I was having a discussion with a leadership team recently on the cost of development. Their biggest concern? People leaving after heavy leadership investment.
It’s a fair concern. But consider this….
A five-year study from author Jim Collins and his research team (21 people) for the book Good to Great yielded insights about taking organisations from mediocre to great, looking for patterns over 15 years of cumulative stock returns at or below the general market, then a turning point that led to cumulative returns 3x the market over the next 15 years. (15 years to rule out luck, and to go beyond the tenure of a CEO who may be a single great leader.)
The results are fascinating, and the below excerpt early in the book about internal succession got my attention:
“Larger than life celebrity leaders who ride in from the outside…are negatively correlated in taking a company from good to great.10 of 11 good to great CEOs come from inside the company.”– Jim Collins
Developing and promoting internal talent is a strategy that works. Investing in your talent to not only grow their leadership skills, but undertake development and deep understanding of their internal operating systems, impact, influence, and reach gets a return, and provides a pipeline of talent to take your organisation forward
Want to hear some further thoughts on this topic, click here to have a read and join the conversation over on LinkedIn.
Again for those in the back…. taking a company through the next generation is principally done through the succession of internal talent. And successful succession means investing in leadership.
Ignoring talent within, well, that will get you on the mouse wheel of high turnover and poor engagement (to name just a few!), costing* you much more than the leadership investment.
Need an assessment of your current leadership capability?
Let’s chat about how the my approach and the use of the Leadership Circle Profile can provide robust leadership assessment and insights into individual and collective talent in your organisation.
*You’ll notice that I used the word cost, rather than investment. Because if your development spend isn’t aligned with the organisational needs, then it’s likely a sunk cost. I can help with that.
