effectiveness.
Arlen’s espoused theory was that people should work together as a team. However,
his theory in use was autocratic and heroic as he avoided situations in which he
would have to participate in a team. When bottom-line performance diminished,

his response was to issue orders and solutions while complaining that people weren’t
following “the system.” Some senior executives left his company and those that
remained felt that the corporate culture was becoming counter-productive.
The full implications of the difference between Arlen’s espoused theory and
theory-in-use have yet to play out. Yet the prognosis is problematic. Despite
getting feedback from Hay-McBer’s 3600 Emotional Competency Inventory, other
assessments and conversations with consultants, he is unable to consider another
approach to leadership that might be more effective. In effect, he is only being
himself, doing things his way. He is certain that his approach is the one that will
result in successes for the company. As an entrepreneur, his approach built a
multi-million dollar company and he is not inclined to change. We are challenged
to find a way to give advice effectively to this leader.
Listen to Your Own Voice: Like Arlen, Bill George, former CEO of Medtronic,
insists on listening to his own voice.
“The test of leadership is ignoring those outside voices and learning to

hear the one deep within. As a CEO, your attention ultimately has to be
on the long run—and that is, of necessity, a lonely run. The voices clamoring
for your attention will be many. Your job is to find your own.”
– (George 2003).
This is Bill George’s espoused theory. However, as an applied leadership

dictum, another leader following his own voice may not generate the
considerable financial and leadership successes of a Bill George. Simply
adopting the imperative of listening to one’s own voice is highly unlikely to
look the same for each leader, much less have the same positive results. For one
thing, one’s own voice may offer flawed advice.
While Bill George’s article (2003) on leadership is inspiring, how well does
his advice meet the criteria for validity and actionability put forward by Argyris
above? First, he does not specify the concrete behaviors required to “listen to
one’s own voice.” For example, what if one has multiple “voices,” messages that
are competing? This could be the product of competing commitments

(Kegan and Lahey, 2001) that George does not address.
Second, we are missing a design for action with a causal statement in George’s
advice. In what way does it make clear what the steps and results are? We might
try to extrapolate those steps from looking at his extraordinarily successful career
but the presentation does not provide us with that. In addition, one wonders
about those who have followed their own voice only to fail to achieve the results
they were seeking.
Third, we are left to guess whether people can be taught the concepts and
skills because the causal statements are ambiguous. Finally, while this approach
may have worked for Bill George in the situations he was in, what evidence is
there that it would work for others in other contexts? We cannot be sure that the
business and life conditions faced by George will be the same or similar to those
being faced by other potential leaders.
Trust: Roseanne Badowski (2003) offers from her experience with Jack Welch
some lessons that were of very high value for her. One was, “in business, trust is
everything.” While we can appreciate her enthusiasm and truly believe that trust
is critical in business as in all human relationships, let’s look at the advice offered
through Argyris’ lense.
We can put aside the story of Jack Welch’s GE blowing off (literally) the roof
of a plastics plant thus polluting the surrounding waters of the Hudson River
with PCBs. The company refused to take action for some time and then, when
they did, they refused to clean up all of the environmental damage. This was
reported widely in the newspapers and raised the ire of many environmentalists,
including those who work for GE. While this company behavior does not seem
to foster trust, we can move on to the advice gained from Welch that “To lead
effectively leaders must first gain the trust of their people—and then maintain
it.” (Badowski 2003) To accomplish this, don’t hold people responsible for honest
mistakes. This will generate trust, openness, honesty and being upfront. Let’s
apply Argyris’ criteria for actionability:
1. Specifies detailed, concrete behaviors required to achieve the intended

consequences. Not holding people accountable for honest mistakes is
concrete non-behavior; it does not specify what one is to do instead.
2. Contains causal statements. The causal statement is that not doing
something results in trust. It does not specify what causes the trust other
than the absence of holding people accountable for honest mistakes.
3. People can be taught how to implement the causal statements. People may
be taught not to hold others accountable for honest mistakes, but it is a
challenge to teach people to recognize when a mistake is honest or not?
4. The context for implementation does not prevent its implementation. What
worked for Jack Welch in GE may not work for a leader in another company or
even in GE today.
None of this is intended to demean the value of Ms. Badowski’s reflections.

They are thoughtful and hold out hope that leaders can learn and implement
trust-building behaviors. Yet, as a representative sample of advice to leaders, it
fails the test. It is flawed advice.
What would be required then for leadership advice not to be flawed? Argyris
offers the following thoughts on what is required for advice or propositions to be
actionable. He states,
“advice or propositions should stipulate the following:

• The theories-in-use that specify the sequence of behaviors required to
produce the intended consequences or goals.
• The theories-in-use should be crafted in ways that make the causality
transparent.
• The causality embedded in the theories-in-use is testable robustly in the
context of everyday life.
• Actionable knowledge must specify the values that underlie and govern
the designs-in use.” [p. 239]
What would that require for supporting the question of trust in leadership?
First, we would have to specify leadership behaviors that lead to trust in
relationships with followers. Even if we could specify what those behaviors would
be under all circumstances, at best we could offer some espoused theories about
being truthful and when-and-if it is okay not to tell the whole truth. But we are
left with the question of what is required to make the idea of trust building
actionable on the part of an aspiring leader.
Learning. Steven Covey (1991) is but one author who offers a great deal of advice
for leaders. An example is that leaders are continually learning. He doesn’t say much
about what they are learning, but he offers examples of how they learn through
training, reading, classes, listening to others, developing new skills and interests.
Virtually any learning experience, it may be concluded, will enhance leadership. For
example, learning to keep commitments by being serious and intentional.
This is inspiring to those of us who value learning, whether we are leaders or

not. However, Covey’s advice is not actionable. He fails to show the sequence of
behaviors required to produce effective leadership. He fails to show the causality
between his learning principle and effective leadership. It is unclear how this
principle or theory-in-use would be testable in leadership contexts. Finally, he
does not specify the values that underlie his advice about learning. Particularly,
there is not a demonstrated link between values and leader performance.
Again, this is not to say that Covey’s message has no value. It is inspirational
and helps us think about the relationship between learning and being effective as
leaders. But it is almost certain that every individual would apply this perspective
in different ways. Also, it is unclear what results they would achieve.
There are two reasons for taking seriously these concerns regarding the ways
we write about and think about leadership. The first is that the notion of flawed
advice has considerable implications for leadership development. We cannot rely
on advice giving for developing leaders. The second is that we need to shift our
perspective about leadership from being exclusively about “the heroic leader” to
one that is more inclusive of the factors that are present in effective leadership
situations (Volckmann, 2001). Clearly, since context is critical to providing
effective advice, we need an approach to leadership that accounts for context.
Moving Beyond Advice

Educational and Training Activities: There is a spectrum of educational and
training activities appropriate to developing leaders. They can learn about the
industry they are in and its position in relation to the global economy. They can
learn communication skills and negotiation skills. They can learn about the
different styles and preferences people have and how to engage effectively with
those people while drawing on their own strengths. They can learn about
themselves, their emotional intelligence, their values and even their preferred
conflict management and leadership competencies.
Much of this learning may lead to flawed advice for leaders unless they are
effectively applied from their positions of responsibility. Various studies have
shown that in education and training programs implementation of learning is
significantly diminished within a short period of time, particularly if there is not
an immediate and direct application in a supportive environment.
In one company we introduced a training program in coaching skills for

executive leaders, some of whom were based in the corporate office with the rest
in the field. The culture of the central office was very rigid and status oriented.
Central office executives were ineffective in bringing these coaching skills into
their repertoires. Those executives in the field were able to significantly influence
the culture of their groups and played a role that was designed to be focused on
developing those reporting to them. Most of the executives in the field became
quite effective in integrating coaching into their leadership styles. This is not
insignificant in that Goleman et al (2002) have identified coaching as the sixth
of the leadership competencies and the one least accessed by executives.
There is a growing body of literature reporting the effectiveness of executive

coaching in enhancing executive performance. However, there has not been
conclusive evidence to this point. Many of the studies that I have seen are done
by consulting organizations and naturally seek to promote their coaching services.
A recent study was completed under a grant to CompassPoint (2003), a nonprofit
services organization in San Francisco. Forty hours of coaching was provided to
twenty-four executive directors of non-profit organizations. Their conclusion:
“… coaching appears to have had a profound impact on EDs and the

organizations they lead. Improving their leadership and management skills,
and increasing their confidence in their ability to do their jobs
well…coaching appears to be a relatively inexpensive, high impact way to
develop the leadership of EDs while they are in their roles.”
Executive coaching can prove to be a decisive factor in changing behavior and

beliefs. For example, one of our clients was the Comptroller of a medium tech company
in Silicon Valley. She was from Southeast Asia and had worked in this country for a
few years before joining the company. When the Vice President of Finance announced
his impending retirement she gave herself no chance at succeeding him. She reasoned
that she had not been at the company long enough and that the other members of
the executive team would not accept her in that role.
As a result of a coaching conversation she decided to interview, individually,

each of the members of the executive team (including the current CFO) about
how they saw her potential for filling the position and what she would need to
do to be able to perform effectively. After receiving this input and feedback she
went to talk to the CEO. She presented how she saw her strengths and what she
saw that she needed to learn and improve to be effective in the position. She also
presented a plan for how she would address these issues, including a semester
long program for executives in finance strategy offered at a local, but major,
university. She then asked for the CEO’s feedback about how he saw her approach
and what he might add to her need for development and learning. The CEO
approved her development plan, including continued coaching, and six months
later, when the VP of Finance retired, he appointed her to that position.
The point of this example is that coaching alone is not sufficient in many
cases for leadership development. However, it is often a valuable and even necessary
component of a leadership development plan and its implementation. At the
University of Notre Dame, Leo Burke, former head of leadership development for
Motorola, is the Associate Dean for Executive Education and leads an executive
development program that provides a combination of classroom education and
coaching. This program is being well received and offers an example of how
coaching can support leadership development.
One of the reasons that coaching is invaluable is that it works with individuals
to bring learning back into their environment and explore its relevance and utility
from the perspective of their role and the life and business conditions in their
situation. This is an important point. Effective implementation of learning and
support from coaching requires that attention be paid to the individual leader
and the life and business conditions the leader is experiencing.
And this brings us to the second point: We need to understand leadership in

a way that does not focus so exclusively on the traits and behaviors of the individual.
The focus on traits and principles is instructive but results in advice that is not
actionable, that is, unless it is supported by something more than advice. Learning
about one’s self, one’s traits, and getting feedback about one’s behavior can be
part of a very powerful developmental process. Coaching provides an effective
process for supporting this. But we need to consider other factors, as well.
The Leader and More. Leadership is about the leader and more. Various authors
have presented perspectives that go beyond the focus on the individual leader.
Kouzes and Posner (1987), for example, recognize the important of the expectations
of followers. Perhaps the most interesting example of going beyond the focus on the
individual is the work of James O’Toole (2001) of USC. While his previous
publications focused on the individual as leader O’Toole states, “Instead of leadership
being a solo act, an aria sung by the CEO, in these organizations [large corporations]
it is a shared responsibility, more like a chorus of diverse voices singing in unison.”
In other words, leadership is found throughout the organization.
O’Toole states further that in his research he “observed people at all levels in
these organizations…
• Act more like owners and entrepreneurs than employees or hired hands
(that is, they assume owner like responsibility for financial performance
and managing risk).
• Take the initiative to solve problems and to act, in general, with a sense of
urgency.
• Willingly accept accountability for meeting commitments, and for living
the values of the organization.
• Share a common philosophy and language of leadership that paradoxically

includes tolerance for contrary views and a willingness to experiment.
• Create, maintain, and adhere to systems and procedures designed to measure
and reward these distributed leadership behaviors.”
O’Toole’s analysis indicates that dependence on a single leader is risky and

that “no one individual, no matter how gifted a leader, can be ‘right’ all of time.”
His analysis goes on to point out organization systems that support leadership
throughout a company or organization from vision and strategy to communications
and knowledge transfer. With these supporting systems the organization can be
agile in the face of the rapid pace of change and innovation because leadership
becomes an organization-wide phenomenon. Approaching leadership with
perspectives such as O’Toole’s is vital in the face of accelerating turbulence (Vaill
1996), challenges to managing the unknowable (Stacey 1992) and the unthinkable
(Mitroff 2004).
A New Understanding of Leadership. It is not a huge leap from O’Toole’s

work to a new understanding of leadership. Leadership can be understood as an
emergent phenomenon produced by the assumptions, beliefs and behaviors of
individuals, as well as the culture and systems that are in place in the company or
organization. It is about the individual leaders – their self-knowledge, knowledge
of the business, skills and behaviors – and it is about the composite values and
beliefs of people within the company, as well as the structures, processes and
systems. These four dimensions of leadership are: 1) what is internal to the
individual, 2) the individuals’ behaviors, 3) what is internal to the system and 4)
the expression of the system. Let’s take a brief look at each.
What is internal to the individual leader would be assumptions, beliefs, values,

knowledge, skills, mental models – there are a variety of ways of talking about
what is within each of us. This would include mental models about what
leadership is. These would be the individual’s espoused theories. Other examples
would include the communications and negotiations skills and other knowledge
derived from education, training and experience.
Secondly, the behaviors of individual leaders would represent their theories-

in-use. Through their behaviors, in the context of the system, the individual
leaders contribute to the conditions that allow leadership to emerge. These
behaviors may take many forms from delegating tasks, to giving inspirational
presentations to initiating innovations or rapid responses to crises. How they do
these things will depend on the integrity found in the relationship between
espoused theories and theories-in-use, as well as what is required by the context.
Third, the culture of the company sets the context for the emergence of
leadership. For example, the definition of what constitutes leadership
communications will be found in the culture and includes the values, assumptions
and beliefs held within the company about effective leadership. In one company
culture autocratic communications styles will be valued as evidence of leadership.
In another, a sense of responsibility and authority held by many individuals may
suggest the presence of leadership in many places in the organization. Basic
cultural values related to diversity can affect the capacity of the culture to hold
and recognize emergent leadership.
Finally, leadership overtly shows up in the company as a system. Technology

shapes the range of leadership communications. Organization structure may be
used to define legitimacy in relation to leadership. The management of
information flow into and through the organization may set the range of potential
for emergent leadership and consequent effective engagement with change.
Strengthening Leadership in the Company

Leadership emerges from all four contexts: individual beliefs and behaviors,
company culture and systems. This approach leads to a far more effective way to
understand and appreciate leadership as an emergent phenomenon, rather than a
list of traits, skills and principles. The nature of the advice that can emerge from
such an approach is conditional. The developmental process depends on that
internal place so important to Bill George in that it will be continually tested
through the use of action inquiry (Torbert 2004) supported by mentoring,
coaching or peer relationships.
Under conditions of change, ambiguity and uncertainty we cannot know in

advance what kind of leadership will be required and who will provide it.
By persisting in our historic ways of understanding and developing leaders we
risk stunting effective leadership in the face of complexity. When one is at the top
of the organization, it is appropriate to have a sign on one’s desk that states,
“The buck stops here!” Harry Truman knew that. But this doesn’t mean that his
actions were all that mattered.
We can reframe our ideas of leadership and its development. We can begin to
design leadership development programs that embrace all of these important
contexts of leadership. We can recognize that executive leadership is important,
but in the face of complexity it is not sufficient, thereby making leadership
development a priority for others in the company, as well.
There are many organizations experimenting with innovative approaches to

leadership development from student programs, such as that at Fort Hays
University in Kansas, to the many innovations at the Center for Creative Leadership,
and the cutting edge work at the Integral Institute and the Executive Development
Program at Notre Dame. We continue to learn about the use of scenarios for
leadership development and have hardly realized their power (Volckmann 2005).
But a decreased emphasis on advice is also a shift toward re-conceptualizing the
learning process for potential leaders. Instead of focusing only on what other
leaders have learned, we can infuse leadership development with approaches that
foster the capabilities of individuals to understand their contexts and the
implications for choice regarding leadership. We can also examine how the context
shapes the potential for leadership emergence and begin to redesign our systems
as needed with that factor in mind.
This world of complexity demands expanded capacity for business and other
organizations. By pursuing strategies such as those suggested here the potential
for effective leadership in organizations will be greatly increased. Furthermore,
leadership studies can be enhanced by finding the true and actionable advice in
the diverse approaches in all streams of leadership theory and research methodology
(Wilber 2005).
(Russ Volkmann, Ph.D., was an organization development consultant for over 20

years and has been focused on executive coaching and leadership development since
1997. He is a leader in the development of an innovative Integral Executive Leadership
Program for coaching executive teams, as well as individual executives. He can be
reached at russ@leadcoach.com).
References
Argyris, C. (2000). Flawed Advice and the Management Trap: How Managers Can
Know When They’re Getting Good Advice and When They’re Not. New York: Oxford
University Press.
Badowski, R. (2003). “A Master Course in Leadership, Leader to Leader, Number 30, pp. 38-43.
Collins, J. (2001). Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap…and Others Don’t.
New York: Harpers Business.
CompassPoint (2003). Executive Coaching Project: Evaluation of Findings. San Francisco.
Covey, S. (1991). Principle-Centered Leadership. New York: Simon & Shuster.
George, B. (2003). Why It’s Hard to Do What’s Right, Fortune, September 15.
Goleman, D., Boyatzis, R. and McKee A. (2002). Primal Leadership. Boston, MA: Harvard
Business School Press.
Kegan, R. and Lahey, L. (2001) How the Way We Talk Can Change the Way We Work: Seven
Languages of Transformation. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Kouzes, J. and Posner, B, (1987). The Leadership Challenge: How to Get Extraordinary
Things Done in Organizations. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Mitroff, I. (2004). Crisis Leadership: Planning for the Unthinkable. Hoboken, NJ: John
Wiley and Sons, Inc.
O’Toole, J., (2001). When Leadership is an Organizational Trait, in Bennis, W., Spreitzer, G.
and Cummings, T. (Eds.). The Future of Leadership: Today’s Top Leadership Thinkers Speak
to Tomorrow’s Leaders, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco.
Stacey, R. (1992). Managing the Unknowable: Strategic Boundaries Between Order and
Chaos in Organizations. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Torbert, B. (2004) and Associates. Action Inquiry: The Secret of Timely and Transforming
Leadership. San Francisco: Berrett-Kohler.
Vaill, P. (1996). Learning As a Way of Being: Strategies for Survival in a World of Permanent
White Water. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Volckmann, R. (2001) A Leadership Opportunity. http://www.leadcoach.com/book_leadership

_opportunity.html
Volckmann, R. (2005). Integral Scenarios for Leadership Development. Integral Leadership
Review. http://www.leadcoach.com/archives/e-journal/2005_09.html
Welch, J. (2001). Jack: Straight from the Gut. New York: Warner Business Books.
Wilber, K. (2005). Integral Spirituality. Unpublished paper.
9
Leadership Prescription Paradigms
Ernest L Stech
Leadership prescriptions covering a span of 50 years and in

a variety of forms of publication were reviewed. As a result,
three overarching paradigms were identified: empirical,
biographical and ideological. Quantitative and qualitative
versions of the empirical paradigm were found. In the
biographical paradigm, biographies of historical figures and
more current autobiographies were represented. The
ideological paradigm included dogmatic and ethical system
versions. For each major paradigm, the assumptions,
concepts, values and methods were explicated. Overall, there
was a large variation in the apparent value of the paradigms
in terms of leadership development.
Introduction
In developing, training or instructing potential leaders or individuals desiring to
improve their leadership performance, it is first necessary to establish a set of
criteria representing a prescription for what represents good or effective leadership.
Several sets of such criteria have been proposed in the past. A review of those
criteria suggests that three dominant paradigms have emerged: empirical,
Source: Leadership review, Vol 7, Winter 2007, pages 3-13. (www.leadershipreview.org). © Kravis Leadership Institute
at Claremont McKenna College. Reprinted with permission.
Leadership Prescription Paradigms 107
biographical and ideological. This statement is based on a review not only of

scholarly attempts at developing prescriptions but also those found in the popular
literature and in proprietary systems.
Paradigm, as used here, implies a set of assumptions, concepts values, and

methods that constitute a way of viewing reality for members of the community
who share them. It can also be considered a philosophical framework within
which theories, laws and generalizations are developed and methods used to verify
or disprove them. Persons operating within a paradigm accept the assumptions,
concepts, values and methods yet may be unaware of them as they engage in
their work. Unless made explicit, the nature of a paradigm is rarely understood or
acknowledged.
Method
A wide range of leadership prescriptions were examined ranging from such classics
as the Leadership Behavior Description Questionnaire (Fleishman, 1957) from
the 1950s to contemporary popular works such as the assessment of leadership
principles to be derived from the presidency of Abraham Lincoln (Phillips, 1992)
or the precepts offered by Rudolph Giuliani, the former mayor of New York City
(Giuliani &Kurson, 2002).
The popular works were included because they represent prescriptions that
are widely read by persons in leadership positions or people desiring to attain
such positions. Of the vast array of leadership books available through booksellers
or online, the top 20 are, with few exceptions, not scholarly. To ignore them
would be to disregard their impact in terms of both numbers of persons influenced
and the degree of influence.
Information on the traditional leadership prescriptions from the 1950s on

was obtained from Bass & Stogdill (1990) and Northouse (2004). The remainder
of the prescriptive materials were obtained from primary sources by reviewing
the books available at major bookseller stores and online. The books most readily
available or with the highest sales volume as reported by an online bookseller
were selected. In a few cases, books were selected that, although not very popular,
exemplified a particular kind of leadership prescription, as was the case with The
Tao of Leadership (Heider, 2005), although not very popular.
The Empirical Paradigm

The empirical paradigm is the oldest in terms of modern leadership studies.
There are two versions of this paradigm, the quantitative and the qualitative. The
latter relies on the analysis of interview statement or case studies.
Quantitative Models. The earliest version of the empirical paradigm consisted

of the efforts of some scholars to list the traits of leaders. This “trait approach” is
of limited use in developing leadership prescriptions because at least some of the
traits may be inborn or developed very early in life and not subject to training or
additional development (Northouse, 2004, 24). After the trait approach came
studies of behaviors exemplified by The Ohio State University (Fleishman, 1951,
1953, 1957; Halpin et. al., 1957; (Hemphill, 1959) and University of Michigan
studies (Likert, 1961, 1967). In those efforts academicians made an effort to
record, assess and systematize the behavior of persons in leadership positions.
The findings were reduced to two key factors: an orientation toward goal or task
and an orientation toward persons or process. Eventually the results of those
studies were developed in the Managerial Grid (Blake & Mouton, 1985) and
then the Leadership Grid (Blake & Mouton, 1991) in which the two dimensions
of leadership formed the grid. The ideal leader was one who combined an
orientation toward goal or task as well as towards persons.
Some work has been done using the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (1995)
assessment instrument which is based on the personality typology of the psychologist
Carl Jung (1993, 230-357). In a reversal of the usual process, the instrument was
developed first and subsequently applied to leadership studies (Berens et. al., 2001;
Kroger & Theusen, 2002).The limited empirical data show some relationship of
several personality types to vocation and leadership. Research has also been done
on social skills as they relate to leadership (Riggio, 1986). However, the findings
have not been converted into prescriptions or assessment instruments.
Qualitative Models. On the qualitative side, Kouzes and Posner (2002) used
an interview and questionnaire methodology with a large sample of persons who
had successfully engaged in a leadership effort. As a result, Kouzes and Posner
developed a model consisting of five practices and ten commitments, two for
each practice. The sample used to create this model ranged across a wide variety
of organizational types, including both women and men, and the subjects were
at various levels in their organizations. The team of Kouzes and Posner also
developed a Leadership Practices Inventory (2005).
Stanford-Blair and Dickmann (2005) interviewed 36 exemplary leaders who

were diverse in gender, culture and experience. The subjects came from government,
nonprofit organizations, K-12 education, public health, foreign service, the justice
system, hospitality industry, higher education, business, and fine and applied arts.
Nations represented in the sample were Australia, Belgium, Ghana, Great Britain,
Hong Kong, Hungary, New Zealand, Thailand, Singapore, and the United States.
Twenty-two men and 14 women were in the sample. Each participant was asked
how did you come to, how do you conduct and how do you sustain your leadership?
The resulting model, the leadership coherence model, presented four points:
coherence of value and purposes; coherence of congruent character and behavior;
coherence of sustained capacity; and coherence of conduct.
The Paradigm. An underlying assumption of the empirical paradigm is that

data on behaviors, skills, styles, or practices can be acquired and systematized
either by quantitative means or qualitatively through questionnaires or interviews.
Statistical analysis can be used on quantitative data. The focus is on the leader as
an individual within a particular context. However, the results are often generalized
to a wider ranger of situations.
An important feature of the empirical paradigm is that the findings can be

converted into instruments to assess the states of students or trainees, and the
results of such an evaluation can be compared to the ideal as developed from the
data. Thus, individuals are provided with specific information on behaviors, skills,
or principles they need to learn or acquire.
This paradigm is scientific in the sense of the hard sciences such as physics
and chemistry. It assumes a linear and causal relationship between leader behaviors,
styles, or practices and follower responses. It is clearly reductionistic in that it
analyzes leadership into small distinct units such as behaviors or practices and
assumes that re-assembling those behaviors or practices in a person will result in
leadership. It is based on a method that attempts to transfer the methods of the
hard sciences to human and social sciences. That includes quantified measurement
or qualitative analysis and development of a system or model. Reality, in the
empirical model, is objective and “out there” and thus only needs to be observed
and measured.
In brief, the empirical paradigm prescriptions, whether based on quantitative

or qualitative methods, can be generalized to: “Do as other or previous leaders
have done and you will be successful.”
The Biographical Paradigm

The biographical paradigm occurs most often in the widely read popular literature
and is extremely influential in terms of dissemination to persons who are in
positions of leadership or moving toward such positions, particularly in the
corporate and business worlds. In this approach to developing criteria for leadership
the focus is on the behaviors, activities, practices and beliefs of a single individual.
There are two versions of this paradigm: historical biography and autobiography.
Historical Biography. Of the recent biographical sort, the most popular has
been Lincoln on Leadership (Phillips, 1992), but there are others such as John
Kennedy on Leadership (Barnes, 2005), Leadership the Eleanor Roosevelt Way
(Gerber, 2003), and Leadership
Secrets of Attila the Hun (Roberts, 1987). Biographical prescriptions can be

reduced to, “Do as this exemplar has done and you will be successful.”
In Lincoln on Leadership (Phillips, 1992), the author divided the work into
four sections: people, character, endeavor, and communication. Some of the
prescriptions refer to management techniques others to leadership. The section
on character represented what appear to be distinctly leadership principles:
honesty and integrity are the best policies, never act out of vengeance or spite,
have the courage to handle unjust criticism, and be a master of paradox. The
second and third principles, representing true maturity, are applicable to any
human being in any kind of situation and need no further explanation as is also
true for the prescription to be honest and have integrity. The final principle, be
master of paradox, is exemplified in Phillips’ description of Lincoln as charismatic
but unassuming, consistent yet flexible, trusting and compassionate yet demanding
and tough, and risk-taking and innovative yet patient and calculating. A leader,
in this model, must not only be charismatic, consistent, demanding, and
risk-taking but also at times the opposite.
Autobiography. Such relatively recent works as Leadership by Rudolph Giuliani

(2002) Wooden on Leadership (Wooden & Jamison, 2005) and Leading with the
Heart (Krzeyzewski & Phillips, 2005), the latter two being well known and
successful basketball coaches, represent autobiographical versions of this paradigm.
The Wooden and Krzeyzewski books deal, in fact, more with being a head
basketball coach, yet publisher marketing efforts attempt to broaden the
prescriptions to leadership in general and particularly to the corporate world.
Giuliani (2002) provided a list of 13 practices or values. Of those several are

directed at managerial practices, for example, “organize around a purpose.”
However, he did include such prescriptions as: develop and communicate strong
beliefs, be your own person, and an interesting “weddings are discretionary but
funerals are mandatory.” Giuliani referred to going to funerals of subordinates
(and their family members) as “the tough stuff,” but insisted that such actions
are extremely important in creating a cohesive team.
The Paradigm. As with the empirical descriptions, the directives in the

biographical paradigm, whether autobiographical or historical biographies, come
from persons already in positions of authority and also well known and perceived as
successful. The method is to list the ways in which the exemplar, the valued leader,
acted, thought, and believed in his or her practice as a leader. An autobiography
allows a person to describe the acts, thoughts and beliefs directly. A biography
requires the historian to examine the life of the exemplar to produce the prescriptions.
The fundamental assumption in the biographical paradigm is that the

experience of exemplars is of value to others. This general notion is the basis for
numerous books in other fields such as athletics where the advice of successful
coaches or players is codified and published. Success, however defined, is the
dominant value in the exemplar paradigm; those persons who have in some way
succeeded have valuable advice to give to others.
Major concepts are practices, beliefs, values and virtues. In the two examples
provided above, Rudolph Giuliani and Abraham Lincoln, virtues included
character, loyalty, honest and integrity. A model in the biographical paradigm
consists of a list of practices, beliefs, values and virtues demonstrated in the life of
the exemplar. Thus, an examination of the leadership of each exemplar produces
a unique set of practices, beliefs, values and virtues.
Reality in the biographical paradigm is in the lives and experiences of exemplary

leaders. It is the way those persons lived their lives, and the way they conducted
themselves.
However, these prescriptions fail to note that the recommendations come from
operating in particular kinds of contexts or situations such as the presidency of
the United States, the mayoral office of New York City or the head basketball
coach at a major university.
It is interesting to note that the biographical paradigm represents one of the

oldest forms of creating leadership prescriptions: the “great man” theory of
leadership which was the basis of some of the early leadership trait work. The
contemporary versions of that paradigm focus not on traits but on the items
listed earlier: practices, beliefs, values and virtues.
Prescriptions arising out of the autobiographical and biographical versions of this

paradigm can be reduced to, respectively, “Do what this exemplar has done and you
will be a good leader” and, “Do what I have done and you will be a good leader.”
The Ideological Paradigm

In the ideological paradigm, leadership prescriptions are developed neither from
observation of leaders nor from individual exemplars. Instead, the prescriptions
are based on a set of values. There are two versions of the ideological paradigm:
one based on dogma and the other on an ethical system.
Dogmatic. The term dogma is not used here pejoratively but in the sense of a
set of principles, religious or spiritual, from which prescriptions can be developed.
Examples come from authors who refer to religious or spiritual texts such as the
Christian Bible and the Tao Te Ching.
Sanders (1987) produced prescriptions based on Christian principles and

doctrine and intended, appropriately, for use by missionaries. Sanders regularly
cited passages from the Christian Bible as support for and illustration of leadership
principles. Based on I Timothy 3:2-10, Sanders (1987, 51-77) provided a list of
16 essential leadership qualities; in effect a virtues approach to spiritual leadership.
The 16 qualities were discipline, vision, wisdom, decisiveness, courage, humility,
integrity and sincerity, humor, anger, patience, friendship, tact, and diplomacy.
The inclusion of anger was done with reference to righteous anger at the wrongs
of the world.
In the same vein, a direct citation from I Timothy 3:2 in the King James
version of the New Testament provided the following prescription for an overseer
or leader: “... the husband of but one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable,
hospitable, able to teach, not given to much wine, not violent but gentle, not
quarrelsome, not a lover of money.”
On an entirely different basis, Heider (2005) developed a set of prescriptions

for group leaders using the Tao Te Ching and the principles of Taoism. Using the
Tao Te Ching as a template, Heider reworded the statements from the original
into guidance for the leaders of small groups. He maintained the overall structure
of the Tao Te Ching, a necessity since the advice in the Tao Te Ching is nebulous
and difficult to state as simple principles. Advice in the Tao Te Ching is presented
in the form of metaphor.
Ethical Systems. Some very popular leadership prescriptions arise through

the ideological paradigm. There are leadership bestsellers from John Maxwell
(Maxwell & Zigler, 1998; Maxwell, 1999); Maxwell, 2002) based heavily on
Christian theology but not on biblical citations. Both principle-centered leadership

(Covey, 1992) and authentic leadership (George 2003) have been popular
although not as widely read as the Maxwell books. There appear to be a number
of adherents to the practice of authentic leadership among leadership development
practitioners. The principles of humanistic psychology were the basis of the work
of Maslow (1998) which has been revived recently.
Covey (1992, 27-39) to cite one example, listed the following characteristics
of principle-centered leaders: continually learning, service oriented, radiate positive
energy, believe in other people, lead balanced lives, see life as an adventure, are
synergistic, and engage in self-renewal. At the end of the chapter presenting
those characteristics, Covey shifted and termed them principles. He then revisited
his work on the seven habits of highly effective people converting the original
statements into the endowments of those individuals. The seven endowments
embody the following values: responsibility, conscientiousness, discipline, sharing,
courage, consideration, creativity, and self-renewal. The list of seven habits was
developed out of Covey’s personal and qualitative assessment of highly effective
individuals with whom he was able to interact and interview.
The Paradigm. A basic assumption in the ideological paradigm is that there

are right and wrong ways to behave. Values are primary in this paradigm.
Prescriptions instruct followers “Do the right thing and you will lead successfully.”
The source of the values may be a revered document such as the Christian Bible
or the Tao Te Ching which, some believe, are obtained from extra-human sources:
God or the Tao. The basis for developing a list of values, as done by Covey, comes
from an examination of human life, particularly the good, full and exemplary life.
The tenets of the revered document or the examination of the lives of good
people are accepted on faith. It is a matter of belief and not subject to empirical
confirmation or rational development.
In the case of dogmatic prescriptions, the method is straightforward. The

revered document is consulted for counsel and the resulting advice is stated in
terms of leadership or management. For the ethical system prescriptions, there

are several possible methods. One is to examine the lives of “good people,” as was
done by Covey. Another is to take a single overarching value such as authenticity
and develop the implications for leadership.
A theory or model in the ideological paradigm is a set of consistent statements

of values representing a code of conduct. That code is believed to apply to all
human beings although only a limited number may adopt it. In practice, the
prescriptions in the ideological paradigm apply to those who “believe.”
Summary
A review of the major kinds of leadership prescriptions resulted in the identification
of three paradigms: the empirical, biographical and ideological. Each, in turn, was
subdivided into two versions. Quantitative and qualitative empirical prescriptions
exist and are in use. Biographical prescriptions are obtained from biographies of
historical exemplars but also from autobiographical works. The ideological paradigm
was found to have two versions: the dogmatic and ethic system.
The empirical paradigm is scientific in the sense of the hard sciences and
emphasizes the measurement of leadership traits, behaviors, skill, styles, or practices
and creating a benchmark model from those measurements. Biographical
prescriptions, on the other hand, focus on the leadership exhibited by one
individual and consist of a listing of the positive actions or values of that person.
Ideological prescriptions arise from a revered religious or spiritual document or
through the creation of an ethical system.
The prescriptions from each paradigm can be summarized as: “Do as others
have done and you will be a good leader” from the empirical type; from the
biographical paradigm it is “Do as I have done and you will be a good leader” or
“Do as this esteemed leader has done and you will be a good leader;” and
“Do what is right and you will be a good leader” from the ideological perspective.
The utility value of the prescriptions seem to be quite varied. Empirical findings,
as noted, have been converted readily into evaluation instruments by means of
which an individual’s leadership behaviors, styles or practices can be assessed.

This procedure has been used most commonly in leadership workshops and
seminars and adopted by organizational training departments. The biographical
paradigm, on the other hand, results in exhortations from persons in positions of
authority or from their biographers to adopt certain practices or beliefs. For the
most part these occur in books intended to be read by individuals, and the efficacy
depends entirely upon the willingness of individuals to adopt the methods or
behaviors prescribed. The actual impact of the books on practice is unknown and
may be minimal. Finally, the ideological paradigm produces works that are aimed
at individuals who are adherents to a particular spiritual or ethical view of the
world. Interestingly, the resulting books are often highly useful and have been
incorporated into training and development programs as evidenced by the Covey
seminars and many authentic leadership workshops.
(Ernest L Stech, Ph.D., Adjunct Professor, Department of Communication Studies,

Arizona State University, Principal, Chief Mountain Consulting. He can be reached
at chfmtn@flaglink.com).
References
Barnes, J. A. (2005) John F. Kennedy on leadership. NY: Amacom.
Bass, B. M. (1990) Bass & Stogdill’s handbook of leadership: Theory, research, and managerial
Applications, 3rd Ed. New York: The Free Press.
Berens, L. V., Cooper, S. A., Ernst, L. K.; Martin, C. R.; Myers, S.; Nardi, D.; Pearman,
R.; Segal, M.; and Smith, M. A. (2001) Quick guide to the 16 personality types in organizations.
Telos: Huntington Beach, CA.
Blake, R. R. & Mouton, J. S. (1985) The managerial grid. Houston, TX: Gulf.
Blake, R.R. & Mouton, J. S. (1991) Leadership dilemmas – Grid solutions. Houston, TX; Gulf.
Covey, S. (1992) Principle centered leadership. NY: Simon & Schuster.
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Columbus: Ohio State University.
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Shartle (Eds.) Patterns of administrative performance. Columbus: Ohio State University,
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George, B. (2003) Authentic leadership. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
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Jung, C. G. (1993) Psychological types in The Basic Writings of C. G. Jung. V. D. Laszlo (Ed.)
Modern Library, New York.
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McGraw-Hill.
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A Recession’s Role in Transforming Leadership Development 119
10
A Recession’s Role in Transforming
E Ted Prince
The article offers an innovative insight on the concept of

recession and leadership development. It describes how a
recession can actually serve as a hidden opportunity for the
HR and leadership development experts in improving their
credibility, by promoting programs to modify financial
behavior that directly support CEO and board’s agenda to
cut expenses while increasing margins. It highlights the
initiatives which the HR and leadership development might
adopt for getting the optimal advantage out of a recession.
By adopting such approaches, HR can put in place programs
and behaviors that not only rapidly improve short-term
financial outcomes, but also put in place a framework for
long-term increases in profit quality and financial
performance. The article recommends to position HR and
leadership development as being business-focused
innovators in their own area in the period of recession.
Source: www.perthleadership.org © E Ted Prince. Reprinted with permission.

Executive Summary
Cost cutting in a recession usually includes strategic HR and leadership
development initiatives and expenses. Recessions often also lead to negative
perceptions of HR since they are made responsible for cutting people and programs
in line with company directives. The CEO and board are usually so preoccupied
with company survival and the need to significantly cut expenses that they often
have no sympathy or time left for strategic leadership development initiatives.
However, unconscious financial behaviors of many CEOs and senior

management result in more than just costs being cut. Margins are often
unwittingly chopped in the race for aesthetically-pleasing expense line items.
Falls in margins are usually the consequence of reducing value-adding expense
items, which reduces the medium and long-term competitive edge of the company.
Executives need to be aware of these behavioral biases so that they can reduce
costs without threatening the long term sustainability of the company.
This White Paper shows that a recession is actually an opportunity for HR

and leadership development to increase its credibility by promoting programs to
modify financial behaviors that directly support the CEO and board’s agenda to
cut expenses while increasing margins. By adopting such approaches, HR can
put in place programs and behaviors that not only rapidly improve short-term
financial outcomes, but also put in place a framework for longer-term increases
in profit quality and financial performance.
In order to do this, HR and leadership development need to take a number

of initiatives:
1. De-emphasize traditional personality and competency-based approaches

– while useful in the right environment, these approaches do not build
business credibility for HR in times of hardship.
2. Focus on programs that will have fast behavioral impact on costs and
margins – the CEO and senior management will only have an ear for
fast impact programs.
3. Introduce into all programs the concepts of an ownership culture –

focus the minds of employees and management on their responsibility
for the financial outcomes of their actions and decisions.
4. Implement programs to develop business acumen – show employees
and management the linkages between their behavior and financial
outcomes so that they can modify their behaviors appropriately.
5. Integrate business acumen programs with traditional programs – build
business acumen components into current curriculums to support and
enhance existing methodologies.
6. Map business acumen to traditional personality and competency
approaches – use current employee data from traditional approaches to
identify the existing business acumen potential of your human capital.
7. Emphasize the financial and hard side of programs in internal public
relations – set up fast, hard-hitting practical programs to build the
business credibility of HR, and overcome stereotypes of leadership
development being ‘soft’.
8. Train HR and leadership development professionals in business acumen
approaches – empower HR and leadership development professionals
to build their credibility and confidence as recession change agents in
the organization.
9. Position HR and leadership development as being business-focused
innovators in their own area – show the rest of the organization that HR
and leadership development are no exceptions when it comes to financial
behavior-based change.
10. Introduce programs to develop high leverage innovation approaches –
as studies have shown, breakthrough innovation is not correlated to high
R&D spend; and given the right environment, low budgets and times
of need can stimulate highly creative thinking.
11. Stress approaches to increase leadership agility and organizational learning
– enable those with less natural business acumen to contribute to profitability
by improving their financial behavior through leadership agility.
12. Integrate business acumen approaches into talent management and

succession planning – move beyond development initiatives and assist
HR to choose the right people who need to leave and the right people to
stay, and identify potential future leaders.
13. View the recession as an unparalleled opportunity, not as a problem – leverage
a recession to force a reassessment of internal priorities, and throw up
opportunities for HR to innovative and show its value from a business
perspective.
Leadership Development Approaches Have Become Static

Great leaders are the basis of all human achievements. Companies globally are
striving to identify, develop and put in place outstanding leaders to face the challenges
of a highly unpredictable world – commercially, economically and socially.
Yet, in the commercial world at least, there is a widespread feeling that current
approaches are not working. Most of the leadership approaches in use derive
from theories that are almost a century old. Approaches based on them have a
psycho-analytic, anthropological and social rather than a financial basis.
How do we transform leadership development given such a static situation?

And is this even possible when the global economy is facing yet another financial
crisis that, if anything, will lead to a pullback in leadership development programs?
This White Paper argues that the current financial crisis is, in fact, the perfect
time to transform leadership development. Great changes in most spheres of
human activity are often born of crisis, rather than in better times when apparent
predictability breeds satisfaction and complacency.
This paper argues that now is such a time. HR and leadership development
professionals must recognize the situation for what it is, a once-in-a-lifetime
opportunity to do things and to innovate in a way that would not normally be
possible. It provides an approach and recommendations which can lead to the
transformation of the leadership development function, and with it,
transformations within the company itself.
A Recession Usually Makes Things Worse

The current economic environment is turning down dramatically. At this stage it
is academic as to whether we will enter (or are currently in) a recession. Companies
and individuals are now acting as if they already are.
At the least we can expect a pronounced slowdown for some time. This White
Paper assesses the impact this will have on leadership development programs and
makes recommendations as to how leadership development and HR professionals
can leverage this as an opportunity rather than as a threat.
Major economic slowdowns and recessions undergo highly predictable patterns.

Just before the slowdown occurs, the market is at a peak; there is a great deal of
complacency amongst companies, staffs, shareholders and investors. Money is
relatively easy to get and much is, therefore, wasted. Behaviors in financial matters
are relatively lax and investment quality declines across the board, not just at the
company level but with individuals and shareholders.
Since most people do financially well in such a market, even those people
with low business acumen are successful. It is difficult to use financial performance
as a guide for discriminating between good and bad financial behaviors since
both seem to be equally well rewarded.
Once people generally recognize a slowdown, behavior changes and moves

from one extreme to the other. Whereas before the slowdown most investment
proposals were funded, now almost none will be. Expenses that were hitherto
funded without question will be cut or eliminated. Most promising proposals
will not be supported, even if they have very rapid payback that would far offset
their cost. This applies especially to leadership development and other types of
training proposals.
In a recession the irrationality of the high is eliminated to make place for the
irrationality of the low. Profligate behaviors are swapped out for behaviors that
are equally unreasonable on the downside. The euphoria of the market peak gives
way to panic and often indiscriminate cost-cutting. This usually makes the
slowdown worse. It also has adverse long-term impacts on the companies themselves
that entertain these behaviors, which is to say, most companies. One typical
impact is for leadership development budgets and efforts to be cut.
...Worse Also Means Worse for Post-Recession Period

In the slowdown panic, costs are often cut so much that margins suffer, often
eliminating the benefit of the cut. Short-term cost cuts often end up hurting
long-term sustainability of profits and competitiveness. Morale and employee
loyalty suffers as employees realize that they are just another depersonalized cost.
Figure 1: Margin Impact of Cost-Reduction
As these impacts take hold, they have long-term impacts on the financial
performance of the company, as shown in Figure 1. Often these impacts are not
overcome until well into the next market cycle by which time the company has
lost market share or competitiveness.
Cost-cuts of this nature usually have unanticipated side-effects.

1. They result in a loss of morale in staff who can see the potential margin
implications but can do nothing about it.
2. They act to dampen innovation and initiative.
3. Staff who have high innovation ability often leave in resignation.

4. Some potential programs that could have an immediate financial impact
that far outweighs their cost are not proposed because of fear of rejection in
such a strong cost-cutting environment.
5. Margin reductions adversely impact longer-term valuation and
competiveness and hence stock price.
In the leadership development area, programs are typically cut and then revived
once the market turns up again. The cuts usually reflect the feeling that these
programs have little financial impact anyway on short-term business outcomes,
so nothing is really being lost in the longer-term.
This reflects a deeper reality; that most companies believe that leadership
development and HR have little or no impact on short-term financial outcomes,
and probably at best only a minor or indirect impact on long-term financial
outcomes. Thus the cutbacks that occur to leadership development reflect a deeper
failure in HR and leadership development generally. That failure is the widespread
feeling that leadership development is not relevant to direct financial and business
concerns, seen from a purely financial outcome perspective.
Recessions Reinforce Negative Impressions of HR and Leadership

Development
Typically leadership development and training are amongst the first areas to suffer
in a downturn. Cuts can often be made quickly since many of the programs are
run by consultants. There is often a feeling that training and executive development
is too “soft” to impact company results anyway. Thus these activities are put on
hold until the market turns up again for the cycle to be repeated once the next
downturn arrives.
In downturns CEOs and boards focus on immediate cost-cutting exercises

that are designed to reflect in the financial statements of the company. Typically
little or no thought is given to changing employee and managerial behaviors.
The immediate focus is to get to numbers that will show the markets that the
company has made immediate changes that will result in earnings improvement.
In such an environment, behaviors are indeed changed, but only in the

short-term. The fundamental financial behavioral attributers that exist in all
companies and all markets remain unchanged. Companies focus on financial
metrics rather than long-term financial behaviors, which are the cause of the
results reflected in the metrics. This leaves the company vulnerable to precisely
the same financial vulnerabilities, namely to lower quality financial decisions,
once the markets turn up again.
Leadership development and HR are seen as a fundamental part of this process

because of their role in managing layoffs. In a recession, this is a major contributor
to the already widespread perception that HR is not part of the business equation,
unless it is simply to oversee the termination and resignation processes that are
needed and to ensure that there are no legal repercussions.
Recessions and downturns are usually bad for the image of HR and leadership
development since they are usually the executors of cost-cutting strategies that
require people to be laid off. Whatever improved perceptions of HR and
leadership development occur in the good times, the improvement is usually
reversed in the bad.
Recessions usually reinforce the stereotype of HR as being a short-term, tactical

responder. This perception then reduces the effectiveness of HR in the good
times as it attempts (if at all) to move towards a more strategic focus again.
Board Thinks Financial Engineering: Leadership Development

Should Think Financial Behavior
When the bad times arrive, the realization usually does not dawn slowly but all
at once. Panic sets in quickly. Since response by a board and CEO must be fast,
it is usually limited to financial engineering – rapid cost cuts and other approaches
to accounting reflected in the financial statements that will be seen rapidly by
the market. At this stage and time, this is all the CEO and the board can absorb
and do, given market pressures on them.
The board and CEO are, of course, looking for all the help they can get.
Usually their stated requirement is for cost cuts. They do want these. But what
they really also want is rapid behavioral change. However, they will rarely ask for
it for a number of reasons:
• They are too focused on cuts and other fast changes themselves to think
about behavior other than at the very simplest level.
• They believe it is too late for any behavioral changes to take effect.
• They have little or no confidence that HR and leadership development
can effect any fast change in any behavior in any case.
• They do not have any confidence that any change HR and leadership
development could make would, in any case, have any immediate business
impact.
• Even if they have some confidence in HR, they believe that HR does not
have sufficient business credibility within the company to render any
programs they do launch effective and credible with participants.
• They are embarrassed that they had not moved on these issues years ago so
that the behavioral changes they really want would already be in place.
HR and leadership development cannot rely on their management to tell them
this for the above reasons. They must respond to this unstated requirement without
being asked. They must display the initiative to conceptualize, develop and propose
programs which will result in rapid behavioral change that will support the financial
mission of the CEO and the board in the short-term while also having the long-
term impacts that both they and the shareholders would also want.
The implications for HR are:

1. They must take the initiative since it will rarely be solicited.
2. They must propose programs that are fast, concrete and focused on changes
in financial behavior.
3. They must propose these initiatives not just with the top management
but must rapidly build internal constituencies through identification of
local champions in the business units who can act as validators and
credibility creators within the organization.
The CEO and Board Want Employees to Think More Like Owners
During the good times, employees and management look to get the most from the
company they can consistent with their own skills and their own competitive talents.
That is fair and is a core part of our capitalist system. Companies look to pay the
most to attract the best talent, which expects to do well as its part of the bargain.
Management and employees understand this bargain and it works well as

long as the good times roll. During the good times, companies usually work with
an employee-focused culture, where employees expect the owners to treat them
as independent agents, as indeed many have become de facto in an employment
culture in which change of job is common.
In bad times, things are different. The company may have its own survival at
stake. The CEO may have his or her own job on the line. The board is under
pressure with a declining stock price and disgruntled shareholders. In this situation
the CEO and the board, not to mention the shareholders are looking for the
employees to give back, at least to some extent. Employees and management
itself are usually loathe to make any change since they have become accustomed
to the implicit bargain which treats them effectively as independent agents, even
if legally they are employees.
Recessions throw a laser focus on this issue by taking away resources and forcing
management and employees to decide how much they are prepared to give up to
have a job and a future with the company. Recessions move the dynamics away
from the employee to the owners and tend to push the dynamic towards the
desirability of employees thinking like owners rather than as independent agents.
In a recession the CEO and the board want the employees and management to
think like owners rather than employees. Owners are prepared to roll with the punches
letting their compensation decline as needed and changing their roles as needed by
the company, not as they might like to do themselves as independent agents.
But it goes further. The desire of the CEO and the board to have employees
and management think more like owners also reflects a strong but not always
explicitly stated desire that they think more like owners at all times. This desire
may often not be well stated because of equity structures that favor top
management over employees. But the CEO and the board want their employees
and management to think like owners irrespective of the equity structure. This
may seem unreasonable but it is nonetheless a reality.
The implications for HR and leadership development are therefore:

1. Leadership development and training programs must become focused on
developing a culture of ownership amongst employees and management.
2. The ownership culture must encompass responsibilities for short-term
actions to protect the company financially.
3. HR itself must integrate these principles into its overall program and goals.
4. These ownership concepts must be tied to short-term requirements for
cost-cutting and other tactics to put the company into the right competitive
and financial position.
The Board and CEO Want Leadership Development Tied Directly

to Profit Quality
CEOs and boards have a number of different types of motivations in recessionary
times. First they have to keep the ship afloat. Second they must present an image
that is consistent with the times that demonstrates to both internal and external
constituencies that they have the right toughness of mind to make the right
decisions. Third they must still do enough to keep the company in good enough
shape that it can bounce back when the good times come again.
In good times the board and the CEO will be very tolerant of, and often
actively support, leadership development initiatives that are tied to social rather
than to pure business objectives. In tough times they will focus on initiatives
that have a direct impact on the bottom line. While their concern may often be
just to cut costs, no matter what the outcome, often they are willing to tolerate
some costs that are higher than strictly necessary as long as it can be shown that
they will increase profit quality over the medium to longer term.
By profit quality we mean the following:

• The sustainability of profits.
• Lower volatility of profits.

• The ability of the staff of a company to add value in ways that will lead to
more sustainable profit.
• The development of staff behaviors that increase profits thought their impact
on costs and margins.
CEOs and boards are practical people. If they can see initiatives coming from
HR and leadership development that will be very likely to have these impacts,
then there is a good chance they will fund them. However, if leadership
development initiatives are presented that do not demonstrate that they will do
this, and in a measurable way, they will go ahead and just cut costs since their
perception will be that the alternative presented by HR is no better than the
bleak reality they see now, but which at least is concrete and knowable.
The above has a number of implications for leadership development and HR:
1. Programs that rely purely on personality and competency-based approaches
that do not have a direct link with financial concerns and outcome will
likely be axed.
2. Programs that do not show a direct linkage with current belt-tightening
will not be viewed well.
3. Programs that show a direct link with supporting current financial measures
will have a good chance of getting funded.
4. Programs with a longer-term focus on improving profitability behaviors
will also have a good chance of being funded.
5. Programs that show how staff can become involved in financial improvement
efforts, no matter what their level, will also have a good chance of being
supported.
Boards and CEOs Want the Right Things Done with the Right People
As the old adage says, you can’t manage what you can’t measure. Unfortunately
most companies do not measure the types of financial behaviors of their people
so it is not possible for them to figure out who are the best ones to keep and who
to let go. In recessions people get laid off as a way to cut costs. People are selected
to be laid off for a variety of reasons. Rarely is one of those reasons that they have
a low impact on financial outcome or that they do not have enough business
acumen to be useful in a recessionary environment.
CEOs and boards are well aware of this. If they cannot identify people with the
right behaviors for improving profit quality, they have no reliable measure as to which
of their employees will be of the most assistance to them, both short- and long-term,
in supporting their mission to keep the company going in difficult times. In these
circumstances they are likely to ask HR and leadership development to make blanket
and relatively indiscriminate cuts since there is no better way that they know of.
To put it this way; CEOs and boards want the following:

• When they have layoffs they want to lay off the right people, that is people
who, other things being equal, have the financial behaviors that are least
supportive of their current corporate financial mission.
• They want to keep the right people, that is, people who, other things
being equal, have the financial behaviors that are most supportive of their
current corporate financial mission.
• In planning for the future, they want to develop the right people in the right
way, that is, to inculcate the right financial behaviors in the people who are
most suited to utilizing these in support of the corporate financial mission.
What does this mean for HR and leadership development?

1. They need to complement their existing leadership development approaches
with those that have a focus on financial behavior and outcome.
2. They need to change the emphasis of their programs and the way they
present them to top management from a soft to a hard focus.
3. They need to present their programs in terms of their impact on building
financial behaviors which support both the current short-term focus and
the longer-term focus of building profit quality.
4. They need to emphasize the impact of these programs in bringing about
voluntary, short-term significant cost reductions which are bought into
wholeheartedly by staff.
5. They should show the implications of these programs for building better aligned
staff and management from a financial perspective over the longer-term.
6. They need to present a new and sharper, more financially-focused image of
talent management, one that is focused on building better financial
behaviors, as distinct from building better financial skills (if, indeed, they
are doing this at all).
HR Needs a Fresh and Dynamic, Recession-Focused Program

With the above points in mind we can set out some principles for leadership
development and HR to follow in recessions and in developing strategy for their
programs, both short- and long-term:
1. De-emphasize traditional personality and competency-based approaches
2. Focus on programs that will have fast behavioral impact on costs and margins
3. Introduce into all programs the concepts of an ownership culture
4. Implement programs to develop business acumen
5. Integrate business acumen programs with traditional programs
6. Map business acumen to traditional personality and competency
approaches
7. Emphasize the financial and hard side of programs in internal public
relations
8. Train HR and leadership development professionals in business acumen
approaches
9. Position HR and leadership development as being business-focused
innovators in their own area
10. Introduce programs to develop high leverage innovation approaches
11. Stress approaches to increase leadership agility and organizational
learning
12. Integrate business acumen approaches into talent management and

succession planning
13. View the recession as an unparalleled opportunity, not as a problem
De-emphasize Traditional Personality and Competency-Based

Approaches
This White Paper is not advocating, by any means, that these approaches should
be dropped. On the contrary they provide invaluable tools in leadership
development. However, the harsh reality is that many people on the business
side regard them as “soft”. Promoting them strongly in tough times is not a
good idea since it reduces the business credibility of HR and leadership
development. Public relations are vital in a recession for HR and leadership
development. HR needs to be mindful of this when seeking top-level support
for its development programs.
Focus on Programs that will have Fast Behavioral Impact on Costs

and Margins
In tough times, the CEO and management want to see fast, even precipitate,
action on staffing, costs and, to the extent it is possible, margins. HR must couch
the language of most of its proposals in these terms. It should show how behavior
can be modified to have a measurable impact on financial statements at whatever
level it is working at (unit, division, subsidiary, enterprise etc.).
Introduce into all Programs the Concepts of an Ownership Culture

Tough times are meant to focus the mind. An ownership culture focuses the
mind by bringing home to managers and staff alike the responsibilities of being
an owner and teaching them the importance of taking responsibility for all their
actions and decisions which have a financial impact, irrespective of whether or
not they have a formal P&L.
In this view, all staff, no matter how junior, are P&L managers, even if it is
informal, since they all have an impact on someone’s P&L. Leadership
development needs to get this message across to the CEO and board so that they
understand this message, can promote it, and so that it will have a significant
impact on improving the financial position of the company by tackling the problem
at its source, that is, the financial behaviors of staff and managers.
Implement Programs to Develop Business Acumen

Ultimately leadership development needs to run formal programs in the area of business
acumen to develop it and show staff and managers the linkages between their behavior
and financial outcomes. This is not the same as business literacy. Many leadership
development programs put staff into business literacy courses (Wharton, etc.) which
will have no impact on business acumen. By addressing thus issue head-on, leadership
development professionals will be signaling to their top management their concern
about this issue and their assumption of the responsibility to take direct action to
improve the financial behaviors of employees and managers.
In whatever programs leadership development conducts, it should tie in results

to financial statements and show that it is interested in financial outcomes. This
will improve its own credibility and encourage program participants to think in
a similar way, reinforcing the thrust that financial behavior and outcomes are key
to the company’s direction and values.
Integrate Business Acumen Programs with Traditional Programs

Business acumen programs should be integrated with more traditional programs.
For example, with high potentials, one or two days can be used for traditional
approaches, and a third day can be used to do a business acumen approach. This
will round out the curriculum and make it more credible in a tough environment
to top management, the business side and to the high potentials themselves.
Map Business Acumen to Traditional Personality and Competency

Approaches
Traditional personality and competency-based programs have no direct link with
financial behaviors and financial outcome. Leadership development needs to start
mapping the results of these traditional programs to financial outcomes, using as
a medium results from business acumen programs. Traditional personality and
competency program results can be made far more valuable and impactful if they
can be linked with financial outcomes. This will also increase their business
credibility with top management and staff, as well as improving the image of HR
and leadership development.
Emphasize the Financial and Hard Side of Programs in Internal

Public Relations
Leadership development needs to adopt a formal internal public relations approach
during a recession. This approach needs to show their practical and financial
side. This cannot be left to chance as usually there is a reservoir of stereotypes
about leadership development that need to be overcome. A recession actually is
the best time to do this since it affords the opportunity to set up fast, hard-
hitting practical programs that can impact the internal perception of HR and
leadership development quickly if the right actions are taken and the right
programs implemented.
Train HR and Leadership Development Professionals in Business

Acumen Approaches
It is crucial that HR and leadership development professionals themselves undergo
business acumen training. Often these professionals do not come from the business
side and this can hurt their credibility. If the leadership development people are
not familiar with the content of business acumen programs, their chances of
successfully introducing them to the business side will be reduced and their own
credibility will suffer. At an early stage in a recession, the HR and leadership
development people themselves need to undergo this training to make it clear that
they are committed to the same regime that they plan to get others to undergo.
Position HR and Leadership Development as Being Business-Focused

Innovators in their Own Area
HR and leadership development have been promoting numerous innovation
programs over the past few years. Recessions are a time to show to the rest of the
organization that they themselves can innovate successfully in areas that are key
to corporate survival and growth. All too often, HR and leadership development
is seen as being behind the curve in the area of innovating on its own turf. By
implementing practical, results-focused business acumen programs, leadership
development can show that it is prepared to take the same medicine and lead by
example in the area of business-focused innovation.
Introduce Programs to Develop High Leverage Innovation Approaches

Leadership development still needs to focus on innovation in a recession, to ensure
that there they promote the long-term sustainability of their company. Research
shows conclusively that high R&D spending is not correlated with innovation.
A recession provides an opportunity for HR and leadership to promote

“high-leverage innovation” that is innovation which is deliberately catalyzed by
restricting the availability of capital – i.e., deliberate capital rationing. Other
research also shows that this can often spur innovation in ways that normal
innovation processes cannot.
HR and leadership development can contribute to sustainable corporate growth

over the longer-term by promoting these approaches during a recession, when
they are most needed, thus contributing to the continuation of vital research and
innovation approaches despite the tough times.
Stress Approaches to Increase Leadership Agility and Organizational

Learning
Financial behaviors are only as good as people are at learning when they are
appropriate or otherwise. Thus the key behavioral variable in a recession with
financial behaviors is the agility of a person in discerning when they need to use
one financial behavior or another.
Leadership and mental agility is always important but in recession it is even

more so. Staff will be asked to do things that they do not normally do and to act
in ways that may be uncomfortable for them. Yet it is precisely these changes
that are needed in times of rapid and unpredictable change.
Leadership development needs to take the lead in promoting programs to

increase leadership and mental agility so that the overall company has the necessary
agility to make difficult transitions.
Integrate Business Acumen Approaches into Talent Management and

Succession Planning
Business acumen approaches are not just for development. As the White Paper
has pointed out earlier, top management wants leadership development and HR
to choose the right people who need to leave and the right people to stay. In
recessions the issue of business acumen and financial impact assume pride of
place for a while. These approaches need to be integrated into talent management
generally in areas such as recruitment, promotion, transfers and succession planning
and should form a basis for personnel decisions together with other more
traditional criteria.
And Must Leverage Business Acumen Programs

Business acumen is a new area for HR generally. In general HR people are not
familiar with this so recessions will put instant pressure on them to bring themselves
up to speed in this area, not only with the content, but also how the content can
be leveraged and how it affects HR processes and company processes generally.
Some critical issues for HR:
1. The issue of business literacy

2. The importance of standards
3. Training HR
4. Getting buy-in from the rest of the company
Business Literacy: We have already addressed this point earlier. There are plenty
of courses to increase business literacy but almost none to increase business
acumen. It is the latter which is needed, not the former.
Many companies will focus on business literacy training but this will not do
much, if anything, to improve the financial behavior of their people. The ability
to read and understand a financial statement does not give a person the business
judgment to make money. In addition, business acumen programs force companies
to address how important business literacy really is and how it ranks versus business
acumen. This is really a broader debate about the relative importance of
qualifications versus natural competency, and how much people, can be developed
irrespective of their qualifications.
One implication is that HR really needs to examine the importance of having

an MBA or a business qualification for many positions and the extent to which
business qualifications can sometimes actually be a barrier to financial performance
and business growth.
Standards: There is a lack of standards on business acumen which HR needs

to confront quickly so they do not implement courses which are not based on a
solid training and development foundation. There are numerous business literacy
courses which almost never address business acumen. There are also numerous
business simulation courses that similarly do not address business acumen
formally, although they may well raise the issue.
HR needs to focus on what standards it needs to adopt vis a vis business

acumen in existing business-sensitization programs to clarify what its objectives
really are, what content it is really looking for, and how it will measure outcomes.
Currently the business courses run by most companies lack any such standards
in this area, and the result is widespread confusion as to why these programs are
actually being implemented and whether or not the are worth the cost.
Training HR and Leadership Development: Most HR and leadership

development people have no background in business acumen and feel
uncomfortable in this area. They too will need training to get them up to speed
in this new area. Paradoxically this is one area in which business literacy and
financial qualifications are likely to be useful since it will increase the confidence
of such people in implementing business acumen programs and it will send a
message to the business side that HR is really serious about becoming more
relevant to business needs.
Company Buy-In: Most staff and management in most companies have no

concept of business acumen so there will need to be broad programs to introduce
these concepts so that staff who undergo this training will be able to operate
effectively once they complete their courses.
Paradoxically there is another issue that will tend to slow down this buy-in.
Many business unit managers and heads may feel threatened by someone from
the outside, particularly from HR coming in to review their operations and
behaviors from a perspective of financial behaviors and business acumen.
For many business unit heads, such programs may appear threatening, even if
they are designed to increase their effectiveness. Once the business side generally
realizes that HR is serious about supporting the company in this manner, there
will inevitably be some resistance from units that are concerned about control.
From their viewpoint, an HR area that is ineffective in supporting the company

from a business perspective is actually a good thing, by removing one potential
source of outside review. HR will only know for sure that it is becoming effective
and being seen to be so when it gets such resistance. It will be important for HR
to develop ways to constructively use this resistance to deflect it and turn it to
the company’s advantage.
Appropriate Targeting of its Initiatives is Different in Tough Times

To get programs adopted, the simple rule is usually to go to the top first. Like all
simple rules it has its drawbacks. In a recession the CEO is often just too busy
and too pressured to get into discussions about behavioral financial programs,
even if they have a short-term payoff. The fact of the matter is, he or she may not
just believe the HR folks or feel that they have enough credibility with the rest of
the organization to pull it off. After all, he or she has their own credibility to
think of too.
When a CEO is in that position (and some will not be, so don’t give up on it)
the best course is to build that credibility with a champion at the top of a business
unit who has independent credibility with the CEO, other business unit heads
and the top management team. The message for that champion has to be much
focused and very direct: we can get you immediate improvements in financial
performance by acting on the financial behaviors of your senior managers. In a
recession, no other message will work.
A message that stresses traditional soft approaches or relies on credibility built

up through using them is unlikely to work either, at least in our experience. Even if
the business unit loves HR and the work they have done with him or her in the
past, he or she is not going to risk their credibility either with the CEO or their
own people with programs that do not have direct financial impact. In addition, if
these programs do not result in rapid and significant expense reductions, their
credibility will also be compromised. So the message has to be crafted very carefully.
As this White Paper has mentioned, HR also needs to position itself as an

innovator in hard times. One way it can do this is to help business units set up
high leverage innovation programs using capital rationing.
High leverage innovation programs are also programs to change financial

behavior for the better but this time working on the margin rather than on the
cost side, a good area for HR to be in if it does not want to be viewed just as a
hatchet job for top management. This in effect means unfinanced skunk works.
Pursuing initiatives like this will not work with most business unit heads but the
few it is appropriate for will appreciate the support and will act as key credibility
creators for HR.
Recession frequently acts to close minds to new ideas at top management

levels, at least temporarily. Top management is so preoccupied with expense
cutting and survival that it often cannot focus on anything new. This can be a
real problem for a company in a recession. It is also an opportunity for HR.
Low- or no-cost initiatives such as bringing in thought leaders and vendors

with something new and interesting can be high leverage opportunities for HR
to put new ideas in front of management, helping them retain some mental
suppleness and in the process alerting them to HR’s foresight. Using such a
method to keep new ideas in front of top management also serves to familiarize
them with new concepts that underlie more financially focused programs that
they will be more likely to support once a firm proposal is put in front of them.
HR Must Launch High Leverage Initiatives Quickly!

So what can HR and leadership development do quickly to take advantage of the
recession opportunity? We would suggest some of the following:
• Get a thought leader in the areas of business acumen and financial behavior
to present to top management.
• Do a fast program with the CEO and the top management team.
• Conduct a business acumen program for a sympathetic business unit head
and his/her top managers.
• Introduce business acumen concepts into traditional leadership

development programs.
• Conduct business acumen onboarding with new executives.
• Introduce business acumen and financial behavioral attributes into
succession planning programs.
• Launch a skunk works program in conjunction with a sympathetic business
unit head.
• Carry out an inventory of business acumen in the top management team
or the team of a business unit as a basis for personal decisions being made
as part of recession-planning responses.
Recession is an Unparalleled Opportunity, Not a Problem!

A recession is an opportunity for leadership development. It forces a reassessment
of internal priorities and processes and throws up opportunities for HR to innovate
and show its value from a business perspective. It provides new ways for HR to
improve its position and to show its mettle. It provides professionals in these
areas with a new channel for professional and personal development. It throws
up a new channel to improve the market value of the company over the
long-term, with its attendant benefits to investors, shareholders and the staff
themselves.
Leadership development needs to review its own communications strategy

with the rest of the company to communicate that message so that it can use the
opportunity to gain support from the business side and position it for the good
times ahead. It must take a proactive role in innovation in the leadership
development area, and use the image and branding that it promotes as the basis
for a new and more impactful role as the company moves into the good times,
once again.
(E Ted Prince, CEO & Founder, Perth Leadership Institute. The author can be
reached at etedprince@perthleadership.org).
11
Leadership Development Practices of
Top-Performing Organizations
The article explores the trends in leadership development

in high performing organizations and evaluates the business
impacts of a development initiative. Through in depth
interviews with business unit leaders, leadership
development practitioners and human resource
professionals, the article unleashes that flexibility and
adaptability are the keys to sustaining leadership
development success. Many organizations are moving away
from standardized, set piece leadership development super
structure. The article attempts in explaining the reasons
why the organizations lack in their ability to evaluate a
leadership development outcome effectively.
Executive Summary
Developing leaders is a formidable challenge for today’s global business. The
deficit of available leadership talent is widely cited as the greatest limiter of growth.
Cracking the code on developing effective leadership has the potential of conferring
incredible advantages—competitive and organizational increased profitability and
organizational development.
Source: Ninth House, Inc. January 2006 (http://www.cdl.rutgers.edu/e-leadership/pdf/Orlando.pdf). © Ninth House, Inc.
Reprinted with permission.
Leadership Development Practices of Top-Performing Organizations 143
This research project was specifically designed to engage Fortune 500

organizations and explore three key leadership development areas:
1. Trends in leadership development practices in high-performing
organizations
2. Leadership competencies essential to success in competitive industries
3. The business impacts of leadership development
In-depth interviews were completed with business unit leaders, leadership

development practitioners and human resource professionals with findings that
reveal clearly that flexibility and adaptability are the keys to sustaining leadership
development success. Many organizations are moving away from standardized,
set-piece leadership development super structures. All companies surveyed
deployed a wide array of leader development platforms, but most identified best
practices centered on leadership development techniques that are real-time and
real-life and extend to all levels of management. Real-time practices emphasizing
specialized and customized learning interventions targeted to individual leader
development needs; and real-life in the emphasis on experiential and action learning
practices linking leader development to actual business challenges.
Driving the need for responsive leadership development systems is the focus
companies place on strategy articulation and execution. In this fast-paced era—
marked by churning business strategies—two leadership development imperatives
have emerged. First, executive management, as the voice of strategy, must play an
increasingly visible and active role in leadership development. And second,
leadership behaviors must be aligned with these new strategies to keep both the
employees and the organization focused on the end-game of success. Competency
models for leaders are becoming more focused, with fewer competencies, and are
more easily prioritized to fit the changing needs of the business.
It is also noted that leadership development, as a discipline, is increasingly

becoming interwoven with other talent management systems, particularly
succession planning and performance management. Building leadership bench
strength is a ubiquitous challenge that requires that organizations move away
from treating leadership development as a standalone endeavor. The more readily
leader development can be aligned and integrated with other talent management
tools the stronger the capability for business growth.
Finally, organizations still lag in their ability to evaluate the return on their
leadership development investments. Most organizations assess their leader
development outcomes informally and anecdotally, with little emphasis on
connecting leader development to bottom line business outcomes. But this is
changing. A subset of companies sampled has efforts underway to link leadership
development efforts to organizational outcomes. These efforts are leading to an
even greater awareness of the importance and results of developing leaders at all
levels of the organization.
Introduction
The Leadership Development Practices of Top-Performing Organizations white
paper is driven by a simple question: How do high performing organizations, in
highly competitive industries, develop leaders to achieve business results? To pursue
this question, let us focus on three key areas:
1. Leadership development practices resident and effective in high-performing
organizations
2. Leadership behaviors most important for success in highly competitive
industries
3. How organizations test and measure leadership development return on
investment
During the course of this research, the methodology employed was a series of
in-depth interviews with human resource leaders, leadership development
practitioners and business unit leaders. These interviews included both
fixed-choice questions and open-ended questions to better understand the
challenges and practices for all levels of management. All of the organizations in
the sample were high-profile Fortune 500 companies selected for their year-over-
year total shareholder returns and leadership development success.
Leadership Development Best Practices

A primary focus of the research was to distinguish the leadership development
practices that make marked and measurable differences for organizations. The
practices reviewed were varied and through the course of this study it became
clear that different organizations have different experiences and preferences with
respect to growing their current and future leaders.
In analyzing the data, some important central tendencies become readily

apparent. In general, leadership development systems are becoming more
“real-time” rather than “justin-time”. There is an emerging emphasis on
“experience” over classroom training. And there is a greater willingness to
individualize development for leaders by bringing in the right skill sets at the
right time.
Driven by Business Strategy

Leadership development practices do not exist in a vacuum. The best
leadership development systems are anchored in—and driven by—business
strategy. Seventy percent of respondent companies linked leadership
development efforts to business strategy.
Why is the leadership development connection to business strategy so critical?

Business strategies change and churn more rapidly, putting a premium on strategy
execution skills. Leadership traits must mirror and keep pace with the strategic
challenges of the business. The skill sets of leaders must correlate with the business
challenges and exigencies of the enterprise. A quote from one respondent
illuminates the linkage between strategy and leadership skills:
“Our leadership skill needs have changed as the organization has evolved.
We have seen a dramatic shift in the last few years. The company has been
through two phases and is now moving into a third.”
Organizational leaders must possess the right skills and orientations to launch,
test and revise business strategies as necessary. This requires an ongoing analysis
and alignment of leadership skills to strategy.
Leadership Development Purpose

Aligning leadership behaviors to strategy creates a core purpose for leadership
development endeavors. Without this central focus, leadership development practices
tend to become ends in themselves. As discussed in the segments below,
organizations integrate leadership development and strategy in multiple ways. The
mechanisms include classroom-based programs, action learning projects, rotational
assignments, and the prioritization and emphasis on specific leadership competencies.
Active Senior Leadership Involvement

Another critical success factor for effective leadership development is executive
management sponsorship and visibility. In the open-ended segment of the
research, active support by senior leaders was referenced frequently as a most
effective factor in leadership development practices. Eighty five percent of the
organizations cited executive management commitment and sponsorship as
cornerstones of their approach to developing leaders.
Executive endorsement lends credibility to leadership development efforts and

elevates the criticality of the experience of those being developed. But active
participation by senior leaders in development programs and initiatives may have
an even greater payback potential. A strong majority—slightly more than 85%—
indicated that senior leaders are actively involved in the development of other
leaders as teachers, mentors and coaches. Many respondents reported the impact
and excitement of attending programs with senior leaders as teachers.
Another venue for involving senior leaders in learning is through action

learning applications. Experiential learning or action learning was another tool
frequently volunteered as most effective in developing leaders. By defining core
challenges, or sitting in on panels reviewing action-learning outcomes, senior
leaders play a huge role in crafting leadership development success.
Leadership Competencies as the Development Core

If business strategy sets the core purpose for leadership development, then
competencies stand as the primary clusters of knowledge, behavior and motivations
organizations strive to instill in leaders. Hundred percent of the organizations
reported having had a defined set of leadership competencies guiding their
development efforts.
The leadership competencies tended to be highly differentiated and very

specific to individual organizations. However, further analysis proved that
leadership behaviors most likely to impact business performance could be clustered
into four primary domains: Setting Strategy, Running the Business Efficiently,
Generating Revenue, and Engaging Talent. These are discussed later in the
Leadership Model section.
Having a defined leadership model in the form of critical knowledge, skills

and motivations is a frequently cited leadership development best practice. The
advantage of a core competency framework is that it can be aligned and integrated
throughout the talent management cycle—from recruiting to selection to
development to promoting and compensation.
A Focused and Prioritized Few

A formal and focused leadership competency model establishes behavioral
expectations for leaders at all levels of the organization. This allows the virtual
“collection” of leadership experience by generating guidelines on how leaders should
think, act and interact with others. In this way, a leadership competency framework
becomes a powerful force for defining, or redefining, an organization’s culture.
One obvious trend is a conscious move by top-performing organizations to a

much smaller and more focused set of competencies for each unit of business.
Rather than a laundry list of leadership competencies, organizations are identifying
a focused few—three, four or five competencies—that become the focal point for
developing their current and future leaders.
As the strategic demands of the business change, leadership development

priorities also shift. As one respondent identified:
“The top leadership competencies have not changed, but their priority
has. Thinking strategically is more critical because of the more competitive
business market. Building teams and relationships are certainly more critical
than it used to be because of technology, the need for virtual teaming, and
working across geographies.”
Many respondents had similar stories on how their set of leadership

competencies migrated as the demands of the business evolved.
Multi-Dimensional Learning Platforms

One size does not fit all leadership development challenges. Organizations take a
multidimensional approach to leadership development utilizing a variety of
learning techniques. Eighty five percent of the respondents incorporated a
multitude of learning platforms in the development of leaders. These included
classroom, Web-based and experiential learning activities.
Research further identified that leadership development tools are stratified by

level of management. Classroom and e-learning tools are much more prevalent
for front-line and mid-level managers. Upper-middle and senior-level leadership
development are much more likely to incorporate experiential and action-learning
techniques.
Leadership Curriculum Designs

Most companies (70%) have a defined leadership curriculum established.
Although a majority of respondents indicated that the curriculum was more
voluntary than mandatory in character.
Only a few organizations referenced having specialized, highly customized,

mandatory leadership development programs in place. For those that did, however,
there was a tendency to identify the program as being distinctive and highly
effective in elevating the leader potential of their organizations.
For the most part, “adaptability” seems to be the watchword influencing

leadership curriculum development. Not many organizations are creating
one-size-fits-all leadership development systems. Most organizations are creating
fluid designs incorporating just-in-time response elements supporting the business
imperative of keeping pace in rapidly changing competitive environment. This
includes a greater reliance on e-learning and blended learning solutions, particularly
targeted to entry-level and mid-management positions.
Experiential Development Linked to Strategic Priorities

One important finding is the linkage of leadership development to real-time
organizational experiences. As one respondent stated:
“Seventy percent of knowledge is experience, and we do not do enough of

that. We need to find a way to make everyday business experiences more
leveragable from a learning and development perspective.”
In open-ended comments, some form of experiential or action-learning program

was mentioned as a preferred practice by nearly one-third of the respondents.
Examples of experiential learning included moving leaders onto special projects,
task forces or organizational initiatives. It also included embedding real-world
business problems into leadership development programs. As a development tool,
experienced-based initiatives were primarily referenced for promoting the
leadership skills of upper-middle and senior level leaders.
The advantages of experiential development for leaders are many. First, leaders
are challenged to take on real problems with immediate feedback and payback.
This “mainstreaming” of leadership development connects managers to projects
that have both educational and business consequences.
Another benefit is the cohesion or bonding that occurs as individuals work

intensively together. Taking on and solving significant organizational challenges
establish a crucible that forges relationships with lasting impact. These experiences
establish interpersonal networks that grow and strengthen as leaders mature and
move into more senior levels of management.
Finally, experiential learning can bring together leaders from different disciplines
to work on special projects. This co-mingling of participants tends to break down
barriers and promote the ability of organizations to pursue problems synergistically.
Rotational Assignments
Another experience-based leadership development tool is the rotation of managers
across disciplines, divisions and geographies. Despite a large percentage wanting
or requesting rotation as part of their leadership development efforts, less than
half (45%) of the organizations are utilizing rotational or developmental

assignments as a regular component of their total leadership development package.
However, many leadership development practitioners would like to see their

organizations take greater advantage of rotational assignments. One respondent
advocated for a multifunctional organizational rotation because “you cannot develop
a CEO with a single discipline background.” Organizational complexity and
specialization tended to be cited as barriers to job rotational assignments as a
leadership development tool.
In most organizations, rotational assignments are reserved for high potential

leader candidates. Organizations use these assignments to “round out” the leadership
package in a way that positions individuals for executive management slots.
360-Degree Feedback and the Individualization of Leadership Development

There are clear signs for the ongoing “individualization” of leadership development.
This is particularly true for upper-middle and senior-level leaders. Virtually all
respondents (95%) utilize external executive coaches as part of their leadership
development program. And 85% deploy 360-degree feedback tools. This suggests
that organizations are willing to invest the time and resources necessary to create
uniquely suited development initiatives for high-potential leaders.
One caveat to 360-degree assessment tools is cited. For best effects these
assessments should be developmental in origination and intent. The power of a
multi-rater system as a leader-learning tool dissipates as it gets linked to the
performance appraisal process
Integration with Talent Management Systems

We found that leadership development is tightly coupled to other talent
management systems – recruiting, selecting, promoting and compensating leaders.
For example, 90% of the organizations integrate leadership development with
performance management and succession planning. Ninety percent of respondents
also report having specific programs for identifying and developing high-potential
leaders, while 85% actively track the turnover of those leaders.
The Imperative of Succession Planning

One respondent represented the view of many when he said:
“… the greatest rate limiting growth factor we have is how quickly we can
develop leaders.”
Building leadership bench strength is a ubiquitous challenge for virtually all

organizations.
Creating an integrated talent management framework requires a multi-faceted

perspective on organization development. This suggests that developing leaders is
not a stand-alone endeavor. Special linkages must be created, particularly between
succession planning and leadership development. The more these disciplines become
aligned and integrated the stronger the capability for business growth.
Leadership Competencies
The second topic of this study was to identify the Leadership Competencies that
truly drive business results, rather than simply what leaders do. The desire is to
identify the core competencies from which the specific “prioritized few” are
selected for targeted development.
Core Competencies
Setting Strategy Engaging Talent

• Setting Strategy • Coaching
• Strategy Communication • Delegating
• Strategy Execution • Influencing
• Strategy Integration • Holding People Accountable
• Attracting Talent
Operating Efficiently Generating Revenue
• Driving Efficient Processes • Business Acumen
• Maintaining Product Quality • Driving for Results
• Effective Resource Allocation • Customer Focus
• Functional Knowledge • Market Positioning
• Risk Analysis • Exploiting Existing Markets
• Exploiting New Markets
The interview results identified four domains of leadership competencies

including setting the strategy and direction for the business; engaging and
maximizing the employee productivity and talent; operating the business, product
and processes effectively; and generating revenue through a market focus.
Leadership Competencies Behavioral Definitions

Setting Strategy
Forging, communicating and executing a business strategy in pursuit of an
organization’s vision is at the core of leadership. Establishing a strategic direction,
with the ability to get people on board, ensuring the strategy is followed, making
course corrections if needed, and ensuring integration among business units are
dominant leadership traits. As businesses become more complex and demand
change, it is the work of leadership to set and steady the course.
Priority Behaviors
• Setting Strategy – Defining business direction, markets, products, goals,
expectations, and priorities
• Strategy Communication – Discussing the strategic plan consistently and
widely throughout the organization so all employees understand their role
in it (external?)
• Strategy Execution – Ensuring effective implementation of the strategy via
ongoing monitoring, follow-up and modification as necessary
• Strategy Integration – Ensuring alignment of strategy across business entities
Engaging Talent
The best leaders attract and energize others in pursuit of common goals. The
greatest growth-limiting factor for organizations today is the lack of sufficient
leadership potential. Being actively involved in identifying high potential
individuals and coaching people to excel are the key responsibilities of every leader.
Priority Behaviors
Coaching – Providing visible feedback and support to maximize performance
• Delegating – Identifying and tapping into the strengths of others inside

and outside the organization
• Influencing – Using personal influence to align and motivate people’s energy
towards the strategy
• Holding People Accountable – Applying appropriate consequences for
performance
• Attracting Talent – Bringing in and developing the best people; driving a
culture that instills commitment
Operating Efficiently
Leadership skills do not fall far from core business pursuits. Functional and tactical
skill sets are necessary ingredients for practical leadership in organizations. Key to
exceptional leadership is the effective display of practical process oriented leadership
skills of managing the business efficiently and cost-effectively day-to-day.
Priority Behaviors
• Driving Efficient Processes – Ensuring systems and processes are efficient
and effective
• Maintaining Product Quality – Unyielding commitment to making the
best product and providing the best service
• Effective Resource Allocation – Money is budgeted to maximize business
effectiveness
• Functional Knowledge – People are highly skilled in their area of expertise
• Risk Analysis – Timely cost benefit analyses are conducted to determine
when risks are likely to provide a good financial return
Driving Revenue
Business savvy is a necessary leadership trait. Driving financial results, focusing
on short-term growth, exploiting and crating favorable market conditions all relate
to the fact that leaders are first gauged by immediate financial results.
Priority Behaviors
• Business Acumen – Using the knowledge of the factors that impact the
business to maximize return
• Driving for Results – Keeping a close watch on revenue and actively
managing it to ensure financial goals are met
• Customer Focus – Awareness of customer needs and ensuring continually
high customer satisfaction
• Exploiting Existing Markets – Leverage existing markets to increase sales
• Exploiting New Markets – Identifying, leveraging and selling into new
markets
Leadership Competency Changes for the Future

When respondents were asked if leadership skills have changed over time we also
wanted to find out if certain skills are becoming more important. Seventy seven
percent of all Fortune 500 executives surveyed felt that leadership skills have
changed over time and that certain leadership competencies are becoming more
important. Seventy six percent of Human Resource Executives stated that there
have been changes to required leadership skills. Eighty percent of Business Unit
Executives felt that there have been changes to required leadership skills and
competencies over time as well. The question that was specifically asked:
Have leadership skills, and their priority, changed over time, and if so, which
skills are becoming more important and which less important?
Here are some representative quotes from human resource and business unit
executives in response to this question. They highlight the increased use of certain
leadership skills specific to their particular industry and the issues that are causing
these changes.
ISSUE: Rapid Consumer Market Changes

A Fortune 500 Leisure company Human Resource executive stated:
“Leadership skills are constantly changing, we have to reinvent ourselves

because we are consumer driven”.
ISSUE: Increased Competition

A Fortune 500 Telecommunications company Human Resource executive stated:
“Leaders must understand how decisions and processes impact the overall
business; Breakthrough thinking due to more competition and dissolving
monopolies have led to a need for more individual thinking and ability to
engage others – this is increasingly more critical”.
A Fortune 500 Pharmaceutical company Human Resource executive stated:
“What has changed is the complexity of the job. Because of the market
place and its challenges, things have changed.”
“… it has changed from tactical to strategic. We must anticipate the future.

We must keep up with the pace of change in the internal and external
environment. Core leadership traits are still in tact. They still exist with a
newer viewpoint. Leaders must now influence the people and how they think.”
ISSUE: Globalization
A Fortune 500 Automotive company Human Resource executive stated:
“Globalization, the challenge to move more rationally into a global

marketplace. Maximizing quality in a realm of shrinking margins. Entering
new markets, new emerging markets in Asia and East Europe – ability to
manage the business in different markets.”
A Fortune 500 Aerospace Human Resource executive stated:
“Dealing with ambiguity. How to stay focused and confident in uncertain

times. Business acumen. Understanding the business, knowing the pieces
and parts of the business and how they fit together…Globalization. Doing
business outside of the US market. Selling in the right way to different
customers, sourcing materials from different countries”.
ISSUE: Mergers and Acquisitions

A Fortune 500 Financial Institution’s Human Resource executive stated:
“As our financial institution acquired other banks, they started recognizing
the importance of learning how to leverage people’s strengths, not develop
weaker areas, and surround leaders with people who possess areas they lack.”
ISSUE: Impact of Technology

A Fortune 500 Retail company Human Resource executive stated:
“Newer Technology savvy – it is now an explicit expectation of management

to be more technically literate (computers, electronic communications)
without losing customer intimacy. The need to balance customer judgment
and interpersonal skills with better technology skills.”
ISSUE: Cross-Functional and Cross-organizational approach

A Fortune 500 Consumer Goods company Human Resource executive stated:
“Since our customers are requiring greater emphasis on cross-functional

processes, leaders need to have more of a team-orientation – being able to
work in and lead a cross-functional team”
A Fortune 500 Retail company Human Resource executive stated:
“People who are managing managers need to think cross-organizationally,

and develop a broader focus beyond their function or narrow part of the
business. They are moving from Product to People leadership. They have
to get beyond a great product; need to get into the issues involving supply
chain, retention, etc., the systemic stuff that can stifle the company’s ability
to grow.”
A Fortune 500 Entertainment company Human Resource executive stated:
“The top leadership skills have not necessarily changed, but their priority
has. Thinking strategically is more critical because of the more competitive
business market. Building Team and Relationships is certainly more critical
than it used to be because of technology, the need for virtual teaming,
working across geographies.”
The ROI of Leadership Development

One of the challenges of leadership development is that it is so difficult to gauge
return on investment. The research provides insight on the nature of the challenge:
less than half (40%) of the organizations have metrics in place to evaluate the
overall effectiveness of their leadership development practices. And only a slim
majority (55%) monitors objective, quantifiable indicators of individual leadership
effectiveness on an ongoing basis. Going further two questions were asked:
1) How do you currently evaluate the effectiveness of leadership development
initiatives? and,
2) To what measures would you ideally like to see leadership development
linked?
The responses to these two questions highlight an opportunity.
Gap Between Ideal vs. Current Leadership Effectiveness Measures*

Effectiveness Measure Ideal Current
Retention of leadership talent 46% 31%
Financial results (revenues, profits, growth, market share) 46 12
Employee engagement/satisfaction 38 8
Organization culture/morale 12 8
Customer satisfaction/service 12 0
360-degree feedback of Individual Development Plans 8 8
High potential leader identification 4 0
Staff readiness 4 0
Executive endorsement 4 0
Participant satisfaction with programs/offerings 0 19
Leader knowledge/competency increase 0 15
Hours of training delivered 0 8
Wait list for elective courses/offerings 0 8
Executive committee ratings 0 4
Diversity mix 0 4
* Ideal refers to what effectiveness measures should be used.
Among the measures of leadership development that are tracked, most relate
to succession planning patterns – leader turnover and rates of leader promotion.
A subset of organizations also tallies participant satisfaction with leadership
programs and evidence of leadership knowledge and competency development.
Of note, is how few organizations attempt to draw linkages between leadership
development and organizational outcomes.
Measurement Ambivalence
Not everyone agrees that leadership development effectiveness can be measured.
One respondent articulated a general finding:
“(Ideally) leader development should be linked to measurable impacts on

the bottom line. But I am not sure the effects are always so direct. Leader
development is more of an influencing factor than a direct driver of the
bottom line.”
For most organizations, it seems, the evidence for leadership development is

more anecdotal than statistical. And in many cases, respondents were comfortable
relying on indirect, rather than direct, indicators of leadership development impacts.
The absence of a consensus on what and how to assess leadership development

is not surprising. Yet, an ability to quantify return on leadership development
efforts is gaining momentum in some quarters. An emerging number of
organizations have working groups established that are actively seeking ways to
measure the results of leadership development.
A Fortune 500 Automotive Human Resource executive stated:
“There is a Personnel Development Committee made up of Directors and

VP’s that evaluate peoples’ performance and make promotion decisions.
Decisions are based on the professional development framework model. They
do Level 1 and Level 2 measurement. They are now starting some pilots with
level data gathering.”
A Fortune 500 Financial Institution’s Business Unit executive stated:
“(Measurement) is a challenge area for the company. They measure

“regrettable losses”, attrition that reflects on the leader. They are now
launching a program to track which programs are working, and how they
correlate to performance over time – business results. We have seen people
who come out of the Chairman’s Leadership Challenge and are more
successful and prepared to deal with problems. But, no hard data.”
This trend will likely continue and accelerate. Establishing measurable and
repeatable ROI for leadership development is the wave of the future.
Successful Leadership Development Models

So how do organizations develop leaders to achieve true business results: profit,
revenue, and earnings per share growth, profit per employee, customer retention
and satisfaction, employee satisfaction, reduced turnover and the like?
The interview results advocate that investments in certain types of development

such as sponsorship, action learning, blended learning, etc., lead to better
leadership skills. Yet these development best practices are valuable only to the
extent that they lead to desirable business outcomes.
The path to results is indirect. Development practices by themselves do not

lead to improved business results, but rather lead to the improvement in execution
of competencies or skills that influence business outcomes.
At a high level, this study outlines a component model that is based on the
idea that the competencies of the leaders within the organization are developed
through the development practices used by the organization. These demonstrated
competencies, Setting Strategy, Engaging Talent, Operating Efficiency, and
Generating Revenue, ultimately are what lead to business outcomes.
Conclusion
Leadership development produces higher performing organizations through
improving leader effectiveness at all levels of management. Today there is no simple
or single template for developing leaders. Organizations have the most success
when they tailor leader development systems to the realities of the business,
recognizing that strategies for growing leaders shift with the changing demands
of the enterprise.
There are, however, a number of specific summations to be drawn from the

research. The best leadership development systems seem to comprise the following
components:
Action Orientation. The best tools for leadership development tend to be

actionable and leveraged to real business solutions. That is why experiential
learning and action learning were so frequently cited as the “best” leadership
development practices by the companies in the sample.
Strategic Focus. Business strategy and leadership development are tightly

interwoven. This is the reason that executive involvement and sponsorship is so
critically important to leadership development success. The best leadership
development systems foster an ability to execute business strategy.
Integrated with Organizational Systems. Leadership development should not

be perceived as a stand-alone endeavor. Growing leaders works best when the
development of leaders is interlocked with other talent management components—
recruiting, selecting and succession planning.
Multi-Dimensional Learning Designs. The most effective leadership

development curriculums tend to incorporate a wide range of learning techniques
and delivery mechanisms. These curriculums incorporate fluid design elements
allowing organizations to target learning interventions—be they e-learning,
experiential, classroom or blended—that are real-time and real-life and extend to
all levels of management.
To this point the true value of leadership development is difficult to assess

due to the gap between desired and actual practice in measuring development
effectiveness. Predictably, as leadership development is more integrated with

strategic activities, it will become more measurable and its value more readily
apparent to the enterprise.
Ninth House, Inc. provides leadership management development solutions. Using a unique blended
learning approach, integrating content from leading business experts with self-paced online courses
and practical simulations to more effectively develop leaders at all levels of an organization. With
instructors that include industry luminaries like Ken Blanchard, Tom Peters and Peter Senge, the
Ninth House curriculum addresses the most relevant issues an organization faces-from leadership
and innovation, to building community in the workplace, to managing change.
Ninth House has trained hundreds of thousands of learners and is depended on by leading
global enterprises such as The United States Navy, U.S. Department of Justice, Empire Blue Cross
Blue Shield, Amazon, Sony, Wachovia, American Express, and Pfizer. For more information, please
visit www.ninthhouse.com.
APPENDIX
Survey Questions
Leadership Development Practices Compared to the Total Sample

Leadership Practices
1. Is your organization known as being World-Class in leadership development?
2. Are metrics in place to evaluate the overall effectiveness of your leadership development
practices?
3. Are rotational or development assignments a regular component of your leadership
development package?
4. Does your organization monitor objective, quantifiable indicators of individual leadership
effectiveness on an ongoing basis?
5. Does your organization provide sufficient resources to develop leaders?
6. Are your company’s leadership development practices clearly linked to business strategy?
7. Does your company have a defined leadership development curriculum?
8. Does your company have a specific strategy for how you develop leaders?
9. Are leaders actively involved in the development of other leaders as teachers, mentors or
coaches?
10. Does your executive management team demonstrate clear commitment and sponsorship to
leadership development?
11. Does your company deploy 360-degree feedback as part of your leadership development
process?
12. Does your company track turnover of high-potential leaders?
13. Does your leadership development process incorporate different learning platforms—
classroom, Web-based, experiential learning?
14. Does your company have a specific process for identifying and developing high-potential
leaders?
15. Is leadership development integrated with other systems—e.g., recruiting and hiring,
performance management, succession planning?
16. Does your company utilize external executive coaches as part of your leadership
development process?
17. Does your organization have a defined set of leadership competencies—behaviors and values?
18. As you look at your business and its marketplace, what are the key issues or challenges facing
the enterprise?
Contd...
Contd...
19. As you reflect on the business drivers, what are the most important leadership skills your
organization must possess? What must your leaders know of or do to be effective?
20. Have these leadership skills, and their priority, changed over time? If so, which skills are
becoming more important? Which skills are becoming less important?
21. How does your organization go about developing its leaders? What are the mechanics or
processes for leadership development?
22. What is distinctive about your organization’s leadership development practices? Anything
specific about how you develop leaders that gives you a competitive edge?
Additional Questions for Human Resource Executives Only
1. As you reflect on these practices and others, which are most effective in developing leaders
for your organization? Why?
2. How does the organization measure the effectiveness of its leaders today?
3. How do you evaluate the effectiveness of your leadership development initiatives?
4. Assuming that anything is possible, what measures would you like to see leadership
effectiveness linked to?
5. In your organization, if you could do one or two things to improve your ability to develop
leaders, what would that be?
Additional Questions for Business Unit Executives Only
1. As you reflect on these practices and others, which are most effective in developing leaders
for your business unit? Why?
2. How do you measure the effectiveness of your leaders today?
3. How do you evaluate the effectiveness of leadership development initiatives?
4. Assuming that anything is possible, what measures would you like to see leadership
effectiveness linked to?
5. In your business unit, if you could do one or two things to improve your ability to develop
leaders, what would that be?
Demographic Information
Gender Percentage/Frequency
MALE 42%
FEMALE 54%
NA 4%
Company Title/Role Percentage/Frequency
Business Unit Executive 19%
Human Resource Executive 81%
Contd...
Contd...
Size of Fortune 500 Organization (# of employees) Percentage/Frequency

1 to 99 0
100 to 999 0
1,000 to 4,999 12%
5,000 to 9,999 12%
10,000 to 50,000 27%
50,000 or 99,999 23%
100,000 or more 27%
Survey Respondents by Industry
Industry Percentage/Frequency
Computer Software 5%
Financial 15%
Healthcare 5%
Manufacturing 20%
Retail 20%
Telecom Services 10%
Transportation 10%
Automotive 10%
Other 5%
Evaluating a Leadership Development Program 165
12
Evaluating a Leadership
Development Program
Sumati Reddy and Lalithya Rani
Evaluating a Leadership Development Program (LDP) can

provide the management with abundant information on the
extent to which learning has taken place—the gap between
intended and actual output accrued through the application
of learning, the shortfalls of the training, etc. The article
attempts to showcase the importance of the evaluation phase
of a LDP, which many companies ignore. It also cites a
few evaluation models that companies have adopted to
understand the benefits reaped out of their LDPs.
Leadership Evaluation
Many organizations do not realize the need to evaluate the LDPs once the session
ends. The most probable reasons any management cites for ignoring the crucial
“evaluation” stage are lack of time, resources or tools. As organizations are
increasingly adopting LDPs, there is a pressing need for evaluating the same.
Training evaluation can yield the following benefits:
Source: HRM Review, April 2008. © The Icfai University Press. All rights reserved.
• It enables those responsible for the design and delivery of LDP to know
what is being achieved by their efforts.
• It helps in identifying how the organization’s leaders are delivering against
the organization’s strategy.
• It identifies the gaps between current and desired leadership capabilities.
• It improves the quality and effectiveness of one’s leadership development
activities.
• It puts one’s business ahead of competition. (Belling, 2003)
A few popular training evaluation models can be adopted to asses the LDPs.
Kirkpatrick’s Four Levels of Evaluation

Specialists have been using a number of training evaluation models. And it is observed
that most of the trainers are basing their evaluation on the four-level model developed
by Kirkpatrick (1994). The four levels proposed in his model are:
• Reaction.
• Learning.
• Transfer.
• Result.
Reaction is the phase where the focus lies on gathering information about the
participants’ perceived thoughts on the training program. Evaluating reactions
implies examining the satisfaction levels of the trainees and the trainder. However,
it does not measure the learning that takes place during the session. In other
words, it enumerates the feelings of the leaders and supervisors towards the training
program. Based on the participants’ reactions towards the training, one can draw
conclusions on the success of the training session and make necessary improvements
in the approach. The next level of the model “learning”, assesses the extent to
which the learners have been able to learn and enhance their skills. This is the
phase which measures the amount of learning that has occurred during the training
period. In Kirkpatrick model, each successive evaluation level is built on
information provided by the lower level, i.e., the next level is evaluated based on
the information from each prior level. The transfer phase measures the extent to
which the trainees have been able to apply the acquired skills and knowledge in
their day-to-day tasks. The last stage of the model, result, evaluates the training
program by recording the improvements in business results and the productivity
as a result of undergoing the training program. This level is termed as “result”.
Box 1 exemplifies how Kirkpatrick’s model was applied to evaluate the Leadership
Training for Supervisors at Gap Inc., one of the world’s largest specialty retailers.
Box 1: Evaluating Leadership Development at Gap Inc.

The Kirkpatrick’s model was applied to evaluate the Leadership Training for Supervisors (LTS)
program implemented by Gap Inc. Though the LTS program was primarily aimed at equipping store
supervisors with leadership qualities to influence and interact with the employees at the store,
ultimately the program targeted the achievement of business results, which included increasing
sales, reducing the attrition rates, etc. The LTS basically focused on 12 skill areas: diagnosing,
leadership styles, flexibility, direction, support, contract, receiver skills, sender skills, goal setting,
positive feedback, constructive feedback and providing recognition.
After the program, every participant was handed over a questionnaire to complete. The
participants were asked to give their opinions on the program, its effectiveness and relevance to
their, jobs etc., by rating the items in the questionnaire on a scale of 1 to 5.
Then the participants were subjected to a written test wherein each individual. That is, each
individual had to answer questions related to leadership concepts taught and how effectively these
would be applied on their jobs. This constitutes the “Learning” level of the Kirkpatrick model.
The next goal was to assess the behavioral changes in the supervisors. Here, the immediate
subordinates of the trainee managers played a vital role by rating their superiors (the supervisors
who attended the training program) on the 12 skills, which comprised the focus areas of the LTS.
The subordinates’ observation of their managers revealed that mangers were definitely using their
newly-acquired skills on the job. The same survey was repeated after one year to check if this
process of managers’ using the new skills continued or not. And the reports said that not only were
the managers applying the new skills but they had also improved upon them eventually.
As the final stage of the evaluation process, the evaluators now got hold of the reports
pertaining to the sales, attrition rates, etc., and assessed them by relating them to those managers
who significantly used their new skills after the training. And to their surprise, they found a strong
link between the LTS scores and improved achievement of the set business goals.
Source: L’Allier James, Kirkpatrick, Donald (2002).
The four levels of Kirkpatrick Model can be grouped based on two factors viz.,
1. Behavioral changes at the individual level; and
2. Observed changes in the business outcomes.
The first two levels, Reaction and Learning, are more inclined towards
understanding the trainee’s perception towards training and the extent to which
he has been able to acquire what has been taught during the training. Hence,
these two levels if evaluated properly can indicate the amount of contribution of
the training towards individual development and satisfaction levels of the trainee.
The last two levels, Transfer and Results, contribute towards development at
the organizational level. It is only in these phases that the trainee is actually
applying what he has learnt and thus he is able to influence the organizational
processes through his behavioral changes. Trainers can decide upon the success
rate of the training program by observing the individual while performing the
job, comparing trainee’s job execution style, before and after the training period,
and reviewing the business results before and after the training period.
There are two components that have a major impact on the LDP and hence if
these components are considered, the evaluation becomes easier and authentic:
• Organizational Culture
An individual’s behavioral changes after the training as it would influence
his attitude towards his peers, superiors, and subordinates. His style of
leadership would define the strategies he would adopt in the future. His
communication skills, problem-solving approach, team-building abilities,
etc., are expected to reach new heights after the completion of the training.
• Cost-effectiveness of the program
There has to be a proper match between the amount invested in the LDP
and the benefits accrued. Cost can include the time factor, the opportunity
costs of the employee time and trainer’s fees, among others.
When General Motors initiated an LDP for its managers, it used a quasi-
experimental research design to assess the impact of the LDP on the culture and
performance of the organization through employee surveys and compare the
amount invested with the benefits obtained. Employees were subjected to pre-
and post-training assessments. A comparison was drawn between the performance
of the group (experimental group), which received training and the control group,
which did not participate in the training program. It was noted that there was a
gradual positive shift in the performance of the experimental group and much of
the contribution was attributed to the divisional leaders. There was a positive
transformation in the culture that was observed wherein people worked in a
collaborative manner receiving high support from managers at all hierarchical
levels. Eventually the Return on Investment (ROI) improved, which added to
the savings in the operating budget. On the other hand, the control group’s
performance deteriorated and the reasons for its poor performance were attributed
to lack of proper training.
Evaluating the LDP: A Few More Approaches

The evaluation field of a LDP is still at its nascent stage. There are not many tools
that have been developed to look at the evaluation phase. It becomes much more
difficult when the evaluation is done on factors which are not quantifiable. Many
organizations base their evaluation on the results, which include the output,
productivity, profits, etc. This may not be feasible as there is a high chance of
ignoring the non-quantifiable aspects of a leader’s performance. Described below
are two methods, which have been used with some success for this purpose.
The National School of Government (NSG) developed an approach to develop

leadership in the British Senior Civil Service (SCS). This leadership program
comprised three levels—Corporate Leadership Program for SCS officers who had
one year experience; Advanced Leadership Program (ALP) for SCS officers with a
minimum of two years’ experience in the grade; Top Management Program (TMP)
for SCS officers at the director level.
Usually, a lot of time, money, and other resources are invested in these training
programs and hence it becomes mandatory for any organization to investigate
the effectiveness of the training program, the benefits accrued and the ROI. The
NSG evaluated its LDP by blending the Kirkpatrick Model with ideas drawn
from the theories proposed by Hamblin, Rae and Kearns (Horton, 2007).
The evaluation process involves informing the participants about the prime
objectives of the LDP. The opinions and views of the participants, regarding the
relevance of the goals to them as well as to the organization, are sought, based on
Kearns’ Baseline Evaluation Model (Refer Box 2). The participants are informed
well in advance regarding the content of the program, the training methods and
they are continuously encouraged to pen their own thoughts throughout the
program so that they can easily recall these points when they are actually required
to fill in their feedback questionnaires. This information would also help the
participants draw an action plan of applying the acquired knowledge in their
jobs. Six months after the completion of the program, the participants have another
opportunity to re-evaluate the impact of the training received on their performance.
Kearns uses the simple formula of ROI to assess the benefits of LDP:
gross benefit from training − cost of training × 100

Net ROI =
Cost of training
Box 2: Kearns’ Baseline Evaluation Model

Step 1: Pre-Training
i. Establish how the proposed training is going to add value to the organization.
ii. Obtain performance measures for each trainee before the training starts.
Steps 2 to 5: Post-Training
2. Check reactions
3. Check learning
4. Check transfer/application
5. Remeasure the performance of each trainee and calculate ROI
Source: www.trainingzone.co.uk
Youth Leadership Life Skills Development Scale (YLLSDS)

Self-evaluation is the most popular method of evaluating a LDP. It incorporates
intensive introspection and, when integrated with instrumented feedback and
provides the best understanding about the extent to which the trainee was able
to imbibe leadership skills throughout the training. One such tool, which goes
on these lines, is Youth Leadership Life Skills Development Scale (YLLSDS).
Dormody, Seevers and Clason were the first to use this scale to assess the leadership
abilities developed by students. The instrument has 30 items, which the
participants can indicate on a four-point scale (Rohs, 1999).
The aforesaid are a few models, which are put in practice by organizations.
However, the foundation for all these models is the Kirkpatrick’s Four-Level Model.
The Kirkpatrick Model still serves as one of the best evaluation techniques for
training programs, irrespective of the criticisms it receives. Drawing insights from
this Model, many researchers are designing instruments and scales for evaluating
a training program. For example, Philip McGee discusses “A New Training Systems
Evaluation Model” through his handout “The Productivity Model: A Conceptual
Framework”. He starts with three basic elements of a simple systems model:
Resources + Activity = Results and he sheds light on the effectiveness and efficiency
part of a training program. Most of the trainers rely on general training evaluation
models to assess the success rate of an LDP. However, a more practical idea will be
evolving instruments and scales more specific and exclusively tailored for assessing
the LDP conducted by the organization.
Conclusion
Based on the information gathered from evaluating an LDP, managers can make
important decisions on changing or altering the training program by eliminating
the shortfalls and coming out with a better approach. Managers can use employee
surveys and propose contemporary models based on ideas drawn from Kirkpatrick’s
four levels, Kearns’ Baseline Evaluation etc., to understand how far they have
been successful in achieving their objective of developing future leaders to work
in this challenging and highly competitive environment.
(Sumati Reddy, Senior Faculty Member and Consulting Editor, The Icfai Research
Center, Hyderabad. She can be reached at sumathi@icfai.org
Lalithya Rani, Research Associate, The Icfai Research Center, Hyderabad. She can
be reached at lalithyarani@icfai.org).
Leadership Development Practices at

Satyam Computer Services Pvt. Ltd.: A Snapshot
– Jyoti Budhraja
Satyam Computer Services Pvt. Ltd., the leading global IT giant with its magnificent network
spread across 53 nations and 6 continents, has achieved professional excellence in the field of
offering state of the art quality customized IT solutions. The company has proven its competencies
in both horizontal and vertical domains, which is attributed to the innovative leadership development
practices and the predominance of a leadership culture. The value of leadership is fostered in the
Satyam’s stakeholders through the help of a book entitled SatyamWay, which focuses on one
approach, one mindset by facilitating and synchronizing the positive energies in a collaborative
way. For that matter, the essence of leadership development and its indispensability also gets
communicated through the organizational mission of Satyam which is called as “North Star”.
Satyam’s concern for leadership development gets reflected in its initiative of launching the
Satyam School of Leadership in November 2005. The school aims at grooming high performance
business leaders for future by improving their entrepreneurial capacity at a global platform. The
major priorities for this school include expanding global business acumen, improving strategic
relationships and innovative problem solving, as the management aspires for the growth of their
leaders at a much faster pace than the growing competition. The school designs leadership
frameworks which are holistic in coverage as it gives utmost importance to the diverse needs of
the stakeholders and implements objective and quantifiable measures of evaluation for measuring
the success of a leadership development technique. They measure awareness, adoption,
implementation and impact of each learning opportunity. Apart from this, Satyam also manages a
full life cycle leadership program and organizes web seminars by approaching faculty experts
enjoying global reputation and contemporary expertise.
Through the full life cycle leadership programs, Satyam offers entrepreneurial leadership
opportunities to a selected 5% of its associates in areas such as relationships (with customers
and alliances), service offerings, projects and several other technical processes. Moreover, for
developing future leaders Satyam has also initiated a virtual shared platform called as Satyam’s
Real Time Leadership Center, which identifies the critical issues and problems confronted by the
leaders in the pursuit of their mission and suggests solutions for addressing such issues for
facilitating success.
Satyam gives utmost importance to organizational learning and development by setting
competitive benchmarks and comparing their progress against the prevalent best practices of
leading competitor organizations.
(Jyoti Budhraja, Faculty, Icfai Business School, Bhubaneswar. She can be reached at
jyoti.budhraja@gmail.com).
© The Icfai University Press. All rights reserved.
Section III
The Road Ahead

13
Developing First Line Leaders
A V Vedpuriswar
Developing first line leaders is the strategic challenge for

many companies today. These are people who have become
leaders for the first time in their career. The transition from
individual worker to team leader poses formidable challenges.
The top management has a high stake in this process and
should provide all help to make the transition smooth.
T he Indian economy has grown at a rapid pace in recent times, led by the IT
Services and Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industries. Attracting and
retaining talent is the key issue for companies in these industries. In particular,
the strategic challenge companies in these industries face today is the emergence
of leaders fast enough to keep pace with the growth of the business.
Many of the team leaders in our knowledge industries are people who have
become managers for the first time. We will refer to them as first line leaders in
this article. In most cases, they are young and are not really prepared for the role.
Yet, they have to be pushed into these roles taking into account both the growth
needs of the industry as well as their high aspirations. In short, growing first line
leaders is what is grabbing much of the attention of top management these days.
Source: Global CEO, May 2007. © The Icfai University Press. All rights reserved.
It is a Different Ball Game

These first line leaders usually face a different set of challenges. One of the first
things they discover after they are promoted is that their role is far more complex
and demanding than they ever imagined. They are surprised to learn that the
skills and approach required for success as an individual contributor are quite
different from those required for the success as a manager. As individual
contributors, success depended primarily on their personal expertise and actions.
As managers, they are responsible for setting and implementing an agenda for a
whole group, something for which they are not prepared.
They also realize that there is no clear-cut formula for success. Learning to
lead is a process of trial and error that comes from on-the-job experiences, especially
adverse experiences in which the new manager, working beyond his current
capabilities, learns things the hard way. Most star individual performers have not
made many mistakes, so this is new for them. The learning occurs incrementally
and gradually and also somewhat painfully. Slowly, the new manager unlearns
the existing mindset and a new professional identity emerges. This kind of
psychological adjustment is taxing for most new leaders.
Problems they Face

It is necessary to understand why first line managers get into problems. The
problems they face can be divided into the following categories:
• Dealing with subordinates.
• Dealing with the boss.
• Displaying confidence.
• Focusing on the big picture.
• Focusing on activities as opposed to goals.
• Giving feedback.
• Building networks.
Developing First Line Leaders 177
Dealing with Subordinates

First line leaders eagerly look forward to the rights and privileges that come with
being the boss. They assume they will get more authority, freedom and autonomy
in their new role. What happens instead is that they feel constrained, especially
if they are used to the relative independence of a star performer. After becoming
leaders, apart from gaining new authority, they find themselves surrounded by
interdependencies. They are enmeshed in a web of relationships, not only with
subordinates but also with bosses, peers, and others, inside and outside the
organization, all of whom make relentless and often conflicting demands on them.
The resulting daily routine becomes too hectic and fragmented.
Most new managers also tend to lean heavily towards a hands-on, autocratic
approach, not because they are eager to exercise their new power over people but
because they believe it is the most effective way to produce results. But this
approach often backfires. They soon learn that when direct reportees are told to
do something, they don’t necessarily respond. In fact, the more talented the
subordinate, it is less likely to simply follow orders. Even if they are able to
achieve some measure of control, it turns out to be a false victory.
First line leaders may succeed in enforcing compliance but fail to produce the
required commitment of team members. If people aren’t committed, they won’t
take the initiative. And obviously without initiative, delegation becomes difficult.
After a few painful experiences, new managers realize that their authority can come
only after they establish credibility with subordinates, peers, and superiors. They
have to demonstrate both competence and character. Character means the intention
to do the right thing. Competence means knowing how to do the right thing.
The challenges are even greater when the team size is somewhat large. During
their first year on the job, many new managers fail to recognize, leave alone
assume their team-building responsibilities. Instead, they focus on building closer
relationships with each individual subordinate. They wrongly equate the
management of their team with managing the individuals on the team. Not
surprisingly, many first line leaders spend too much time with a small number of
trusted subordinates, often those who seem most supportive. The result is new
managers tend to handle issues, even those with team-wide implications, based
on one-on-one interactions. The result is that sub-optimal decisions are taken

based on unnecessarily limited information.
Delegation
Effective delegation may be one of the most difficult tasks for first line leaders.
Senior managers give them big responsibilities and tight deadlines, and they put
a lot of pressure on them to produce results. The natural response of rookies
when faced with such challenges is to ‘just do it’. They do not think of delegating.
This reluctance to delegate arises due to various factors. First is the fear of losing
stature and feeling redundant. Second is the fear of abdicating control: Will
someone else do it correctly? Due to this fear, the rookie manager may delegate
tasks but supervise the subordinate so closely that he will never feel accountable.
Finally, the first line leader may be hesitant to delegate work because he is afraid
of overburdening his staff. He may be uncomfortable assigning work to former
peers for fear that they’ll resent him. In some cases, he may not have an effective
monitoring scheme in place.
The mental blocks towards delegation can be grouped as follows:

• It is easier for me to do it than explain to someone else.
• I don’t have confidence in my staff.
• I like to get things done in my own way.
• My staff will resent the additional work.
• People expect me to take the decisions.
Effective delegation has several building blocks:
• Understand the task well and the building blocks.
• Identify the skills and capabilities needed.
• Understand the strengths and weaknesses of the team members.
• Communicate clearly.
• Provide necessary resources to the subordinates.
• Monitor from time to time; Trust but verify.
• Focus on results, not activities.

• Resist the temptation to jump in too early.
• Give feedback from time to time.
• Be tolerant of failures.
Delegation should not lead to abdication of responsibility. Some of the activities
that should not be delegated are:
• Planning, directing and motivating.
• Employee performance evaluation.
• Complex customer negotiations.
• Tasks requiring specific technical skills.
• Hiring, firing and career development.
Dealing With the Boss

Most first line managers see their relationship with their boss more as one of
servitude than of partnership. Not only does the boss’ position intimidate them,
but at times, they also feel vulnerable. They will normally not seek the help of
their boss even when they run into difficulties because they see the boss as a
threat rather than an ally in their development. Due to the fear of punishment
for missteps and failures, they resist seeking help. First line leaders should view
their bosses as a critical source of support .The boss has to create an atmosphere
of trust and should help get them connected with the rest of the organization,
align priorities with organizational needs and help in mobilizing the resources
badly needed.
To fully leverage their relationships with their boss, first line leaders should:
• Understand the boss’ strengths, weaknesses, working style and needs.
• Understand their own strengths, weaknesses, working style and needs.
• Use this understanding to build a win-win synergistic relationship.

• Avoid viewing the boss as an obstacle and getting into a fight.
• Also, avoid being compliant and agreeing with the boss all the time.
Confidence
Looking confident even when the pressure is mounting or things are going wrong
is an important trait which first line leaders often lack. These leaders are often so
internally focused that they are unaware of this need or the image they project.
During the first weeks and months on the job, if they don’t project confidence,
they are unlikely to inspire and energize their teams. Many new managers are
unaware that when they don’t display confidence, performance of the team drops.
Confidence comes partly from past success. But, confidence is also the cause of
future wins. It is all about having positive expectations that generate the positive
energy and enthusiasm required to work toward difficult goals, the resilience to
bounce back from adversity and the equanimity to confront their circumstances
honestly, even in bad times. Top management has to be very supportive at this
stage and give positive strokes even for small achievements to build confidence.
Low levels of confidence can create problems. Once confidence diminishes, a losing
streak can set in, often leading to a vicious cycle. When people are losing, they may:
• Stop communicating.
• Criticize and blame someone.
• Disrespect others.
• Become isolated.
• Focus inward and become more self-conscious which, psychologists say,
decreases skill levels.
• Let inequalities develop and persist.
• Lose initiative.
• Forget goals and aspirations.
• Spread negativity.
Focusing on the Big Picture

Inexperienced managers allow immediate tasks to overshadow overarching
initiatives. This is particularly true for those promoted from within, because they
have just come from the scene of action where they are accustomed to constant
fire fighting. As a star individual performer armed with plenty of technical
know-how, rookie managers instinctively run to the immediate rescue of any
client or staff member in need. They find it easier and more exciting to get involved
in such emergencies. But many of those emergencies are not really true
emergencies. In the process of fighting fires, rookie managers fail to find the time
to think strategically for the department and do not address structural issues.
Goals vs. Activities

First line managers commonly focus on activities rather than on goals because
activities can be accomplished quickly whereas achieving goals generally takes
more time. They should have written goals that clearly distinguish between the
goals and their supporting activities. This kind of a goal-setting discipline will
help the new managers organize their strategic game plans. Critical but soft goals,
such as staff development, are often overlooked because they are difficult to
measure. Putting such goals in print with clear action steps makes them concrete,
leading to a sense of accomplishment when they are achieved and a greater
likelihood that they will be rewarded. Managers with clear goals will be less
tempted to micro manage and instead, will focus on thinking about the right
issues and deploying their teams effectively.
Giving Constructive Feedback

It is human nature to avoid confrontations. Not surprisingly, most people feel
awkward when they have to correct others’ behavior or actions. When a staff
member is struggling to meet the performance goals, the first line leader tends to
sit back, watch, and hope that things will magically improve. Other staff members
observe the situation and become frustrated by the manager’s inaction. Meanwhile,
as the period of inaction continues and the subordinate still doesn’t meet the
goal, the manager’s own frustration builds up. The straightforward performance
issue becomes a credibility problem.
When the manager finally addresses the problem, he personalizes it, lets the
frustration seep into the discussion with staff members, and finds the recipient
rushing to defend himself from attack. Inexperienced managers generally wait far
too long before they decide to talk about performance problems with their staff.
Giving effective feedback involves the following:

• Focus on improving rather than criticizing performance.
• Look at the future, not the past.
• Focus on behavior, not character.
• Demonstrate sincerity.
• Be specific.
• Be realistic and focus on things which can be controlled.
Building Networks
The people most likely to make life difficult for first line leaders are those who
don’t fall under their formal authority, outside suppliers, for example, or managers
in another division. First line leaders should realize that their job goes beyond
managing the team of direct reportees and requires managing the context within
which the team operates. Unless they identify and build effective relationships
with the key people the team depends upon, the team will lack the resources
necessary to do its job. It is commonly assumed that only extroverts are good at
building networks. The fact is all of us can do some amount of networking. What
is necessary is that first line leaders should display a positive attitude towards
working with others. Helping people in other departments ensures that assistance
from others is available when needed. Networking is a matter of discipline, finding
that little bit of time to do things that don’t look urgent but are nevertheless
important from a long-term perspective.
Conclusion
First line leaders hold the key to the effective performance of an organization.
These are the people who ultimately get the work done. Top management must
realize that unless these first line leaders are trained before they are asked to lead
teams, many of them will not do well.
Senior leaders must do their bit. They must prepare first line leaders carefully
for their jobs through classroom training as well as mentoring and coaching.
They also have to create the right atmosphere across the organization to empower
the first line leaders to think objectively and take required decisions in a rational
and balanced manner. The time and effort spent in this regard is worth it.
Otherwise, the organization could be facing a double whammy loss of a trusted
and effective performer and the spectre of an ineffective, bitter supervisor who
can adversely affect team productivity.
(A V Vedpuriswar, Learning and Knowledge Management Practitioner, Hyderabad.

He can be reached at avedpuriswar@hotmail.com).
14
Preparing for Tomorrow’s World
Globalization and Executive Leadership
Development
Bramwell and Bonnie Banks
This article explores the impact of globalization on executive

leadership development. Today, few companies can afford
not to think globally. Leaders of organizations, regardless of
the organizations’ size or background, must increasingly
engage with the realities of doing business with partners beyond
their local borders. All this has raised to a new significance,
the manner and content of executive development and
associated training programs. Besides a constellation of
cultural forces, technology has added a critical dimension to
this rethinking of executive development.
F riedman’s (2007) “flat world” concept, which was mildly revolutionary when
it first appeared, is now taken for granted by any but the most local or provincial
business leader. Friedman’s (2007) “flat world” concept, which was mildly
revolutionary when it first appeared, is now taken for granted by all business
leaders, except the local and provincial ones. The notion of a world without borders
where global players may freely come and go, so long as they understand the
Source: HRM Review, February 2008. © The Icfai University Press. All rights reserved.
Preparing for Tomorrow’s World: Globalization and Executive Leadership... 185
rules of the game and have something meaningful to contribute, is part of the
current business reality. The idea resonates with global business leaders who seek
not only to improve their nations’ market shares of the Business Process
Outsourcing (BPO) industry, but also wish to establish a firm and enduring
presence in the global marketplace. Convergent market trends, including
organizational horizontalization, technological progression, innovation, and
entrepreneurship, have lessened the divides of separation and opened, as it were,
the floodgates of business opportunity worldwide. Organizations that were once
limited by geographical boundaries now cultivate business relationships, train,
and recruit talent across continents. The global village is a thriving concept in
contemporary business arrangements.
The emergence of burgeoning consumer and BPO markets in India, China,

Indonesia, Brazil and European nations has made it expedient for companies to
develop the core competencies of global leadership. The idea is to develop a cadre
of leaders who are able to operate in a dynamic marketplace where key variables
such as cultural sensitivity, shifting geopolitical arrangements, emotional
intelligence, and the emerging significance of regions once thought to be invisible
are redefining the very meaning of business. In the interest of building global
capital and positioning themselves for the next leap forward in business terms,
many companies are now partnering with academic, and a broad array of other
independent organizations to establish and cultivate a variety of executive
development programs that are designed to prepare organizational leaders to
navigate the sometimes choppy waters of the global business sector. Whereas in
the past functional business expertise was sufficient to gain promotion, all this
changed with the professionalization of the business executive. This
professionalization went hand in hand with the development of the MBA degree,
which became the credential of choice and to some extent need in the fast-changing
arena of executive management or business leadership. Even the migration from
management to leadership has been interesting. Many still straddle both worlds,
using the terms interchangeably. However, the new reality is that experience and
functional expertise may no longer be enough. MBA and other executive
development programs are having to be redesigned and reconfigured in order to
accommodate the more complex leadership demands of the 21st Century.
A host of international executive development programs today provide the

impetus for global connectivity and are an invaluable component of business
education and training. These days, senior executives are required to be critical
thinkers, to understand the nuances of a changing cultural landscape, think
collaboratively, and embrace the benefits of self-directed and autonomous learning.
This last capacity to become an active agent in one’s own development feeds into
a new conceptualization of leadership in business as a life-long learning
opportunity. Around the world, senior and mid-level industry executives are
beginning to respond to this development need. They attend company sponsored
or independently delivered executive development courses that beyond the usual
focus on marketing, finance, HR, strategy, and technology, may now feature
segments on emotional intelligence, foresight, ethics, and cultural awareness.
Around the world, hundreds and possibly thousands of executives are being trained
annually. Unfortunately, beyond the formal EMBA and MBA programs we do
not yet have sufficient data on the curriculum or subject specifics of the individual
training programs. Anecdotal evidence, drawn from the burgeoning interest in
and growth of various leadership programs would seem to confirm our belief that
the emphasis is shifting to more critical arenas of leadership development.
Within the US executive development programs have been traditionally

designed to educate and train industry leaders and offer courses in several areas
including corporate governance, management development, strategy management
programs, marketing/sales programs, technology, operations and industry
associations. This fits in with what we noted above concerning the shift from
executives and managers who were de facto silos of technical knowledge and
experience to more broadly based, largely MBA-driven, programs of learning.
Today, a number of US executive development programs are uniquely inclusive of
developmental training in conducting business especially in Asia, with India as a
particular regional focus perhaps due to its lead in the Information Technology
Enabled Services (ITES)-BPO sector. Apparently, India’s massive pool of highly
specialized information technology graduates entering the workforce in excess of
70,000 annually fuels its command of the Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO)
market share (Valisno, 2006) US-based executive development institutions offer
specific preparation courses for mid and upper level professionals who hope to
exploit India’s emerging consumer market or enhance BPO relations. For now,
Indian business professionals continue to seek credentials at the US and other
(mostly European) institutions. Whether this will change with a will depend on
many factors, including the quality of programs and instructors, government
policy, recruitment issues, and costs.
The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, Cornell University’s

Johnson School, and the Harvard Business School are some of the leading US-
based institutions that offer executive development programs specifically geared
to preparing students for entry into the Indian business sector. Participants
commit to a series of seminars and workshops over a period of 5-15 days where
industry practitioners and academics provide intensive instruction in global
competencies tailored for doing business in India. While the majority of executive
development programs are delivered locally, Harvard offers executive development
courses in India for senior level managers of Indian or foreign companies (HBS,
2007). Additionally, Harvard established the India Research Center in Mumbai,
which is dedicated to in-depth case study of Indian business practices (HBS,
2007). Cornell’s school of hotel administration began in 2007 to offer a week-
long executive development training session for Indian and foreign-based leaders
in the hospitality industry from its Ithaca, New York location to Hyderabad,
India using remote Internet 2 technology (Hiller and Peters, 2007). Wharton, in
conjunction with Kellogg Graduate School of Management of Northwestern
University, partners with the Indian School of Business (ISB) in Hyderabad, India
to provide executive development to industry leaders based in India and abroad
(Wharton, 2007). Wharton first began its India-based executive development
program in Kolkata, in 2005 with a partnership with ITC Limited, which is
headquartered in India (Wharton, 2005).
Based in Bengaluru, India, Infosys Technologies Limited, one of India’s largest

multinational information technology services companies partners with universities
worldwide to offer executive development training courses including management,
corporate social responsibility and entrepreneurship through its umbrella program,
Academic Entente (AcE) (Infosys, 2007). Additionally, under AcE, Infosys
sponsors its Global Internship Program, InStep, through which Infosys partners
with 82 academic institutions worldwide, including Cornell, Stanford and
Wharton. Infosys’ enduring commitment to academic preparation on all levels,

including executive levels, may well underscore India’s efforts to maintain and
enhance its BPO leader status while furthering the nation’s economy (Infosys
Technologies Limited, 2006).
India’s National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom)

predicts that by 2009, 1 million Indians will be employed in the ITES-BPO
sector, which could register revenue of US$17-18 bn for India. Nasscom operates
under the premise that India’s position as global ITES-BPO leader needs to be
protected as increasing numbers of European and US-based corporations, when
developing long range (20-30 year) strategic plans, appear to be looking outside
of India, to Europe, South America and elsewhere in Asia, China for example, to
establish BPO relationships (Rajawat, 2006). Among the reasons cited are skills
shortages and rising costs (OxResearch, 2006). Multinational corporations
including, the UK-based Abbey National, US-based Lehman Brothers, Conseco,
Apple Computers and Dell have closed their BPO centers in India in recent years
citing quality issues. US-based software development company, Xpanxion, moved
its base out of India back to the US citing rising costs as the cause. Nasscom seeks
to correct the apparent misalignment between industry requirements and worker
skills and costs by initiating an executive development program designed to offer
national certification for Indian graduates aspiring to enter the ITES-BPO
workforce. Additionally, Nasscom promises to align costs by reducing recruitment
and training hours for companies in the BPO sector (Nasscom, 2007).
What the above examples indicate is that notable changes are taking place
with regard to program delivery and the structuring of executive development
programs. Typically designed in the US or Europe these executive programs are
delivered in “home” or local campuses using a variety of innovative techniques.
Cultural concerns and the need to align the learning and strategic objectives of
developed “provider” institutions to those of “recipient” companies overseas are
two areas where we can expect further change to occur.
For now, US-based executive development programs continue to be widely

popular offering a variety of executive development certifications as part of their
response to the demands of global business for greater professionalization.
Corporations want to know that their leaders are growing and developing at least
at the rate of industry expectations. In an increasingly competitive marketplace it
is doubtful if this “level-pegging” with industry expectations will be enough to
guarantee success. We can probably expect that the demand for superlative
executive development programs will increase. The difference is that the programs
will need to offer a value-added component. In other words, the program
distinctives must be evident and will likely feed into some combination of a
commitment to excellence, technology and innovation, bottom line imperatives,
and globalization. Fueled by competition and the ever-widening divides between
cutting edge and obsolescence, evolution and extinction, cost and efficiency, and
supply and demand, corporations and institutions worldwide partner and invest
to protect their most valuable asset which is a highly skilled, knowledgeable
workforce. Anyone interested in the seismic economic and political shifts that are
taking place globally cannot help but be aware of the implications that such
shifts will have on business. It stands to reason then that executive development
and broader leadership development programs will need to be improved if
executives, managers, and leaders are to not just survive but become agents of
change in tomorrow’s brave new world.
Conclusion
Corporate sector wants to see their leaders are growing and developing at least at
the rate of industry expectations. In an increasingly competitive marketplace it is
doubtful if this “level-pegging” with industry expectations will be enough to
guarantee success. We can probably expect that the demand for superlative
executive development programs will increase. The difference is that the programs
will need to offer a value-added component. In other words, the program
distinctives must be evident and will likely feed into some combination of a
commitment to excellence, technology and innovation, bottom line imperatives,
and globalization. Fueled by competition and the ever-widening divides between
cutting edge and obsolescence, evolution and extinction, cost and efficiency, and
supply and demand, corporations and institutions worldwide partner and invest
to protect their most valuable asset, which is a highly skilled, knowledgeable
workforce. Anyone interested in the seismic economic and political shifts that are
taking place globally, cannot help but be aware of the implications that such
shifts will have on business. It stands to reason then that executive development
and broader leadership development programs will need to be improved if
executives, managers, and leaders are not just to survive but become agents of
change in tomorrow’s brave new world.
(Bramwell, Osula, Ph.D. School of Global Leadership & Entrepreneurship Regent

University, Virginia Beach, The US. He can be reached at bramosu@regent.edu
Bonnie Banks, M.Ed. Steward Consultants, New Jersey, The US.)

Bench Strength: Developing the Depth and Versatility of Your Organization’s... 191
15
BOOK REVIEW
Bench Strength
Developing the Depth and Versatility of Your
Organization’s Leadership Talent*
D Satish
In today’s environment, the issues like size, image or

technology do not assure a sustained competitive advantage,
but only the talent, especially at the leadership level, would
assure the necessary advantage. The organizations’ future
depends on identifying, retaining and preparing a dependable
next generation bench continuously. The book gives a
step-by-step approach in building a powerful talent strategy
that will ensure the ongoing availability of potential leaders.
B usiness managers and HR managers should be aware that there is a significant

gap between the talent management requirements and their ability to
successfully execute against these requirements and this projected short fall of the
leadership talent is likely to affect all sectors. This point is emphasized by the
* This is a review of the book “Bench Strength: Developing the Depth and Versatility of Your Organization’s
Leadership Talent” written by Robert Barner and published by AMACOM. © The Icfai University Press holds the
copyright for the review. All rights reserved.
author because, many companies feel that they are unprepared to capture and
develop the leadership talent which they need to succeed.
But, he says that many organizations are just beginning to address this
problem. This is because the HR departments in these organizations have gone
much beyond the transactional HR activities like pay-roll and employee benefits
in assuming the role of talent strategists. Some of these organizations have gone
so far as to create a post designated as CTO (Chief Talent Officer). HR and OD
leaders who are able to go beyond the traditional HR activities and articulate a
viable game plan for capturing and leveraging leadership talent that would be
suitable for this job.
Talent management is crucial for the success of any company and it should be
taken up as a strategic tool. Talent management strategy should be a flexible game
plan for acquiring, strengthening and deploying an organizational leadership
talent, to ensure the best long-term competitive advantage for one’s organization.
According to the author, the talent management strategy depends on some

premise that strategy comes into play only in the presence of a competitor, and is
defined in terms of the key decisions taken. It requires a thorough knowledge of
the playing field and is secured through the use of a flexible game plan.
Selecting the King’s Advisors

Selecting the CTO and how the company makes use of him is crucial as it can
significantly affect the ability to capture, develop and retain exceptional leadership
talent. CTO, typically, has to perform functions like staying ahead of developments
in the field of talent management, taking the lead in setting the agenda for the
annual organizational leadership talent and succession planning reviews. He is in
charge of designing an organization’s talent infrastructure which includes building
and managing internal components like performance appraisal, talent review,
and succession planning and 360 degree performance valuation. CTO should
help the organization to sniff out the talent in the organization.
The CTO should also possess the adequate skill set necessary for the job. To
start off, he should have the right HR skills. He should also be business savvy.
The author warns against having the HR purists for the job because they are
academic and far removed from the business realties. CTO has to be agile especially
in learning new things. He should quickly learn what drives the business and the
industry, and should get familiar with the profiles of the top managers. He should
also have an executive presence and most importantly be nonpolitical.
For the best results, the organization should also play its part. It should develop
a clear charter, goals and metrics to let an employee know what is expected of
him. The CTO should be kept close to the action. On one hand the CTO should
be close to the CEO so as to keep him informed about the progress and on the
other hand he should also be closer to the executives so that he has access to
them. The senior team should also be informed about the role of the CTO. The
CTO should also be provided with all the information necessary so that he can
take informed decisions.
Framing the Strategy

The first step to talent management is to identify the future requirements of the
organization. This will help frame the long-term goals as well as exploit the
opportunities that could impact the future growth of the company. The second
step would be to assess the performance gaps. It is important to identify the gaps
in the performance in order to fill them up so that the organization can achieve
its future goals. The third step would be to anticipate the organizational transition
by studying the organizational chart that serves as a bridge between the business
strategy and the leadership requirements and would be helpful to find the red
zones, black holes and whirlpools. According to the author, these are the
organizational dysfunctions which, if not addressed would weaken the company’s
bench strength.
Red Zones are the organizational units that in the next few years, will require
the leadership to develop entirely new skill sets and knowledge bases, to be able
to perform to radically different performance standards. Black hole is that part of
the organizational area that hoards the organizational talent which prevents the
organization to spread the talent across the organization and to the place which
has the greatest future potential. Whirlpools are the most stressful parts of the
organization that can submerge most of the leaders.
The fourth step is to identify changes to the leadership template. This step
involves constructing a model or a template of how the leaders currently function
and comparing this model with the future leadership template. That identifies
the biggest challenges to the leader’s future roles and responsibilities. Step five
involves performing a talent capabilities assessment. This step would pinpoint
the gaps that exist between the future business challenges and the size and strength
of the leadership bench that is currently put in place. The sixth and the final step
would be to design and close the gaps so that the organization would be ready for
the future challenges.
Evaluating the Strategy

The author advises the CTOs to approach the talent management process correctly.
He says that the CTO should define the talent management objectives clearly.
He also says that it is very important to identify the critical few talent management
decisions that shape the strategy. These decisions include talent management,
focus decision, talent development decision and the talent acquisition decision.
An understanding of the assumptions while framing these strategies is also crucial
and important.
Starting Out
It is important to make a trade-off between whether the talent focused decisions
should rely on internal developments which are a make strategy or rely on external
replacements which become a part of the buy strategy. Buy strategy would be
used when the scenario is changing fast and when there is a radical gap between
the skill sets that the organization has, and the sets that it requires. It gets in
rapid replacements and helps to create external benchmarks. But on the other
hand, it creates culture wars, short-term disruptions and retention risks.
The make strategy would be good when the scenario is steady or slowly
changing and the organization has the necessary talent for the future environment.
It creates cultural continuity, retention and transfer of tacit knowledge. But on
the other hand, it requires sustained efforts to train the staff.
Talent Development Decisions

A CTO also has to make a trade-off between the capstone strategy which involves
pooling the talented people and foundation strategy which involves dispersing
the talent pool across the organization. The author says that capstone strategy
can be used when the resources are limited and there is no clear line of sight for
the lower level leaders and when the organization wants to create a competitive
platform for leadership talent. On the other hand, foundation strategy would be
more applicable when the organization knows its resources and these resources
are ample when cultural indoctrination is a key objective.
Talent Acquisition Decisions

Acquiring the necessary talent is important for any organization and the CTO
has to make key decisions in this regard. He can either go in for a build out
strategy where the leadership talent is quickly grown by selecting a large group of
managerial job candidates or go for a trade up strategy which aims at raising the
overall performance for the organization’s leadership bench. The build out strategy
is suitable for rapidly growing organizations whereas, the trade up strategy is
useful for building new functions in the organization that require different skills.
The CTO also has a choice in making either a best in the industry strategy
which involves benchmarking with the best performer within the industry and
world class strategy which involves investing additional time and money in
importing world-class leaders from across the industries. Best in the industry
strategy can be used when the industry leads the talent curve and the industry
branding is very important to assure the stakeholders. On the other hand,
world class strategy can be used when the industry lags behind in the talent
curve and the industry lacks in diversified talent. Also it can be used when the
company is venturing into new products or ventures.
The Art of Deployment

The author says that the best of the talent management strategy would not work
well if the execution fails. The execution in the talent management strategy takes
the form of deployment of talent. The author recommends some principles for
effective talent deployment. He advises the CTOs to know the base line from
where to start. The CTO should concentrate on the critical view and should be
sensitive to the human element. The author says that it is better to adopt a
transition plan.
Conducting War Game Scenarios

It is not always that the talent management process would stick to a fixed plan
and that is why the author recommends keeping the strategy flexible so as to
respond well to the changing scenarios. Putting in place a flexible plan would
enable creative poaching and to recalibrate the talent. Preventing the recruitment
problem has a full leverage on the changing scenarios.
The author recommends scenario planning and analysis for getting the
flexibility in talent management strategy. The author says that the CTO should
plan for talent management during uncertainty. He says that the CTO should
think small and modular. He should keep his resources fluid, learn to implement
faster, hire learning and agile people and learn from others mistakes.
Keeping Score
The CTO and his team sometimes fail to periodically evaluate the effectiveness
of these strategies. The CTO must put in place the performance metrics which
should act like the organizational compass. The metrics should be relevant and
valid. The measurement system should be efficient. The system should have the
baseline for comparison and should provide the means to reinforce the performance
that one is measuring. At the same time, CTO should also see to it that the
stakeholders’ interest is also aligned with the metrics and measures of the talent
management strategy.
(D Satish, Faculty Member, the Icfai Business School, Hyderabad. He can be reached
at satishd@icfaipress.org).
Book Excerpts
Questions that Frame Future Focus
Over the next few years...
• From where will the revenue growth come? What aspects of our business is most likely
to grow significantly, diminish or evolve?
• What work function, products or divisions will provide the engine for this growth?
• What organizational areas are likely to become less critical to our future direction?
• Where might we expect additional reduction for outsourcing to take place?
• When we look at the leadership talent we now have in place in these areas, how will we
evaluate our talent capacity? Where are our greatest talent gaps? Where are we at risk?
• How broad and deep is our current talent pipeline for meeting future demands? Do we
have in place now, the people, we need to do business tomorrow?
• In what functions is the market supply for leadership talent likely to become a critical
issue? What implications would these changes have on our executive compensation and
development systems?
• When we look at our five year forecasts for hiring and our projected attrition through
retirement and turnover—What do we see happening to our leadership pipeline?
• What are we currently doing to supplement our leadership pipeline? Is it working? How
do we know?
16
Leadership Development in India
An Experiential Perspective
Ranjan Acharya and Joseph George Anjilvelil
India is known for its rich heritage and cultural diversity with
many religious and linguistic groups. Leadership in India has
been greatly influenced by the social conditions and of late,
the organizations in the country keeping in pace with the dynamic
and competitive business environment have produced eminent
business leaders. Wipro, a $2bn company, attributes its success
to its leadership development process. A detailed description
of the program and how it contributed to the success and growth
of the organization is discussed in the article.
Introduction
The objective of this paper is to help relate salient aspects of organization
development as pertinent to leadership dimensions of a globalizing Information
Technology (IT) service organization. The significance of this relationship
is postulated on the following grounds.
1. Globalization of commerce and increased organisational influence on actors
beyond the country of an organization’s origin.
Source: www.odnetwork.org © Ranjan Acharya and Joseph George Anjilvelil. Reprinted with permission.
Leadership Development in India – An Experiential Perspective 199
2. “People” as the common element between the OD discipline and the value
creators of a service organization.
3. Emerging implications of the behavioral sciences as it deals with a confluence
of variables in an unprecedented complexity – e.g., diversity, coordination,
control and autonomy across geographies.
4. OD Values in a rapidly growing global organization as it pertains
to aspects like:
a. Self-worth – Through gainful, yet meaningful employment
b. Humanism – Genuine respect and regards for fellow employees
c. Opportunities – for acquiring competence through learning and
development
d. Group/Organizational Behaviour – Cross-Cultural determinants of
maintaining and developing a non-threatening developmental climate.
WIPRO, which was formerly known as Western India Vegetable Products,

began in the year 1946, a year before India gained freedom from British rule.
After years of consolidation in agriculture based cooking oil production, WIPRO
tried to fill the vacuum created by the exit of Information Technology (IT) majors
like IBM in the late 70s. It began to manufacture mini-computers, and followed
with attempts to make its own software. With increased intensity of activity in
this sector, a demand for software professionals overseas became felt in the 1990s.
WIPRO gradually reconfigured its software product business to meet the
requirements of the global services market in IT. WIPRO’s response to the
economic liberalization unleashed in 1992 in India, was to leverage its grown
strengths in research and development for the global market.
In the recent past, WIPRO made strides in its global presence by fueling a
steady stream of talent. It did so by innovating training and development processes
for engineers and science graduates with unique tie-ups with educational
institutions of repute that made it relatively easier to serve the growing talent
demand. By the year 2000, it listed itself on the New York Stock Exchange
(NYSE). Today, the company has 61,000 employees, of which close to 7,000 are
spread over 45 nations across the globe. Table 1 represents how WIPRO has
managed to sustain a Compounded Average Growth Rate (CAGR) of 36%, over
a five year period. It continues to make sustained growth strategies and plans
both for its domestic India operations and across the globe.
Table 1: WIPRO Growth Indicators

Year ending March 2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06
Revenues 384 475 625 934 1354 1815
($ million)
Clients 217 226 288 399 421 494
Global Development 22 26 28 34 40 44
Centers
Employees (‘000s) 10 13 19 29 42 53
In order to appreciate this phenomenon, it would be worth examining the

context in which WIPRO’s achievements were possible.
Introduction to Indian History and Culture

India has had a rich and varied heritage contributed by a set of significant events
in its history. India’s rivers have been the cradle of a 5,000 year old civilization,
one of the world’s most ancient ones being the Indus Valley civilization, from
which the word “India” is derived. After the initial wave of immigrants inhabited
the mainland, they settled into a golden age of arts and sciences. Works of literature,
scripture and music from this era continue to hold their place in contemporary
Indian life. India later saw a host of invaders including the Mughals and the long
tenure of the British Empire. One of the most unitary aspects of the Indian
experience has been its freedom struggle and its ability to coalesce several linguistic
and religious groups shone past initial struggle in this respect. In the six odd
decades post Independence, the country has witnessed a consolidation of
institutions, initially democratic and public organisations in government,
infrastructure, education and the like, and of late private enterprise, cashing in
on the wealth of human capital that lay in wait for such growth.
Some of the strengths that have endured through time in the Indian culture
are referred below.
1. Respect for knowledge and educational rigor – Indian society since ancient
times has recognized the importance of knowledge. Folklore has it that, kings
and statesmen bowed their heads to the knowledgeable sage. Since time
immemorial, this respect has been more than lip-service. This trend continues to
dominate Indian society. Successful companies have capitalized on this long-
standing strength of Indian culture. Indian professionals have gone through the
grind of competitive educational systems, from nursery schooling to professional
college education, and the hustle and bustle of corporate life. The Indian society
seems to have become adept at filtering talent progressively. Competition has
pervaded educational spheres as early as school and assumes significant force for
professional courses. In corporate reality, this has implied that only few can reach
the top management levels.
2. Hospitable warmth – The Indian nation has been known for its gentle
accommodation of alien cultures. The traditional Indian home has been always the
welcoming host, generous and caring for the stranger. This warmth when extended
in the business sphere inculcates better bonding between team members. Many
Indian business leaders have exploited this strength. The human capital in India
therefore only inbreeds this warmth in every culture it is in interaction with.
3. Tolerance for ambiguity – Ever since the institution of the Indian joint
family, tolerance for diverse opinions has been in the Indian social fabric. Fathers
and sons, uncles and nephews within the same joint family would debate over
complex family issues and still remain undivided. A similar spirit of accommodation
of viewpoints prevails in successful organisations. However, in contemporary
experience, we begin to wonder if this tolerance is a mask for a sense of fatalism
and external locus of control. It cannot be denied, however, that diversity of
viewpoints abound in an Indian group setting.
4. Multiculturalizm – The Indian educational set-up has the three language

formula, which has implied a multilingual dimension to the Indian workforce.
Diverse Indian languages make for a natural adaptation right from school to
work life. Add to this the Indian tradition of ‘arranged marriages’ have been
a strong enabler of multiculturalizm. The key in all such adaptations has been
tolerance for diversity and the capacity to learn in different situations. In work
context, this has guided creation of harmonious business relationships.
5. Quality of Processes – To deliver quality, several Indian software firms have

attempted to adopt appropriate processes for software development and delivery.
WIPRO, for example, adopted the Six Sigma approach. Later it aligned its quality
processes to requirements specified in the Carnegie Mellon standards enshrined
in the SEI-CMM® Models. This has ensured quality output for the client even as
development cycle times were crashed on a continual basis. In our experience,
the workforce in India seeks commitment from top management in process
initiatives. Employees are willing to comply with organization-wide quality
methodologies, as long as this leadership commitment is consistent. The urge for
compliance is today a natural asset of the Indian workforce due to demonstrated
high Power Distance, and a collectivist orientation in terms of confronting
uncertainties together.
Such enablers are today understood to help organisations such as WIPRO,

to move ahead in the global marketplace. In this paper, we would like to share
some of the practices that have taken root due to such enablement in the context
of the knowledge economy.
Leadership in India
In the past, leaders of multinationals from developed countries would come on
deputation to India to build leadership. As a result, depending on which nation the
Indian operation owed allegiance with, the culture of the parent company nation
would mingle with that of the Indian company. Inevitably, the American, British,
German or the Swedish culture left their imprints on entire organisations as it were.
From performance appraisal systems to management development programs, the trend
was influenced largely by the leaders from the parent multinational.
Amongst a host of factors that explains the peculiarity of the country’s leadership
behavior, is its high-power distance (Spector, et al., 2001). This has implications
on how leadership as a dimension plays out in its culture. This indicates a largely
supplicant attitude towards the boss. Underlying this construct is the concept
of social inequality. Simply put, the Indian culture has in it features, that puts in
place individuals who exert more power over others. These individuals are in a
position to determine others’ behaviors; and rarely vice-versa. Another consequence
of this inequality principle is that often full grown adults are excessively dependent
on superiors and are therefore unwilling to take decisions that they confront. This
often slows down organisational response and does not free top management for
strategic thinking and future developments (Chattopadhyaya G P, 1975). In fact,
many a senior leader will find the self insecure, if not informed or taken into
confidence on the smallest of work related issues.
Changing Times at the Modern Indian Workplace

Contemporary professionals in the IT world may argue that Indian organisations
are more egalitarian than when their parents went to work. The new generation
workforce feels that individuals are treated with respect based on the worth they
bring to their knowledge intensive roles. We must, however, remember that the
Indian professional leaves office in the evening or daybreak, only to return to a
larger society in which disrespect for the elder, the teacher; and such father-
figure roles is not taken lightly. No matter how strong the corporate culture in
terms of merit based decision-making and compensation structures, organisations
of tomorrow will continue to recruit individuals from a larger social milieu where
values of inequality are not entirely uncommon.
WIPRO, which began its formal leadership development journey in 1992,

has an experience unique in its social context, distinct by its identity and shaped
by its leadership, that can offer pertinent learning to practitioners and theorists
of OD. It is in many ways a case of how ‘management’ through applied leadership
can succeed and flourish. We shall now see glimpses from WIPRO’s experience as
depicted below.
WIPRO’s Response to its Context

When tracing WIPRO’s efforts into its present global status, a few important
issues come to mind. The reader may like to reflect on reading as to how and why
it was possible for WIPRO as an institution to speak about its strongly subscribed
values through its leadership development processes. The process of institution
building given the constraints in Indian society appears clearly to have built on
clear expectations and focussed nurturing that came from a sentient leadership at
WIPRO. Some of the salient steps WIPRO took are as follows:
1. Defining Leadership Qualities

The biggest problem with a concept like leadership is that, it can mean so many
things to so many people. There is a strong temptation to attribute all possible
good qualities one can think of and come out with hundreds of qualities.
Sometimes, these include “irreconcilable opposites” in qualities like a strong
aggressive leader who chews competition but at the same time is an extremely
harmonious team player! At WIPRO, we decided to be more pragmatic. We have
identified eight leadership qualities. Currently, they are:
1) Strategic thinking – Anticipating the future through an articulated vision.
2) Customer orientation – Customer at the center of the vision.
3) Aggressive commitment – Pursue stretched commitments with
determination and focus.
4) Global thinking and acting – Global cultural synchronization with respect
to issues and trends.
5) Self confidence – Belief in the abilities of self and team.
6) Commitment to excellence – Commitment to surpass the best with respect
to global standards.
7) Working in teams – Encouraging harmony and synergy for getting
multiplier effect from team.
8) Building future leaders – Spending time with team; coaching and pursuing
developmental needs of team.
This was done after extensive research into literature, understanding best
practices, and checking with thought leaders. We first defined an initial set of
seven qualities in 1992 and have been changing these every year. One of the
qualities that we adopted after listing on the New York Stock Exchange was that
of Global Thinking and Acting. For one band of leadership, for example, the
following behaviours are measured.
Leadership Quality: Global Thinking and Acting

Anticipates global trends impacting relevant markets and actively develops people
and processes to be globally competitive. He/she is at ease while interacting with
people from diverse national and cultural backgrounds.
1. Encourages his/her team to constantly update themselves on global issues/trends.
2. Actively attempts to understand and respect the cultural nuances of the
host countries of customers and employees.
3. Is able to build rapport and is at ease when dealing with clients, partners
or colleagues across geographic and cultural boundaries.
4. Identifies and contributes to the development of best practices to suit the
team’s need for process improvements through benchmarking with
world-class practices.
Competencies for the leader role are based on behaviours of successful

performers. Behaviours that relate with high performance are used to describe
the competencies. Based on demonstrated behaviours, levels of competency are
defined. The levels are scaled as competency indicators. These descriptions also
help users to identify positive and negative indicators of the competencies. Reliable
methods for this phase are used, such as structured interviews – as part of Job
Analyses and interviews held with stakeholders for the leader role. The Repertory
Grid Technique is used later as a special technique that involves stakeholders to
compare and contrast roles (e.g., boss, supplier, and customer) and formulate
important ways in which the roles are like the leader role, and different from the
rest. These efforts converge in a competency dictionary, comprising level-wise
descriptions of successful role behaviours.
All of WIPRO, leader qualities are similarly created and increasingly tend
to reflect the success of WIPRO in global geographies. These qualities are
illustrated by examples of leadership behaviours that are observable. This makes
it easy to understand and institutionalise the competencies. These qualities are
regularly reviewed in keeping with the changing context.
2. Measuring Leadership Qualities in Global Competitive Context

The impact of global thinking and acting runs across all of the WIPRO Leaders’
qualities. A few excerpts from WIPRO’s measurement criteria will help us
appreciate the same. Example, let us look at a few other leadership competencies
and the changing emphasis based on global context. We consider here two critical
competencies that help globalization. Both are different, in that one requires
reflective thinking, and the other requires concerted actions that are experienced
by many others in one’s team(s). One of them is strategic thinking – required for
both strategy planning and making. Strategy making is the expressive act that
follows strategic planning. The other is of working in teams. Today working in
teams encompasses motivation and bonding for members with whom face-to-
face interaction is minimal to say the least.
Table 2: Emerging Focus of WIPRO Leadership Qualities

Leadership Quality Earlier Now
Strategic thinking Focus on domestic players Focus on global game

and addressing local changes and players
competitive forces
Working in teams Focus on face-to-face Focus on virtual teams that

interactions and morale in work asynchronously across
location date and time zones.
Thus, WIPRO continually evaluates the business environment for cues that
affect the effectiveness of leadership strategies. Example one of the transitions
made after the adoption of global thinking and acting as a leadership quality is in
dropping a few qualities that seemed more managerial in nature. One such deletion
was that of problem solving as a leadership quality.
3. Leadership Composition for a Global Organization

With the sure presence of WIPRO in diverse geographies, it became imperative
to manage cross-cultural and multinational workforces. Leaders who have the
advantage of meeting up with client needs from as close a quarter as is possible is
best suited for local management. To ensure such an impact, WIPRO has infused
its top management with leaders from host nations itself. This has been the case
with the largest of geographies like USA, Japan and Europe. These leaders are
naturally capable in their own nations, and are quick in understanding the business
of customers.
4. Modifying Relevant People Processes

Several ongoing processes like recruitment, training, compensation and communication
itself are affected by a global scale of operations. WIPRO has suitably modified
such people processes so that employee behaviours are seen as consistent with the
leadership vision. For example when selecting for foreign territories, the
Employment Opportunities legislations in the host nation has relevance to the
conduct of selection processes. The recruitment team is required to be certified
on an interviewing skills programme, wherein several nuances of interviewer
behaviour are taught. Legal implications and cultural orientation of the interviewer
are critical to effectiveness. Similarly, for training conducted overseas, Trainers are
made aware of cultural implications of instruction and employee diversity. To
engage with the field force, for example, a European (Ph.D) with cross-cultural
negotiation expertise and sales experience has been charged with the office of
Field Capability Enhancement.
5. Developing Leadership Talent From Within

The process adopted for leadership development follows a lifecycle pattern. The
same is described below. To develop leaders, WIPRO trains its employees on a
regular basis. We have created development programs along the lifecycle pattern
of leadership development. There are five programs that focus on sharpening
leadership skills of individual leaders.
i. Entry Level Program (ELP): This is the first program, a fresh recruit goes
through. The program helps the newcomer into becoming a good
management employee, like how to become an effective team member,
how to participate in meetings, communications thoughts and feelings to
others. Country-specific cross-cultural training and the opportunities to
work in different nations has made our workforce adaptable and resilient.
ii. New Leaders’ Program (NLP): This is designed for the first time manager.
Many people continue to be more comfortable managing technology rather
than people. This program teaches them how to build teams, communicate,
lead according to situations and coach others. In the NLP, leaders are
particularly trained on aspects of managing virtual teams.
iii. Wipro Leaders’ Program (WLP): This is addressed to the manager of
managers who still wants to manage the teams directly. From here on, it is
a corporation-wide program. At the WLP, leaders are sensitized on the
Diversity Principle, and mingle with leaders from all parts of the world.
iv. Business Leaders’ Program (BLP): This program is for general managers in
waiting who need to look at business as a whole and understand bottom
line implications. It covers relevant elements of finance and environmental
scanning.
The BLP has focussed attention on a single business case, which has a
strong international flavor and is run over several days.
v. Strategic Leaders’ Program (SLP): This is the highest program aimed at
chief executives. It helps them to design and develop strategies in a global
environment. From the inception, the SLP has been addressed by thought
leaders from all over the world. Luminaries from Wharton, London Business
School, the Indian School of Business, and the like are invited to share
recent perspectives on leading large corporations.
At this level of leadership interactions with senior leadership of client

organisations are also important. Therefore, additional inputs on being one-on-one
with the Fortune 100 corporation leaders are also given. Participating effectively
in each of these programs is necessary to progress in one’s leadership career.
Similarly, it is very important to have the complete involvement of the senior and
top management of the company to participate as faculty. In Wipro, for instance,
Mr. Azim Premji, Chairman, addresses participants of all Wipro Leaders’ Programs,
Business Leaders’ Programs and Strategic Leaders’ Programs. In his own words
“What you will remember when you retire, is not which quarters you exceeded
your sales target or won large deals, but leaders whom you helped in developing.
Develop leaders under you, not only because it is good for the business, but
because it will give you tremendous personal satisfaction”. He invests significant
time as a faculty in leadership development programs.
Advanced Experiential Learning

Recently, WIPRO has collaborated in a Global Learning Alliance (GLA) with
learning and development wings of large global organisations, namely, Schneider,
L’Oreal, Nissan, and Alcan. Each organization sponsors approximately six senior
leaders (at the level of Vice-Presidents in WIPRO) from within its multiple lines
of business to represent learning and development challenges in a common forum,
where facilitation is done by eminent faculty from institutions like the London
Business School, and legends like Prof. Ikujiro Nonaka. These sessions are held at
different points in the year. The model on which it is based embraces globalization
in terms of cross-industry learning on ‘burning issues’ and socialization to create
a supportive climate for leadership skills development across business models
and organisational change contexts. The working model of this initiative is depicted
in Figure 1.
Figure 1: The Global Learning Alliance Framework

Cross – Theme Process Dimensions
Similarly, for leaders at lower levels, WIPRO has begun to engage in similar
fora, with the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, and Henry Mintzberg
as a partner facilitator. That, in brief, explains the moving spirit and energy behind
Wipro’s drive for developing leaders from within.
WIPRO’s recent emphasis on non-directive coaching, and teaming interventions

at senior and middle management levels have a deliberate design around key learning
experiences. WIPRO’s Corporate Human Resources Development team has the
custodianship for leadership development in the company. From a team identified
with a composition of high-caliber leadership trainers, the emerging emphasis of
this group has been on facilitated interventions in top management groups across
the corporation. Their interventions have facilitated interactions between clients
and delivery teams, strategic business units and top management strategy making
in critical businesses.
Challenges in Leadership Development

Although, WIPRO’s success with leadership development is acknowledged in
India today, challenges of growth continue to represent itself through
unprecedented scale and speed dimensions. Implications for leadership in WIPRO’s
current environment include:
1. Fostering a climate in which a younger workforce rises to challenges of
leadership faster than their predecessors, given the rate at which business
opportunities present themselves across diverse business sectors in multiple
geographies. The younger generations in most parts of the world stand on
newer educational paradigms and are seeped in possibilities that can be
accessed faster than was once imagined. A major challenge for leadership
development in a relatively young workforce is to be able to balance the
needs of novelty with a sense of responsibility for the future.
2. Sufficient learning required to embrace the diversity of cultures, business
sector models in different markets and geographies, has to occur more
comprehensively. The dominant thinking around institution building has
largely originated in India. Accommodating newer thought from foreign
cultures and workforce within its mainstream culture is an act of leadership
that needs closer attention.
3. We now have lesser time in which to help teams discover their purpose,
and follow through in performing service operations. While such teaming
is more common, the complex teaming problems arise at managerial and
strategic levels as leaders grapple with rapid and complex information flows
that affect short-term and mid-term business outlooks. This dimension is
amplified when teams work across virtual spaces from different continents.
4. Business growth can often hide many a weakness in organisational routine.
A focus and repeated stress on creating a winning culture could potentially
instill a sense of infallibility. Leaders who are insensitive to such possibilities
may project a false sense of confidence. A square challenge for leadership at
WIPRO then is to be able to manage the scale and speed of business growth
with a sense of realism and requisite humility.
5. As service providers in IT, the variety of market sectors served is generally a
source of revenue potential. However, this potential can be realized only
when leaders come to terms with the business model dynamism in client
domains. Leadership response to changes in clients’ business models is key
to future enablement of business.
Conclusion
Today, WIPRO is known the world over as an IT company from India. WIPRO’s
growth from a vegetable oils company to its present status as a leader in
IT services is the lesser known aspect of WIPRO. Recent accolades include being
world’s first company in IT Services and Software to be assessed for People CMM®
Version 2, and in 2003 being rated #1 across Asia Pacific for Leadership by Hewitt.
In 2004, close to 25 years after it entered IT markets, WIPRO crossed $1 billion
in revenues. It took just 18 months thereafter to reach the $2 billion mark.
It has also received recognitions from the American Society for Training and
Development (ASTD), the most recent ranking being 6th on the ASTD list, and
1st rank from India.
We have attempted to outline factors that affect effective global leadership, for
a firm that has Indian roots. It is fascinating to note that even as the larger Indian
society had a reality all its own, beset as it is with social, infrastructural, health,
nutrition and educational challenges, WIPRO’s leadership made a difference
in modern India. Many of the factors here may not exhaust the reader’s own context.
However, we hope that the reader gets a feel of the experience WIPRO has had
traversing a disciplined and consciously deliberated path to leadership development.
It is only a close understanding of the organization’s global competitive context

that will help WIPRO surge ahead in the current period where India seems to be
enjoying a national competitive advantage over other similarly endowed or resource
rich nations. In the words of a client as mentioned to one of the authors of this
paper “We look forward to India, because it is the land of genius. You are the
gurus. We hope this intelligence and hard work will benefit our business. That is
what we are looking for”. That, we understand, is no small expectation.
(Ranjan Acharya is Vice President, Corporate Human Resources Development, Wipro

Corporation.
Joseph George Anjilvelil is General Manager, Corporate HRD, Wipro.)
References
Chattopadhyaya G P, (1975), Dependence In Indian Culture, From Mud Huts To Company
Boardrooms, Economic and Political Weekly, Review Of Management, May, pp. 30-39.
Spector PE, Cooper CL and Sparks, K (2001) An International Study of the Psychometric
Properties of the Hofstede Values Survey Module 1994: A Comparison of Individual and
Country/Province Level Results, Applied Psychology: An international Review, 50 (2); 269-281.
Leadership Development at Infosys and GE

Infosys
Infosys Technologies Limited provides consulting and IT services to clients spread across the
globe. It listed in NASDAQ, Mumbai stock exchange, Bangalore stock exchange. The company
also crossed 2bn mark in the year 2006. The success of the company can be attributed to
outstanding leadership and effective succession planning by Mr. N R Narayana Murthy. Leadership
development and succession planning are a priority at Infosys from the beginning.
When Mr. Murthy retired in 2006, the company experienced smooth transition of leadership.
When Mr. Nandan Nilekani took over as the CEO in 2002, Mr. Murthy slowly restricted himself from
active involvement to enable Mr. Nandan learn to handle in his absence. After 5 years as the CEO
of the company, Mr. Nandan passed on the baton to Mr. Gopalakrishnan. This shows the long-term
succession planning Mr. Murthy had in his mind reflecting his desire to train the young leaders for
the future. Mr. Murthy continues to be the non-executive chairman, chief mentor and an additional
director on the board of the company.
Leadership development at Infosys is in line with its vision, which is stated as follows “To be
a globally respected corporation that provides best-of-breed business solutions, leveraging
technology, delivered by best-in-class people”.
The Infosys Leadership Institute was set up in 2001 at the company’s Mysore campus in
217 acres with a cost of Rs.41.1 crore (Rs.411 million) with an idea to manage the dynamic
internal and external business environment. The company has chosen 400 employees (in 2006)
to train them as leaders for the future to take up the responsibility when the present management
retires. Initially when the institute was set-up the number of chosen employees was 150 and the
increase in number in 2006 shows the emphasis laid by the company on leadership development.
The company has benchmarked some best leadership competencies across the world. The
leaders to be trained at this institute are selected on the basis of 360-degree appraisal where the
competencies of an individual are rated. Employees thus identified are not Indians alone but from
its branches across the globe to maintain the cultural balance.
Infosys has a 3-tier mentoring process. The first tier consists of the management council
which is an advisory body taking strategic decisions for the company. The second tier consists
of leaders who are trained to train the third tier group.
Infosys has identified nine pillars for leadership development as follows:
• 360-degree feedback
• Development assignments
• Infosys Culture workshops
• Development relationships
• Leadership skills training
• Feedback intensive programmes
• Systemic process learning
• Action learning
• Community empathy.
GE
GE’s business offers a variety of products ranging from aircraft engines and power generation
to financial services in about 100 countries with an employee strength of 315,000. GE was listed
in the first list of Standard & Poor’s 500 in 1959 and is the only company still listed there amongst
the 500 companies in the first list.
Contd...
Contd...
Jack Welch was the CEO of GE from 1981 to 2000 and he groomed Jeffrey Immelt (from 1991)
to be his successor. Jack Welch is admired all over the world for his leadership qualities, which
is a key for transforming GE into a $400bn company.
At GE it is the responsibility of a manager to develop his subordinates and to identify the talent
pool with leadership potential. The company’s CEO is personally involved in tracking the
performance of the talent pool thus identified.
Succession planning at GE
Leadership and organizational talent reviews known as “session c” are an important part of the
succession planning process at GE. In these reviews the CEO and vice president of HR meet with
the HR heads of different business units to review the talent pool with leadership qualities in each
unit. These discussions are spread throughout the year. The GE leadership monitors the identified
talent pool and facilitates learning and development through various programs. $1bn are spent
annually on such programs by the company. An example of such programs is a business
development program which provides opportunities for functional or unit heads to undergo
simulations in running other business units.
John F Welch Leadership Center at Crotonville was set-up in 1956 across 53-acre campus in
New York. This is the world’s first major corporate business school which is created to facilitate
organizational learning for future leaders. New employees are trained here and also those who
perform well in their careers are nominated by the respective businesses for further development.
The center has been expanded in the recent years to facilitate learning for more number of
employees. It has an education building with three amphitheaters for large classrooms to
accommodate 150 participants.
Identifying and developing talent has always been a priority in GE’s strategic decisions. GE’s
system of “learning culture in action” has year-long sessions where leaders share and discuss
the best practices in leadership development globally and arrive at a feasible idea for leadership
development at GE. This is a continuous cycle, which is integrated with GE’s strategic
decision-making.
Compiled by Icfai Editorial team.

Leadership in Higher Education 215
17
Leadership in Higher Education
PK Dutta
In the recent past, concern over the quality of education in

India has been on increase. The unease is no longer limited
just to educationists and educational institutions. The
parents, employers, governments and many others are
becoming just as concerned. In his recent writings on Indian
education, Philip G Altbach, a noted educationist, avers that
‘a world-class country without world-class higher education
is India’s 21st Century dilemma’.
A s will be the case in all facets of society, post-secondary education will

experience profound changes in the next millennium that will have
far-reaching implication for the people who should lead the enterprise. Specifically,
the population to be served (i.e., the students) will represent more racial and
gender diversity than in the past. According to Clark Kerr, “one of the greatest
opportunities of the decade (2000-10)… will be the consideration given by
management education to the welfare of what have historically been the
‘underserved elements’ of youth from low-income families and underrepresented
minorities.” In fact, the “minority-majority” will become a reality in many areas
of the country; in addition, non-traditional students will outnumber traditional
ones by an even greater percentage than in the 2000s. Consequently, the services
Source: HRM Review, April 2008. © The Icfai University Press. All rights reserved.
colleges and universities need to be revamped. Moreover, for the first time in
history, a majority of all new jobs will require education or training beyond high
school, a situation that demands improved access to management education
opportunities.
The shortage of quality teachers or faculty members will definitely affect the
delivery and quality of instruction and research by the academics JH Schuster
points out, “There is virtually no way that adequate numbers of suitably qualified
prospective faculty members will be available prior to the end of this decade. In
addition, the scarcity of women and minorities among the faculty ranks, declining
faculty morale, status, and real income, and the graying of the professorate will
signal communication and credibility problems between consumers and
producers.” Competition for faculty, especially from minorities, will be
heightened, and institutional raiding may become a normal way of recruiting
the country’s brightest and best minorities and women. Indeed, as Bowen and
Sosa suggest, discussions of mechanisms to increase the number of women and
minorities on college campuses may, in fact, become a major public-policy dilemma
in the early years of the next millennium.
Technological advances will render current instructional methods obsolete;

SL Dunn in his article, written for The Futurist (1983), asserts that faculty will
spend “less time lecturing and more time responding to the individual needs of
the-students.” Not only will the scope and sequence of the curriculum need to
be revised, but also what is to be taught will become a major question for the
future. Clearly, resources will be strained as institutions are forced to spend
substantial money to purchase up-to-date hardware and software as well as to
provide training and development experiences for faculty. The high-tech society,
coupled with the doubling of knowledge every five years, mandates that people
have to be taught how to learn (i.e., process) rather than specific facts; in essence,
education will truly become a lifelong challenge rather than an experience reserved
for the 18 to 22-year-old population.
Unquestionably, educators, in the future, will have to take another look at the
types of leaders they require as well as how those leaders are developed. Specifically,
we must realize that leaders are made and not born; there are no “saviors” on the
horizon who, because they have mystical powers, can cause management education
to be what it needs to be. Instead, we must develop, train, and educate our own
leaders to do the work that must be done. Let us consider some of John Gardner’s
leadership about the teaching of leadership.
Can leadership be taught? A big yes, as around 90% of it can be taught…. The
capacity to communicate effectively can be taught. Ronald Reagan, the former
President of US came by his communication skills honestly, through a lifetime of
professional training. Lyndon Baines Johnson was not born with an intimate grasp
of the workings of Congress. He learned it. Indira Gandhi was not born with the
knowledge of the Indian politics. She absorbed it from her childhood onward.
We must recognize that available Leadership Development Programs (LDPs)

are insufficient because they are too frequently built on an ill-formulated model
of mentorship, which assumes that the mentor is an effective leader. Consequently,
status-quo-seeking role models and mentors often teach protégés how to preserve
sameness rather than how to make a difference. Furthermore, they usually
“mentor” managerial rather than leadership behavior. In such a model, there is
little emphasis on teaching people how to develop and articulate a vision, how to
calculate risk, how to live by the strength of one’s convictions, or how to lead
without concern for popularity.
This approach to LDPs is most dangerous if we, in fact, want to ensure that
future leaders are different from what they are today. We should not allow those
who have served as “headmen” (Cowley’s term) to continue perpetuating and
“birthing” leaders like themselves. If history has taught us anything, it is that
there are a few great educational leaders today. And only a very small percentage
of the current leaders in post-secondary institutions are effective in the execution
of their duties. The deference we give to individuals is often based on their longevity
in a position rather than their effectiveness as leaders; we clearly must begin to
nurture those who see the world differently and project a dramatically different
future for post-secondary education—those who tend to shake things up rather
than follow established precedents.
The cycle must be broken through rethinking ways to create, support and
sustain effective leaders. This reconceptualization will not be done in a classroom
or in a workshop setting staffed by an individual who has simply made it to a

formal leadership position in an institution; it will not be achieved through
shadowing an institute or a director or a principal whose faculty members love
him or her because peace and tranquility have existed on the campus for the last
decade. It will probably be nurtured through heavy doses of self-development (as
Warren Bennis notes) and on-the-job training coupled with instruction as well
as consultation from those who are deemed by their peers to be effective leaders.
I will not project the form that the new leadership-development programs will
take; I simply raise the issues for consideration. TE Cronin says learning about
democratic leadership requires teaching and encouraging students to improve
their capacities for observation, reflection, imagination, invention and judgment.
It requires refining one’s ability to think, write, and communicate effectively. It
requires an ability to gather and interpret evidence, marshal facts and employ the
most rigorous methods in the pursuit of knowledge. We should encourage the
ability to ask the right questions and the ability to distinguish the significant
from the trivial, and we should encourage an unyielding commitment to the
truth combined with a full appreciation of what remains to be learned.
Just as innovations in technology and learning theory portend revisions in

instructional strategies, changes in society and education expects leaders of
tomorrow’s management education institutions to be generalists rather than
specialists. John Gardner says, “… we need leaders who understand the kind of
world it is and have some acquaintance with the systems other than their own
with which they must work.” These generalists must know a great deal about
many subjects and must be firmly grounded in Science and Arts of Management.
This knowledge may be gained through completion of a liberal-arts baccalaureate
degree or through post-secondary, professional-development experiences. These
leaders must be quick students and adept politicians who understand the process
of leading, can assess situations and make decisions and are willing to take risks
in order to move forward. Those who will lead the academy in the future must
also change in order to accommodate the demands that will be placed on them.
Let’s take a look at some of the essential qualities that management education’s
leaders must exhibit during the upcoming millennium.
• Leaders must have a set of clear, positive and rationally defensible values
that they understand and on which they rely when making decisions. In
order to lead people effectively in the future—which will be characterized
by innovation, difference, and competition—they must know what they
value and must never compromise these values as they make decisions.
They must recognize just how far they are willing to go in making things
happen before they reach their own bottom line. Clearly, politics is an
integral part of management education. However, even in political
situations, leaders must emerge as principled, ethical persons of integrity
whose judgment is sound and consistent. In all instances, decisions must
be based on such principles as fairness, justice, honesty and equity. In
addition to their own values, effective leaders of tomorrow will also need to
focus on the clarification, affirmation and regeneration of sound values
held by those with whom they work. John Gardner asserts: “Values always
decay over time. Societies that keep their values alive do so not by escaping
the processes of decay but by powerful processes of regeneration. There
must be perpetual rebuilding…. To assist in that rediscovery is one of the
tasks of leadership.”
• Leaders must have the courage to focus on quality in everything they do,
from the vision articulated to the rewards given to faculty and staff for
meritorious performance. According to Harold Enarson, former President
of Ohio State University, “The impulse for mediocrity, for safety and for
security, is the stronger and the more dominant impulse in our society.”
However, according to TM Stauffer, “Management education must shift
its emphasis from quantitative growth—in student numbers, programs
and institutional or bureaucratic complexity—to qualitative improvement.”
If such a shift is to occur, leaders must consistently be the standard-bearers
for quality in all of the institution’s efforts. In essence, effective leaders in
the 2000s, and beyond will recognize that they must overtly and creatively
reward quality work and productivity.
• Leaders of the future must not be afraid to separate the producers from the
non-producers when rewards are given, and they should use their creativity
in identifying ways to recognize the results of a job well done. For instance,
they can allocate released time for research to the high producers, or they
can provide start-up funds to support a new research project; they can
create “named” scholarships and fellowships for people who have consistently
achieved high-quality results; or they can allocate merit pay and bonuses
to those who are meritorious.
• Leaders must be willing and able to take calculated risks in order to
capitalize on new opportunities. Recognizing opportunities and taking
risks that will enable an institution to capitalize on uncertainty are two
additional and important behaviors that will be associated with effective
leadership in the future. According to PJ Murphy, “Management education
administrators have tended, with few exceptions, to be conservative, reactive,
conforming leaders. Though many of them have proclaimed themselves to
be assertive and innovative, their behavior has not substantiated this claim.”
Given the changes that are forecasted for the next millennium—according
to Kouzes and Posner—leaders must “Challenge the process” by
demonstrating as well as rewarding risk-taking behaviors throughout the
post-management education enterprise. In effect, as they insist, “Leaders
are pioneers—people who are willing to step out into the unknown. They
are people who are willing to take risks, to innovate and experiment in
order to find new and better ways of doing things.”
• Leaders must be able to balance the competing, often-consuming demands
of their work and their personal lives. The majority of today’s effective
leaders are characterized as “workaholics” who are married to their jobs and
whose every waking moment is dedicated to organizational improvement.
This image of supermen and superwomen may, in fact, be causing many
people to refuse to accept leadership responsibilities simply because they
are unwilling to give up time with their families and friends to pursue a
“cause.” Moreover, executive burnout is taking its toll on the present leaders
of the academy. According to Murphy, “An increasing number of people
appear to be more inclined toward a ‘work-to-live’ rather than
‘live-to-work’ philosophy.” Today, unfortunately, very few leaders balance
professional and personal goals, well, a situation that must change.
Boards of trustees as well as key executives in colleges and universities have

come to expect leaders at all levels to give their lives to their professions. In the
future, this perspective must change if management education is to use the vast
store of leadership talent available—particularly from women and minorities
(e.g., married women with children, etc.). In other words, post-secondary
education expects leaders to commit themselves totally to the organization. There
must be a concern for balancing the need for leaders against the unrealistic
expectations we set for them. Otherwise, some talented people may never rise to
the challenge.
This attitude demands immediate solution to balance the problem, or a

significant leadership void will result. We must force leaders to take lengthy
vacations as a means of preventing burnout, weave partners and families into the
fabric of the institution in a variety of ways, and rethink work and productivity
standards that cause a person to give up everything personal in order to be an
effective leader. Moreover, we must reorder our priorities and restructure the way
we communicate; specially, we need to ensure that there is time in the day to
accomplish work objectives rather than spend precious moments in, sometimes,
fruitless and seemingly never-ending meetings. As noted earlier, technological
advances now make it possible for us to be in instant communication through
electronic mail. We now must use this technology to free leaders to work rather
than hamstringing them because they must attend scores of individual and group
meetings that can be a waste of time. Perhaps we should move towards justifying
meetings as we do budget line-items; if they are not essential, they should not be
scheduled. Clearly, we must immediately free up needed time to accomplish the
tasks of leadership, or we may be leaderless tomorrow.
• Leaders will be required to balance the need for extensive participation and
input against the requirement to keep the organization on course and
committed to its future plans. As information dissemination and retrieval
now occur instantaneously, more people can have access to critical data
needed to make decisions. Consequently, it will no longer be necessary to
restrict decision-making to a select few because it will be possible to
communicate quickly, easily and comprehensively with large numbers of
people. Unquestionably, then, the call for participation in planning and
decision-making by teaching staff, students and members of relevant external

constituent groups will intensify in the future. Such participation will
ensure pride in management education’s mission and ownership of the
resulting decisions, which will enhance the likelihood that what was
planned, will be implemented.
Table: Environmental Changes and Adaptive Leadership Strategies for

Future Organizations – Excellence
Environmental Changes Major Tasks Building Organizational Capabilities Leadership Strategies
1. Globalization Managing competition New businesses Entrepreneurial
of business New products Innovative
New processes
Total quality
2. Explosion of Managing information Rapid and timely change Change oriented
information knowledge Free information flow Visionary
technology Decentralized decision-making Environmental scanning
Coordination among oriented
clearing houses Participatory
3. Diverse labor force Managing Socio-cultural sensitivity Culture sensitive
and consumer gender issues Employment and Sensitive to members and
markets reward system customer needs
Equity Global mind-set
Reflecting on future leaders, Beckhard (1996) says: “Truly effective leaders in

the years ahead will have personas determined by strong values and belief in the
capacity of individuals to grow. They will have an image of the society in which
they would like their organizations and themselves to live. They will be visionary
and believe strongly that they can and should be shaping the future, and they
will act on these beliefs through their personal behavior.
Conclusion
In other words, leaders must empower those with whom they work to use all of
their talents constructively to ensure organizational success. However, everyone
must recognize that leaders who seek inputs are still responsible for making good
decisions. Although rarely done, if leaders expect to maintain credibility with
those they lead, they cannot shirk the responsibility of occasionally moving against
the will of the majority when there are contravening circumstances. Consequently,
effective leaders must have the courage to sort out all the variables and make
decisions that will benefit the organization in the long run, with concern for the
respect of those to be led rather than popularity as the ultimate goal in effect,
they must be, to use Rosabeth Moss Kanter’s terminology, “change masters.”
(PK Dutta, Director, Shri Atmanand Jain Institute of Management and Technology,
Ambala City, Haryan. He can be reached at askpkd@yahoo.com, director@
aimtambala.com).
18
Future of Leadership Development
A Perspective
Jyoti Budhraja
The article offers a futuristic perspective on leadership

development, by studying its journey of transition from the
past till present for exploring newer insights on the topic
under discussion. The objective is to provide a comparative
understanding between the best practices in leadership
development in the past with the contemporary initiatives
for mapping and identifying the future prospects in this field.
Leadership development as an emerging field of
specialization is undergoing a phase of transition due to the
challenges offered by globalization and intensification of
competition. In future, leadership development would
become indispensable for the organizations and a vital tool
for strategic advantage. This article provides an account of
the possible changes which are likely to take place in the
field of leadership development in the future and its relevance
for the management in the competitive scenario.
© The Icfai University Press. All rights reserved.

Future of Leadership Development: A Perspective 225
Introduction
Leadership development in the contemporary scenario has become indispensable
for the organizations who wish to march ahead successfully in their journey of
excellence. It is because; in the era of cut throat competition the only crucial
resource which makes an organization a pioneer in the market is the availability
of talent. Leadership development is not just a panacea, but has become a vital
strategic tool which is implemented for fulfilling the intended interests of the
management in the direction of accomplishment of the ultimate vision. The field
of leadership development in the 21st century is passing through a phase of
transition and the organizations are expected to witness a lot more changes in the
near future as well. This is attributed to globalization of countries, technological
advancements and liberalization of economies. The change has taken place in a
radical fashion; thereby affecting the fundamental domains of business which
has put forth unimaginable challenges before the organizations, forcing them to
either adapt or to take an exit from the business. This article projects the future
of leadership development through a thorough assessment of the past trends and
the present changes, for attaining newer insights on this topic and identifying
alternatives for improved outcomes. An attempt has been made in studying the
key challenges to this field and innovations in the leadership development
techniques by examining diverse perspectives on this subject.
Leadership Development: A Peek into the Past

The field of leadership development, which we witness today, is not the same as
it was in the past, since it has evolved considerably with the changing demands
of the competition. Leadership development earlier didn’t receive much of
management attention because the management functions earlier were not so
complex and neither were the competitive forces as compared with the present
scenario. Today, an organization can think of successfully sustaining in the war of
competition only by leveraging the employee resources optimally by providing
them the best of HR services and offering them the state of the art training for
periodically upgrading their skills without which they would be rendered obsolete
in the talent market. Earlier, the organizations did not face the talent crunch and
the organization structure used to be very simple demarcating clear authority
and accountability for the respective jobs depending upon the areas of expertise
of the employees. The employees were expected to focus on one given area of
specialization for performing their jobs successfully. So, the requirement for
leadership development was just felt at the senior level as they were responsible
for making crucial decisions for the organizations and were involved in crafting
suitable strategies for accomplishment of the organizational vision. Hence,
leadership development in the past was accepted as a tool for developing the
senior managers so that they acquire adeptness in achieving the vision.
Leadership development earlier focused on developing the leaders as individuals

who had the command and authority for leading their groups by setting forth
certain targets and guiding them for accomplishment of the targets. Leadership
was more individual centric instead of being group centric in its approach.
Moreover, the leaders’ intelligence quotient was given undue importance for
determining their effectiveness. The sole objective of any leadership development
program was to improve the intellectual understanding and to facilitate their
technical knowledge, skills and abilities which the leader required for fulfilling
the functional obligations pertaining to accomplishment of task related targets.
The key focus was on facilitating the technical expertise of the leaders and to help
the leaders at the senior levels in performing the transactional or routine nature
of tasks by providing them necessary functional inputs. In a way, it may be
interpreted that leadership development in the past followed a part approach
instead of adopting a holistic approach pervasive across all the streams and levels
of management.
Leadership development earlier was more static in its approach as flexibilities

in making amends in the program contents and pattern of delivery didn’t exist.
Instead the program was mostly regarded as a one time event, conducted for a
definite span of time and after that the implications were measured. The
programmes were mostly prescriptive and standardized modules depending heavily
on theoretical mode of delivery of sessions. The preferred mode of imparting
sessions were lecturing and it used to be one way interaction with less stress on
mutual interaction and participation of the trainees. The training pedagogy
facilitated conceptual understanding amongst the participants instead of providing
them an experiential exposure in the process of acquisition of newer skills.
Leadership development was merely considered as a tool for accomplishment of
the clearly predetermined organizational targets as aptly recommended in the

‘scientific model’ of Bush and Glover (2004). Leadership development in the
past followed the models of academic liberalizm and experiential liberalizm, as
identified in the four contemporary models of management education formulated
by Holman (2000). Academic liberalizm was a theoretical model, aiming at
disseminating the generic principles and theories for evolving scientific perspectives
and accomplishment of objective knowledge about management. The aim of any
management development initiative was to create management scientists capable
of analyzing issues in a scientific way and applying theory to practice through
the use of teaching methods like case studies, lectures, seminars and
experimentations for facilitating a causal understanding of several events.
Experiential liberalizm even proposes its model by basing its philosophy on the
same premise of academic liberalizm but is slightly more practical oriented in its
approach with a focus on managerial experience instead of sole concentration on
the theory. The major techniques suggested in this model include group activities,
self development and action learning. Campbell et. al., (2003) opined that the
focus of leadership development programs was on developing five major skills
which include; intrapersonal qualities, interpersonal skills, cognitive abilities,
communication skills and task specific skills.
Even though leadership development in the past followed a theoretical

approach and was restricted to the senior management, still then they form the
base for the current best practices in the field of leadership which we observe
today. The contemporary leadership trainers and consultants draw a lot of
inspiration from the practices of the past and design customized training modules,
by assessing the cases of failures in leadership programs and the areas of
improvements in training for evolving newer practices in the given field.
Leadership Development: An Assessment of the Present Scenario

Leadership development in the present scenario has undergone a radical change,
which can be attributed to growing complexities in the mechanisms of business
operations. Presently, management gives utmost priority to leadership development
as they view it as an instrument for winning a strategic advantage against the
shrewd moves of the competitors. The development programs in the contemporary
period are much more experiential and offer a lot of flexibility through
customization and modularization of the content of the program. The field of

leadership development is serving as a luring career platform for aspiring trainers
and consultants as it has opened up several opportunities in corporates as well as
in the area of consulting. It is expected that in the near future the demand for
trainers would still be on a sharp rise and moreover, companies offer competitive
remuneration for attracting the premium talent available in the market. As a
result of this transition, this field is witnessing several innovations in techniques
and conceptualization of the entire processes.
According to an observation from Raelin (2004), leadership development

initiatives failed to attain the objectives because the emphasis was on instilling
leadership into people so that they transform themselves as individuals and
organizations on returning back. In his opinion this doesn’t work as leadership
development can never be isolated from the key strategies and the overall vision
of the organization. According to him, leadership development needs to be
integrated with the organizational culture, strategies and crucial processes of an
organization. Earlier, trait theory of leadership used to govern the models of
leadership development programs, stressing additionally on certain innate and
inherent traits of leaders which they acquire by virtue of birth. Hence, emphasis
was on grooming those crucial traits in leaders which facilitated exercise of power
on the followers. But, with the losing relevance and application of trait theory
attributed to its limitations, the leadership experts have started picking up interest
in transformational leadership (Bass, 1985; Bass and Avolio, 1994), where the
leader plays an inspirational role in transforming its followers by motivating them
for accomplishment of extraordinary results. Transformational leaders are visionaries
and change agents for their organization, and the demand of the present scenario
is for such leaders who can exercise flexibility in their approach and handle
responsibilities proactively. A few more new thoughts on leadership are team
leadership (Greenleaf, 1970) and distributed leadership (Spillane, 2004) which
receive tremendous attention in the process of conceptualization of a leadership
development framework stressing heavily upon on collective realization of goals.
Mabey and Ramirez (2004) identified changes in the external environment and
business focus are the key triggers for extra investments in management education.
There has been a rise in the demand for short term courses and modules on
executive development, customized and tailor made after a thorough assessment
of the client’s needs, which are mostly informal and offer provisions for personal
development (Hirsh and Carter).
A few of the popular techniques most commonly used in the contemporary

leadership programmes are mentoring, 360 degree feedback, coaching, project
assignments, team assignments, on the job assignments, etc. A coverage on the
current trends in the field of leadership development and its evolution from past
to present is illustrated in Table 1.
Table 1: Key Trends in Leadership Development

Key Trends From To
The programme Delivery style Prescribed, standardized in Major coverage provided to
its approach and was mostly real life issues through case
theoretical analysis, customized and tailor
made programmes with
variation in programme
duration and contents after a
thorough assessment of the
needs
The time frame One time event Leadership programmes are
considered as continual and
ongoing process
The methods Lecturing which facilitated Experiential and
conceptual development of participatory techniques
the participants with a focus on learning by
doing for offering an interactive
appeal to the programmes.
Emphasis Individuals Individuals but as members
of a group and emphasis on the
overall objectives of the
group instead of individual
objectives.
The Consultant Supplier of services Facilitator and co partner, a
mentor and a coach.
Moreover, in the present scenario greater attention is equally being given to

the aspect of inclusion of emotional dimensions in the practices of leadership
with the growing concern of managers for the development of emotional
intelligence. According to Storey (2004), most of the training intervention can
be classified into four types and these include:
1. Learning about leadership and organization: which include traditional

classroom and workshop teaching methods
2. Self/team analysis and exploration of leadership styles: which cover methods
like 360 degree feedback, psychometric tests, coaching and sensitivity
training for facilitating awareness of self and of others for enhanced
productivity
3. Experiential learning and simulation: which cover experiential activities,
management games and role plays for facilitating learning by doing
4. Top level strategy courses: Executive education programmes designed
especially for the senior employees and mostly connected with reputed
business schools and associations.
In an overall sense, it could be interpreted that most of the contemporary

leadership programmes follow a blend of experiential learning and theoretical
instructions and they still prefer face to face modes of training instead of e learning
(Burgoyne, 2001; CIPD, 2002).
Several companies have started realizing the importance of leadership in

accomplishment of professional excellence, as a result of which they are discovering
newer ways for developing global leaders. According to a latest survey report by
Fortune on the top companies for leaders (September, 2007), most of the
companies offer internal training to their executives. Employees of today expect
opportunities for development, job flexibility and community involvement for
being retained in their organization, says Judy Pahren, Senior VP for development
and diversity of Capital One Financial. Some of the major findings of the survey
report of Fortune are provided below:
• Several reputed companies are investing a major time and money on
leadership. For example, the CEO of McDonald’s personally reviews the
development of top 200 managers of the company and at GE top 600
managers are reviewed by the CEO. The CEO of Medtronic devotes 50%
of his valuable time on handling people issues exclusively. Moreover, GE
spends heavily on leadership development by sending their high potential
employees to Crotonville, New York, a leadership development center for
acquisition of newer skills in the early career.
• In Eli Lilly, about two thirds of leadership development happens from job
experience, around one third from mentoring and coaching and a few from
classroom training. The organization even follows a practice of developing
leaders within their current jobs by promoting job rotation and offering
short term work assignments in which the managers don’t leave their jobs,
but they accept newer assignments outside the purview of their current
jobs. Even Nokia is following a similar kind of practice.
• Companies like Whirlpool and Natura Cosmeticos, Brazil’s largest cosmetics
company, develop leaders by offering consistent feedback and support
through consistent mentoring and coaching.
• Several companies aim at developing teams and not just individuals which
includes examples like GE and Nokia. Nokia adopts a Finnish culture,
which focuses on leadership rather than on leaders and major decisions are
made by arriving at a consensus.
• Organizations like P & G run inspirational leadership development program
for inspiring leaders at the top level and American Express run a program
called as Leadership Inspiring Employee Engagement for the VPs.
Leadership Development: What is Stored in the Future?

Leadership development in the present scenario is witnessing transition, as a
result of which this field involves several challenges for the experts in the present
as well as for the future. Even though there has been a rapid mushrooming of
management institutions which take care of executive education and development
of dynamic skills of leaders, still they fail to practically visualize the exact
requirements and merely offer advices in a classroom set-up, which deprive the
upcoming talent from an overall experiential exposure. Customized training and
modular concepts, limit the coverage of a program to a very great extent, so they
have got their own limitations along with their respective benefits. Similarly a
specific pedagogy or a pattern of a programme may hold good for an organization,
but may not be of much use to some other organizations. Even though the
competition is stiff between the reputed B schools for imparting state of the art
level training to the executives from the corporate sector, still they have been
struggling hard to improve their presence in the training industry by adopting
best practices and discovering innovative measures for obtaining optimal results
out of a unique leadership solution.
Some of the possible trends in the field of leadership development in the

future include:
• A strong partnership between companies and business schools would develop
that would facilitate introduction and implementation of interactive and
client suited modules with greater flexibilities.
• Additional impetus would be provided to ROI for measuring the returns
out of an investment on human resources in quantifiable terms. This would
serve as one of the most challenging pressures for the leadership practitioners
in the future (Kincaid and Gordick, 2003). A lot of leading companies like
Pepsi Co., Johnson & Johnson and several others, are expending hugely on
leadership development and have identified newer modalities for
quantification of benefits out of a development effort. Hunches and mere
reactions towards the impact of a development programme would not be
practiced in the future; instead the outcome of a programme would be
measured by including both pre development stage and post development
stage for facilitating comparison in absolute quantifiable terms.
• With the increasing importance of ROI for measuring the implications of
a programme, evaluation of leadership development initiative would receive
the central focus. It wouldn’t be the same prevalent scenario as we see
today where the experts and trainers give undue importance to the design
phase of the programme and neglect the evaluation of outcome. Leadership
development must create a “chain of impact” that would be able to integrate
leadership development with the overall organizational accomplishments
(Martineau & Hannum, 2003). A pogramme would be monitored and
evaluated against a range of performance parameters for making major
decisions involving change which would include consideration for
continuation of the same programme or a search for newer alternatives.
• Leadership development would be conceived in a new way by shedding
the past beliefs that it simply aims at improving the skills and competencies
of individuals for realizing certain intended objectives. It is all attributed
to the changes in the economic, social, cultural and ecological front which
has instilled a change in the ideologies and preferences of people. Leadership
development would be seen as social, collaborative and a relational process
(Day, 2001). In a networked economy, where partnerships and collaborative
pursuit of assignments would be playing a major role for attaining
competitive effectiveness (Vicere, 2002), leadership will be accepted in
collective capacity involving an alignment of mutual goals for heading in
the direction of excellence. For building a general acceptability towards
this mind set, organizational systems and culture would play an imperative
role in the area of leadership development (Van Velsor & Mc Cauley, 2004).
• Technology would play a very crucial role in the entire program starting
from the planning stage till the final evaluation phase. Before the
conceptualization of a programme, the needs would be assessed by the
help of robust and customized softwares which would generate automatic
reports on the gaps identified within no time and with the use of least
possible efforts. Even in the virtual era, the training programs would mostly
be on an e-learning mode and virtual conferencing would be the trend of
that period. Moreover, technology will facilitate communication of
information and exchange of new ideas through the mode of chat rooms,
thought leader access, e-mentoring and business simulations.
• Leadership development methods and techniques would follow an
internationalized or globalized approach. A greater importance would be
given to the coverage of international markets and global economic trends
in the leadership development curriculum (Cacioppe, 1998). The leaders
would be trained for accepting a global outlook for sustaining in the
competitive market and maintaining a winning edge, by taking into
consideration both the internal forces and the external forces which affect
the very existence of an organization. The role of media groups would
become much more crucial in the future.
• The requirement of leadership competencies in the future would undergo
a sea change in the scenario of ambiguities and uncertainties due to a rise
in the business complexities. According to the Conference Board report
“Developing Business Leaders for 2010”, leaders would be exercising four
crucial roles for meeting future business challenges (Barrett and Beeson,
2002). These include, master strategist, change manager, relationship/
network builder and talent developer.
Conclusion
Leadership development in future would be unveiling a lot of unexpected
innovations and changes in several dimensions and would become an indispensable
component of corporate strategy for determining their competitiveness in the
market. The organizations would have to adapt to such changes proactively and
equally accept the changing trends in the area of leadership development for
ensuring a successful sustenance in the industry. In an overall sense, it may be
acknowledged that leadership development has gained tremendous importance
in the present scenario and it would attract a greater attention from the consultants
and experts in the future as a lot is yet to be explored from this field.
(Jyoti Budhraja, Faculty at Icfai Business School, Bhubaneswar. She can be reached
at jyoti.budhraja@gmail.com).
References
Barrett, A. & Beeson, J. (2002). “Developing Business Leaders for 2010.” The Conference
board, New York.
Bass, B.M. (1985), Leadership and Performance beyond Expectations, Free Press, New York,
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Bass, B.M., Avolio, B. (1994), Improving Organizational Effectiveness Through
Transformational Leadership, Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA, .
Burgoyne J. (2001). Corporate E learning. London: Careers Research Forum.
Bush, T. and Glover, D. (2004), Leadership Development: Evidence and Beliefs, Nottingham:
National College for School Leadership, pp. 19 (URL: www.ncsl.org.uk/media/F7A/88/bush-
school-leadership-full.pdf )
Cacioppe, R. (1998). “An Integrated model and approach for the design of effective
leadership development programs.” Leadership & Organization Development Journal,
19(1): 44-53.
Campbell, D., Dardis, G. and Campbell, K. (2003), ‘Enhancing Incremental Influence:
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Studies, 10(1), 29-44.
CIPD (2002). Training and development 2002- Survey Report. London: CIPD.
Day, D.V. (2001). “Leadership Development: A review in Context.” Leadership Quarterly,
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Greenleaf, R. (1970) Servant as Leader. Center for Applied Studies.
Hirsh W & Carter A (2002). New Directions in Management Development, IES Report 387,
Brighton: Institute for Employment Studies.
Holman, D. (2000) Contemporary models of management education in the UK.
Management Learning, 31(2), 197-217.
Kincaid, S.B. & Gordick, D. (2003). “The Return on Investment of Leadership
Development: Differentiating Our Discipline.” Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and
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Development: A Professional Guide. Greensboro, NC: Center for Creative Leadership.
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Executive, 18, pp. 131-135
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Jyoti Budhraja ....................

The Icfai University Press

Editorial Team: Dushmanta Mallick and Sheikh Tawheed Rehman

2. 21st Century Leadership: Got What It Takes? 22

3. Adult Learning Theory and Leadership Development 28

6. From International Management to Leadership –

9. Leadership Prescription Paradigms 106

10. A Recession’s Role in Transforming

11. Leadership Development Practices of

14. Preparing for Tomorrow’s World: Globalization and

15. BOOK REVIEW

16. Leadership Development in India –

17. Leadership in Higher Education 215

18. Future of Leadership Development: A Perspective 224

Leadership development in the contemporary scenario is more of a

Organizations have evolved open system, operating on a global

The book titled “Leadership Development in the New Millennium”

or system of leadership development, and suggests alternatives for making

The first section of this book contains 6 articles, primarily dealing

The next article “21st Century Leadership: Got What It Takes”

Subsequent article “Adult Learning Theory and Leadership

The next contribution from Kunal Gaurav is a book review of the

Use Succession Management to Sustain Competitive Advantage”,

The next contribution is yet again an interactive book review by

The next article “From International Management to Leadership –

Section II “Assessment of Leadership Development” has six articles

Richard Bolden, reviews the recent trends in leadership and management

The next article of this section is “Making Leadership Actionable:

The article “Leadership Prescription Paradigms”, authored by

The next article “A Recession’s Role in Transforming Leadership

The article “Leadership Development Practices of Top-Performing

The next article “Evaluating a Leadership Development Program”,

The next article “Preparing for Tomorrow’s World: Globalization

changing the content and techniques of conducting the executive leadership

The next contribution is a review of the book “Bench Strength:

The article “Leadership Development in India – An Experiential

The next article “Leadership in Higher Education” written by

The last article of the section titled “Future of Leadership

of the possible changes which are likely in the field of leadership

The entire book provides a complete reading experience to the authors

Trends and Practices

To survive the cut-throat competition and emerge as a winner,

I n simple terms, an organization is an arrangement where individuals with

House (2004) defines “leadership” as “the ability of an individual to influence,

The Leadership Development Process

Finally, the most important phase of the leadership development process is

Leadership Development Approaches

When, in an epoch of change, tomorrow is necessarily different from yesterday,

Revans’ Learning Theory consists of two Inter-related components

Rotational Job Assignments

– Jay Alden Conger, 1992

Box 2: Outdoor Challenges

Coaching can be particularly effective for a leader in times of change, for

Mentoring Advising/ Broader understanding Strong personal Peer jealousy

Source: Day and Halpin (2001).

Leadership Development for Succession Planning

into successful future leaders. Some of the leadership development practices

(Lalithya Rani P is a Research Associate, the Icfai Research Center, Hyderabad.

The article highlights the characteristics of a 21st century

What Will a 21st Century Leader Look Like?

In what way do leaders think differently? In my judgement, leaders are

What Other Skills Do 21st Century Leaders Require?

3. Your personal integrity and credibility – which is predicated on walking