Leading indicators: the development of executive leadership; in a survey of Chief Executive readers, the Center for Creative Leadership provides a window into what CEOs are doing to enhance leadership in turbulent times - CEO Survey: Advertisement

Chief Executive, The, Oct, 2002 by Peter Haapaniemi

* The right cultures are in place, but challenges remain. Almost three-fourths (73.4 percent) of CEOs said that their company's culture supports learning and development. However, development processes are not always well defined. For example, less than half (44.2 percent) said that they have created and communicated a leadership strategy. Just one-third (36 percent) said that leadership practices are tailored to meet the needs of each employee. And less than half (49.1 percent) said that their HR systems (performance management, compensation, etc.) support the development of leadership skills.

* CEOs are concerned about the lack of formal leadership development processes. In response to the phrase, "My company is limited in its ability to develop leaders by lack of..." 35.7 percent cited "formal processes," followed by "organizational focus," "budgets," "culture" and "clear strategy." [See Chart 6]

* Solid leadership appears to be linked with solid financial performance. Though direct causation is difficult to establish, those CEOs who said that they were financially "outperforming their industry peers" were significantly more likely to say that their company's culture supports learning and development; that their HR systems support the development of leadership skills; that there is a shared understanding in their organization of what effective leadership looks like; and that their leadership development practices are tailored to meet the needs of individual employees.

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