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Leaders developing leaders.

Article Excerpt
A severely depleted cadre of leadership talent lies at the very heart of today's corporate world. Even one who finds it difficult to agree with this statement cannot avoid accepting that the perception of leadership and leaders is significantly less than in the past. Consider that:



When it comes to succession planning (and, by extension, leadership development) in the business world, corporate boards could do with a similar sense of urgency--though we wouldn't necessarily advocate starving them into it. Traditionally, boards have left these tasks very much up to their CEOs and human resource departments. There's a simple reason why directors pay so little attention to these activities: They don't perceive that a lack of leadership development in a company poses the same kind of threat that accounting blunders or missed earnings do. (Cohn, et al., 2005)

Many of us are paying an unprecedented price for the rightsizing of the 1990s and the resulting abandonment of leadership development. We seem to be struggling to find capable, caring, C-suite leaders. In some cases, we see corporations seeking "boomerang" CEOs and luring other C-suite executives out of retirement.

The problem runs deeper, however, to the roots of leadership development throughout our organizations. Just think about it. If we can reorganize companies, merge, acquire, or dispose of others, and compete globally, then why can't we develop better leaders? The reason is simple. We think that it is someone else's job or that we can buy C-suite and other leadership talent. Some might argue that I exaggerate the current leadership situation, but the subject does merit greater dialogue.

We are accountable for developing the best leaders possible and, without question, the time is now for a "leadership renaissance."

Several books on leadership preach leading by example, being role models, and inspiring our people. Inevitably, many of us do not embrace or demonstrate the challenge. After...