Leadership development may be the most important thing any company does. That’s why, every week, I review blogs and other publications that cover leadership development to find the very best leadership development posts. This week, you’ll find pointers to posts about developing digital leaders, different kinds of leaders, leadership development for nonprofits, and your leadership development plan.
From Gerald C. Kane: Common Traits of the Best Digital Leaders
“Strong digital leaders are very much in demand, as our digital business research clearly shows. We asked more than 4,300 global executives whether their organizations need to find new leaders to succeed in the digital age: 68% indicate that their organization does, in fact, need new leadership to compete. Even more striking, there is surprisingly little variance across maturity categories for these responses: 77% of respondents from early-stage companies report that they need new leaders, as do 55% of respondents from maturing companies. On the whole, more than half of digitally maturing companies still say they lack strong leadership.”
From Angela Civitella: What Makes You A Different Kind Of Leader?
“Let’s face it: We’re all engaged in a rat race. We want to make our mark, to be known for something, forever competing, chasing, challenging, outthinking, outpacing and outdoing the next guy. Why? Because if you think outside the box, it will make you stand out and make it easier to mark the territory that you wish to claim. But once you get there, then what? Can you sustain the gap between you and everyone else? What do you need to do to keep reinventing yourself so that your team and your customer base feel they are meeting you for the first time again and again?”
From Sherrye Willis: Nonprofit organizations are suffering from a leadership gap
“In one recent survey of nearly 1,200 nonprofit leaders, only 20% said they were very confident that they had the leadership abilities to enable their team to achieve its goals. Meanwhile, many were planning to leave their jobs. Almost 70% said would do so within the next five years. And only around 20% of the surveyed leaders had a formal succession plan for their own or other leadership positions.”
From Scott Eblin: How Strong is Your Leadership Pyramid?
“Research shows that moving to the executive level is among the toughest transitions of any career. For example, a study conducted by the Center for Creative Leadership shows that 40 percent of new executives fail within eighteen months of being named to their positions. What’s going on here? Is it a case of the Peter Principle at work? Have 40 percent of all new executives simply risen to their level of incompetence? That seems unlikely. After all, to get to the executive level, you usually have to be pretty smart, accomplished, and competent. How do we explain the sudden increase in the failure rate when leaders move into next level roles?”
