Leadership development

Leadership development refers to any activity that enhances the quality of leadership within an individual or organization. These activities have ranged from MBA style programs offered at university business schools to action learning, high-ropes courses and executive retreats.

Traditionally, leadership development has focused on developing the leadership abilities and attitudes of individuals.People are not all born with the same potential to lead well anymore than people do not all have the same ability to play football like Zinedine Zidane or sing like Luciano Pavarotti. Different personal characteristics can help or hinder a person's leadership effectiveness[1] and require formalized programs for developing leadership competencies [2] Yet, everyone can develop their leadership effectiveness. Achieving such development takes focus, practice and persistence more akin to learning a musical instrument than reading a book.

Classroom style training and associated reading is effective in helping leaders to know more about what is involved in leading well. Yet knowing what to do and doing what you know are two very different outcomes, as highlighted by management expert Henry Mintzberg. It is estimated that as little as 15% of learning from traditional classroom style training results in sustained behavioral change within the workplace.

Officer training academies such as the US Military Academy at West Point, go to great lengths to only accept candidates who show the highest potential to lead well [6]. Personal characteristics that associated with successful leadership development include leader motivation to learn, a high achievement drive and personality traits such as openness to experience, an internal locus of control, self-monitoring.