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Grow leaders to grow your business.

Article Excerpt
Mention growth in a business context and an economic mindset is automatically triggered; however, not all growth is good. Growth as a goal can be dangerous, and growth without growing leaders can be fatal. This article draws from the author's personal research presented in The Leadership Experience as well as from significant organizational thought leaders.

Starting in 2003, Hyundai experienced an amazing growth expansion. Sales records were broken nearly every quarter, business periodicals were bullish on the company's fortunes, and the days of "Hyundai who?" appeared to be history. On June 1, 2006, Forbes.com named the Hyundai Azera the best luxury car for a nonluxury price, ranked behind Toyota's Avalon and Buick's Lucerne.

Behind the scenes, several subterranean cracks and strains finally erupted. US managers never seemed to be able to please their Korean superiors, and the North American management staff was in constant turnover. Even as the Azera was being grouped with the Avalons and Lucernes, the news broke that both the chairman of Hyundai Motors, Chung Mong-koo, and his son, Kia Motors president Chung Eui-sun, were under investigation for their roles in scandals involving political slush funds and the misuse of company money. Stock prices that one month before were hovering in the mid-90s fell off a cliff to the mid-50s. The whole story may never be known, but, in the Hyundai Motors case, the face-losing events of arrests and trials have taken place. Chung Mong-koo was convicted of several charges, including embezzlement. Although his business...

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