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The fate of humanity is in the hands of the few who choose to lead. Ordinary people who do extraordinary things. Few become immortalized. Many go unrecognized. But they all share one common bond. They all enable others to achieve more than thought possible. That is the essence of leadership.
Today, the complexity and scale of the challenges we face are unprecedented. A global economic system that limits innovation, lacks transparency, fails to support emerging markets, and mismanages risk. The globalization of international trade is creating more complex flows of people, goods, funds, and technology across national boundaries. The addition of 80 million people each year to an already overcrowded globe is exacerbating the problems of pollution, desertification, underemployment, epidemics, and famine. Already, 2 billion people lack access to clean water, and rapid climate change is altering our way of life. War is a current reality for over one-third of the world. 1 out of every 6 Americans goes without heath insurance. Only 53% of students in U.S. cities graduate high school. These challenges are diverse and immense, but we must maintain hope—a belief that we can rise above our differences and lead ourselves to a brighter and more prosperous future.
Let me be clear. A brighter and more prosperous future will not come easy. We need individuals and organizations who are willing to accept the responsibility of leadership and capable of leading in the face of such complex challenges. Leadership is not a human right, nor is it a position that you occupy. Leadership is a choice and responsibility that is available to us all, and we must all choose to accept this responsibility. It will be the leadership we exhibit in the face of these challenges that ultimately defines our place in history and the future of generations to come. It is time that we start holding ourselves to a higher ideal, and a higher standard of leadership.
Sincerely,
D. Scott DeRue
Leaders are born and developed. Research shows that 30% of leadership is genetic—born traits that you either have or you do not have. This leaves 70% of leadership that can be developed. To the extent that leadership is learned, it is learned from experience. So, what do we know about developing leaders via experience?
Fact #1: Not all developmental experiences are created equal. Individuals and organizations must be able to identify the experiences that drive leadership development in their respective organizations.
Fact #2: Learning leadership is not straightforward and linear, but rather involves all manner of starts and stops, successes and failures, surprises, mistakes, and dead ends. It is a long and winding path of self discovery.
Fact #3: How individuals go through the experience matters. Individuals must balance learning with performance demands, be reflective and mindful during the experience, and connect patterns across experiences.
Fact #4: Organizations must support individuals in their learning through designing structures and processes that facilitate learning from experience. Support networks must be in place. Feedback must be timely and focused.
The future of leadership development depends on individuals’ ability to learn from their experiences. It also depends on organizations’ ability to identify key developmental experiences and support people as they go through those experiences.
Scientific thinking and evidence-based analysis are at the foundation of professions such as medicine and education, but not business and management. I firmly believe that commercial enterprise will reach its full potential in generating economic and societal value, if and only if, managerial decisions and organizational practices are informed by the best available scientific evidence. According to researchers at Stanford University (www.evidence-basedmanagement.com), evidence-based management is based on five core principles:
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