Developing Leaders for Tough Times – Part 2

In a previous a previous post, Developing Leaders for Tought Times – Part 1, I wrote about an article on a study conducted by Development Dimensions International.  It was so intriguing to me that I tracked down the entire study and have been looking at it in greater detail.  Naturally, I have a particular interest in the topic of leadership as I have built a career on it.  I have discovered over the years that not everyone agrees with me about the importance of developing today’s and tomorrow’s leaders.  But the evidence in this study is compelling:  37% of leaders fail (42% in Asia and 28% in Western Europe) and if you look further into the sources of  a leader’s downfall, Leadership/Interpersonal Skills and Strategic (or Visionary) Skills are at the top of the list of reasons.

From my perspective, this is good news because these are leadership competencies that can be developed through sustained training and development initiatives such as coaching, teamwork, strategic thinking, change management, and fundamental leadership qualities.  Despite the economic constraints facing many organizations, my hope is that more businesses begin to recognize that a greater number of leaders can be successful and contribute to a company’s bottom line performance when they have well-developed, and sustained interpersonal and strategic skills.