Starting a Career in Corporate Leadership - Online Income Generation, Income Growth Strategies, Freelancing Income

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Corporate leadership is the top of a company’s executive structure. A company’s corporate leadership creates a company-wide direction to be carried out by managers, supervisors, and employees.

The high-risk, high-reward nature of corporate leadership ensures that only the elite ascend to positions in corporate management.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS, www.bls.gov), chief executives earned an average yearly salary of $200,140 as of May 2018.

Corporate chief executives often have bachelor’s degrees in business administration and Master of Business Administration (MBA) degrees. In addition to high salaries, top executives may enjoy benefits like these:

Stock options
Performance bonuses
Company credit cards and cars

If all this incentives look motivating to you and you have the goal of pursuing a career in corporate leadership, you have come to the right place. This article will point you in the right direction in achieving you goals.

What is Leadership in the Corporate World?
What are the Benefits of a Corporate Leadership Strategy?
How do you Become a Corporate Leader?
What Leadership Skills are Required to be a Good Leader?
What Jobs are good for Leaders?
What are Business Leadership Skills?
How can I Improve my Leadership and Management Skills?
Where do CEOs Start Their Careers?
What Are The Top 5 Leadership Skills?
How do CEOs Get Hired?
How do I Start a Leadership Development Program?
CEO Education Requirements
Executive Career Planning
How to Become a CEO Without a Degree
How to Become a CEO in 5 Years
CEO Qualifications And Skills
How to Become an Executive Director
Leadership Development Career Path
Why is Leadership Development Important?
How to Develop Leadership Skills in Employees
How to Develop Leaders in Your Organization
Leadership Development Programs
What Are Some Examples of Leadership Skills?

What is Leadership in the Corporate World?

Leadership in business is the capacity of a company’s management to set and achieve challenging goals, take fast and decisive action when needed, outperform the competition, and inspire others to perform at the highest level they can, which can be achieved through leadership and management short courses

It can be difficult to place a value on leadership or other qualitative aspects of a company, versus quantitative metrics that are commonly tracked and much easier to compare between companies. However, mentorship software can be used in a business to ensure employees are getting the leadership they deserve, and improve the techniques used by the leaders in the business!

Leadership can also speak to a more holistic approach, as in the tone a company’s management sets or the culture of the company that management establishes.

Individuals with strong leadership skills in the business world often rise to executive positions such as CEO (chief executive officer), COO (chief operating officer), CFO (chief financial officer), president, and chairman.

Here is an example

Jack Welch exhibited leadership as chief executive officer (CEO) of General Electric Co. from 1981 to 2001. He played an integral part in 600 acquisitions in emerging markets and increased GE’s market value from $12 billion to $505 billion at the time of his retirement.

Because the world is constantly changing, Welch insisted everyone at GE embrace change. To continue evolving company operations and producing greater output, managers and employees had to continuously reinvent themselves and their work.

Welch hired managers who shared his vision of GE, had endless amounts of energy and were able to encourage employees to stay engaged in their work.

He sought managers who created, developed and refined ideas for the future and found ways to make them a reality. He also insisted that managers work side-by-side with employees as a way of understanding what they were doing and why.

As a result of Welch’s leadership style, managers and employees were more empowered, products gained higher quality, and customer satisfaction and profits increased dramatically.

What are the Benefits of a Corporate Leadership Strategy?

1. Increase productivity

The right, consistent leadership can increase the productivity of your people. At its primal level, leadership is about understanding your people emotionally. In his book The New Leaders, Daniel Goleman states that emotional intelligence is critical to the success of a leader.

Emotional intelligence involves being smart about emotions and using empathy effectively to empower and engage employees. Leadership training that encompasses emotional intelligence can hone these emotional skills in your people managers and leaders.

2. Retain your people

75% of people voluntarily leaving jobs don’t quit their jobs, they quit their bosses! That’s right, employees leave ineffective leaders. By investing in leadership training, you can retain your people and reduce costly recruitment expenses.

3. Nurture future leaders

You need to be strategic about developing and nurturing future leaders. Without strategy, leadership roles are often given to the most forward candidates with dominant personalities.

Quality leadership is a combination of the right qualities and the right training. Identify those who have what it takes and provide them with targeted leadership training. Nurturing future leaders supports succession planning and offers career pathways to employees, further increasing retention.

4. Increase employee engagement

We all like to know how we are progressing in our roles, receiving praise when it is well-earned and constructive feedback as necessary. In fact, 43% of highly engaged employees receive feedback at least once a week compared to only 18% of those with low engagement.

Giving feedback is a skill of successful leaders. Through leadership training, you can teach effective ways to give feedback to motivate and increase the skill level of your people.

5. Implement an effective leadership style

Leadership training can assist in implementing the most appropriate leadership style for your organization and the work you do. There are several leadership styles, all with their own advantages and disadvantages.

Leadership training can also help individual leaders develop their own personal leadership style that their team members will best respond to.

6. Make better decisions

Last, but absolutely not least: Leadership training can result in better decision-making. How?

Because leaders functioning at a high level of emotional intelligence have the perspective to make informed, intelligent business decisions. For that reason alone, you can consider your leadership training investment returned.

How do you Become a Corporate Leader?

A question most business students and ambitious professionals reflect on is “Where do I see myself in five years?” In an age of entrepreneurship, you may be drawn to the idea of launching your own business.

Or maybe you see yourself in the executive seat of an existing, successful corporation. But how do you get there? As many CEOs are likely to tell you, it isn’t often a straightforward climb.

Career mapping involves setting goals and developing skills with a clear progression plan to get yourself where you want to be. And if your goal is to progress to a senior executive position, there are a number of practical steps that can accelerate your journey up the ladder.

Below are 6 practical tips that will help you achieve you goals in corporate leadership.

1. Find the right entry-level role

The majority of large company CEOs aren’t brought in as outsiders. Most work their way up internally. Positioning yourself in the right role—and succession of roles—within your company can set you on the right path to the executive suite.

Future CEOs often map their career trajectory through substantial operational roles, sometimes running large or international divisions of the company before taking the top job. In some cases, a strong financial background can be an asset. Nearly half of Fortune 100 CEOs previously served as a divisional CFO.

Alternatively, launching your career at a major consultancy can help you quickly develop the adaptability and practical breadth of experience that’s highly desirable in an executive position.

In fact, a USA Today study found that former McKinsey consultants have the best odds of becoming the CEO of a public company.

2. Earn recognition (and reputation) for the right reasons

Wherever you currently are on the corporate ladder, the best way to position yourself to take the next step up is to earn recognition internally for your initiative.

Be the first to volunteer for new opportunities, such as leading task forces or serving on corporate committees. Doing this well can build your skills and credibility, earning you recognition beyond the job you do every day at your desk.

A can-do attitude will help you to develop a network of advocates and influential references from within the business, keeping your name at the front of their minds when the next big opportunity arises.

Taking on assignments that require travel or relocation can be particularly beneficial, not only as a demonstration of your commitment, but also as an opportunity to gain international or travel experience—something expected of future CEOs.

Another way to get recognized is to identify an executive mentor and asking to shadow them. This can be an invaluable opportunity to get to know them personally, seek their advice, and experience the day-to-day life of a CEO.

But to make sure it’s a beneficial experience for you both, it’s important to demonstrate the value you offer in return. Perhaps it’s consumer insight from a younger generation, or maybe it’s extra support on an important pitch.

3. Develop the characteristics of a leader

Successful business leaders need more than just business acumen. In today’s business environment, you’ll need the people skills—soft skills—to get the most out of the teams you aspire to lead.

It’s essential to be able to communicate your ideas clearly and persuasively, often in front of large and influential groups of people. Good leaders are good presenters. Embrace any opportunity you have to create and deliver presentations. The more you do, the easier it becomes.

Another key characteristic is emotional intelligence (also known as emotional quotient, or EQ). Emotionally intelligent people are self-aware and in control of their emotions, and they’re also good listeners. Practice your active listening skills and also be sensitive to the non-verbal cues colleagues may be giving you.

Of course, leadership isn’t just about talking. Good leaders “walk the walk” too, actively contributing to the success of the team.

4. Cultivate your personal brand

Think about what drives you personally and professionally. Maybe it’s a passion for new technology. Or maybe it’s a love for nature or an interest in sustainability. These are your personal brand values. And just like a company’s brand, these are the values that differentiate you and drive your success.

Surround yourself at work with like-minded ambitious colleagues who reflect your brand values. You’ll develop more meaningful and motivating workplace connections. And you’ll benefit from a “brand halo” effect that can improve your profile as a valuable team member with leadership potential.

Outside of work, remember that your online presence is a public display of your personal brand. If a company is going to consider you for an executive role, they’ll definitely look you up online.

If you’re seeking a new role or positioning yourself for a promotion, do an online search for your name first. Make sure your public social profiles are consistent with your brand values.

5. Form good relationships with executive recruitment firms

Being recognized by the right recruitment firms can be an important way to position yourself beyond middle management. Top executive firms get access to some of the most desirable positions.

Get to know an experienced executive “headhunter” on a personal level. This can make it easier to secure an introduction to the board of a leading company.

Strong candidates for senior executive roles will want to get themselves known by big firms such as Korn Ferry, Russell Reynolds, or Boyden. Think about your particular area of interest or expertise. It’s also worthwhile seeking out specialist recruiters who may have executive roles tailored to your specific skills.

6. Expand your knowledge with a business degree

Gaining the right academic credentials can sometimes be the key to an executive-level role. In fact, over 40% of the CEOs of Fortune 100 companies have MBAs, and over half studied business, economics, or accounting as undergraduates.

If your academic background isn’t within business, an MBA can help you to gain the broad, fundamental knowledge you need to stand out.

If you already have several years of practical career experience, an Executive MBA can broaden your knowledge of the wider world of business, so you don’t become siloed in your particular discipline and stagnate, rather than moving up.

The world of business is becoming more globalized. Going to business school can help you to quickly build an international network. And to develop the cross-cultural understanding that’s essential for a leadership role in a global company.

What Leadership Skills are Required to be a Good Leader?

Whether or not leadership itself can be taught, there is no question that there are a number of core skills that most good leaders have. These skills can be learned like any others.

1. Strategic Thinking Skills

Perhaps the most important skill a leader needs — and what really distinguishes leaders from managers — is to be able to think strategically. This means, in simple terms, having an idea or vision of where you want to be and working to achieve that.

The best strategic thinkers see the big picture, and are not distracted by side issues or minor details. All their decisions are likely to be broadly based on their answer to the question ‘does this take me closer to where I want to be?’

Of course, as well as being able to create a compelling vision, they must also be able to communicate it effectively to their followers, which is partly why communication skills are also vital to leaders.

Creating a vision is not simply a matter of having an idea. Good strategic thinking must be based on evidence, and that means being able to gather and analyse information from a wide range of sources. This is not purely about numbers, but also about knowing and understanding your market and your customers, and then—and this is crucial—using that information to support your strategic decisions.

2. Planning and Delivery Skills

While it is important to be personally organized and motivated as a leader—and see our pages on Time Management and Self-Motivation for more about these areas—it is perhaps even more important to be able to plan and deliver for the organization.

These areas are key management skills, but the best leaders will also be able to turn their hand to these. The best vision in the world is no good without the plan to turn it into reality.

Alongside strategic thinking, therefore, go organizing and action planning, both essential for delivery of your vision and strategy. Project management and project planning are also helpful skills for both managers and leaders. Good risk management is also important to help you avoid things going wrong, and manage when they do.

Good leaders also often have very strong facilitation skills, to manage groups effectively.

Leaders also need to be able to make good decisions in support of their strategy delivery and solve problems. With a positive attitude, problems can become opportunities and learning experiences, and a leader can gain much information from a problem addressed.

3. People Management Skills

Without followers, there are no leaders. Leaders, therefore, need skills in working with others on a one-to-one and group basis, and a range of tools in their armory to deal with a wide range of situations. Many of these skills are also vital for managers, and you can find out more about these in our page on Management Skills.

One of the first skills that new leaders need to master is how to delegate. This is a difficult skill for many people but, done well, delegation can give team members responsibility and a taste of leadership themselves, and help them to remain motivated. See our page on Delegation Skills for more.

There are further challenges to delegating work within a team, including balancing workloads, and ensuring that everyone is given opportunities to help them develop. See our page on Overseeing Work for more.

Leaders and managers both need to understand how to build and manage a team. They need to know how to recruit effectively and bring people ‘onboard’ through induction processes. They also need to understand the importance of performance management, both on a regular basis, and to manage poor performance.

4. Change Management and Innovation Skills

Change management may seem like an odd companion to people management and communication, but leadership is often particularly important at times of change.

A leader needs to understand change management in order to lead an organization through the process. For example, change management requires the creation and communication of a compelling vision. It also requires the change to be driven forward firmly, and leadership to make it ‘stick’ if the organization is not to revert within a very short period.

One particular element of change management is innovation. Good leaders know how to innovate, and also how to encourage innovation in others.

5. Communication Skills

While communication skills are important for everyone, leaders and managers perhaps need them even more. These skills are general interpersonal skills, not specific to leadership, but successful leaders tend to show high levels of skill when communicating.

Good leaders tend to be extremely good listeners, able to listen actively and elicit information by good questioning. They are also likely to show high levels of assertiveness, which enables them to make their point without aggression, but firmly.

They know how to build rapport quickly and effectively, to develop good, strong relationships with others, whether peers or subordinates. These skills come together to help to build charisma, that quality of ‘brightness’ which makes people want to follow a leader.

Leaders also need to know how to give others their views on personal performance in a way that will be constructive rather than destructive, and also hear others’ opinions of them.

They are usually very good at effective speaking, equally skilled at getting their point across in a formal presentation or Board meeting, or in an informal meeting or casual corridor conversation. They have also honed their ability to communicate in difficult situations, usually by practice over time.

6. Persuasion and Influencing Skills

Finally, one particular area of communicating that is especially important for leaders is being able to persuade and influence others.

Good leaders use a range of tools for this. For more, see our pages on Persuasion and Influencing, and Developing Persuasion Skills.

Leaders also need tools to help them understand the way that others behave, and create positive interactions. As a first step, it may be helpful to understand more about emotional intelligence—another vital quality for leaders to possess—but there are a number of other tools that may also be useful, including Transactional Analysis, and Myers-Briggs Type Indicators.

What Jobs are good for Leaders?

More than ever, domestic and globally positioned organizations are looking for ambitious individuals who understand the dynamics of successful, effective leadership. These individuals recognize and develop the skills needed to drive progress, establish collaborative organizational goals, and motivate others to strive for success.

To help prepare for a career in leadership, students and working professionals can enroll in graduate programs to sharpen their core skills, advance their emotional intelligence, hone their ability to communicate and deepen their understanding of organizational strategies and leadership theories.

With an advanced degree in leadership, graduates possess the education and skills necessary to pursue careers in the following four high-level leadership positions.

Director of Operations

An organization’s director of operations is responsible for developing and implementing all operational policies and procedures, planning and managing budgets for daily operations and ongoing projects, making investment decisions, delegating tasks to departmental personnel, and overseeing projects.

Furthermore, they are often called upon to work in a hands-on capacity when and if an organization becomes understaffed during periods of heightened productivity, transition or crisis. Directors of operations are also expected to successfully implement training programs and strategies to educate managers and employees across their organizations.

The position of director of operations requires accountability, a willingness to work long hours when necessary, and advanced leadership skills. Directors of operations are required to lead by example, and the success of the organization hinges on their interpersonal skills and organizational abilities.

As part of a leadership team, directors or operations must possess finely-honed core skills that allow them to maintain the delicate balance between leading subordinates, collaborating with other members of the leadership team, and answering to the board of executives.

As the demands of this career continue to grow, individuals who have gained the communication and leadership skills characteristic of a graduate-level degree, such as a Master of Business Administration or Master of Science in Leadership, are highly sought after. The outlook for efficient directors of operations continues to grow as competition intensifies in many industries.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, in May 2016, the average annual salary for directors of operations was $139,102. Averages varied by industry, with directors of operations of professional companies making around $159,220, and those working in tech-related industries earning around $164,970. Average salaries were even higher for individuals working in financial services and insurance sectors.

Corporate Recruiter

Corporate recruiters work within human resource departments to search for qualified, talented individuals whose skills and experience best fit an organization’s available positions. Corporate recruiters often take a position of leadership while helping organizations translate their staffing needs into clearly outlined job roles that will attract quality candidates.

To remain cost-effective, recruiters make use of recruiting tools and techniques that allow them to access candidates whose skills closely match those in the job description; subsequently, recruiters communicate with hiring personnel to determine top candidates before reaching out to them to schedule interviews.

In order to successfully evaluate candidates, corporate recruiters must be strong leaders who possess excellent judgment and the ability to discern character, integrity and professionalism in others. Recruiters should leverage these skills when interviewing candidates, speaking with prospects at recruitment events, or corresponding through emails and other digital communications.

Compensation for corporate recruiters can vary based on industry and location, but the average salary in the United States can be estimated at $58,000 annually. Those working in government, or science and technology-related organizations, tend to receive a higher salary.

Organizations looking to hire these professionals seek candidates with a bachelor’s degree in either human resources or business management. Those who obtain an MBA or Master of Science in Leadership degree are certain to stand out, as some organizations require a graduate-level degree for employment given the importance that strong leadership plays in recruiting new talent.

Vice President of Human Resources

The overarching role of human resources encompasses a range of duties that help keep an organization running smoothly by making sure staffing requirements are being met. These individuals are also responsible for leading a positive organizational culture, guiding employees through organizational changes, initiating reward programs and enacting organizational policies.

Managing employee relations is a primary function of the vice president of HR and includes a range of responsibilities, from conflict resolution, remediation and termination to negotiating compensation and work-related benefits.

Aside from employee relations, this role also entails remaining vigilant about company compliance with labor laws, staying current regarding frequent changes to regulations, and educating others across the organization about these rules.

Individuals looking to be considered for the position of vice president of HR will find a Master of Science in Leadership degree particularly useful, as it can help synthesize the knowledge and skills needed for leading and influencing employees at all levels of an organization.

Having the proper level of education is important for facing the challenges of the position, and can also result in lucrative salaries; on average, the vice president of human resources can earn anywhere from $85,000 to $200,000 annually.

Social Entrepreneur

Social entrepreneurship is a unique career defined by talented, ambitious individuals who are passionate about creating positive social change. This progressive ideology entails applying effective, business-like approaches to addressing problems that exist in society.

Success as a social entrepreneur requires the power and determination to lead and influence others while focusing on leading cultural change that impacts entire communities and eventually, the world at large.

Many social entrepreneurs launch nonprofit organizations aimed at addressing a range of issues, or start for-profit companies in service of lofty social goals. Not only must they be strong influential leaders, but they must also be creative innovators who can channel a great deal of energy into new approaches to solving systemic problems.

With manifold issues impacting modern society, from environmental concerns to social unrest surrounding poverty and violence, social entrepreneurs are taking it upon themselves to lead the change that is needed in our world while simultaneously creating jobs along the way.

Helping organizations become or remain successful requires strong leadership skills and the ability to inspire change. In order to prosper in an increasingly fast-paced corporate world, individuals must have the leadership skills necessary to stand head and shoulders above the competition; pursuing an advanced degree in leadership can help equip individuals to face the imminent challenges that accompany these leadership positions.

What are Business Leadership Skills?

Effective leadership skills are necessary in any business in order to succeed. Whether you own the business, manage it, or are an employee looking to make his or her way up the corporate ladder, the right leadership style is essential in order to reach your business goals.

Listed below are six business leadership skills that every great leader should possess.

1. Adaptability

Adaptability means reacting in an effective manner to changing circumstances. Everyone experiences challenge when trying to adapt to the new and unfamiliar, but true leaders are able to resolve those challenges with a solid plan of action. If there is one trait that every good business leader should possess in today’s workforce, it is adaptability.

2. People Skills

Although it might seem obvious that business leaders should have good people skills, many leaders lack this important trait. People skills consist of several other traits, including the ability to observe people, the ability to communicate effectively, the ability to motivate, and adaptability.

Developing better people skills helps leaders attain business objectives faster and be more productive. People skills involve genuinely connecting with employees and co-workers. When you have the ability to connect with others, you develop a trusting, productive work environment that benefits everyone.

3. Self-awareness

Leaders who are aware of how they are perceived by others and how they impact the behavior of others are more likely to succeed than those who are not self-aware. Most leaders are guilty of believing they are better leaders than they really are because of intention, however, managing a group of people based on intention and assuming others can read your mind often leads to disaster.

To be an effective business leader, try not to assume that the people you work with instinctively understand the reasoning behind your actions. When we assume others know the reason for our behavior it leads to miscommunication and misunderstandings. It is important to practice self-awareness in order to establish a positive working relationship with employees and coworkers.

Identify your weaknesses and determine what you need to do to overcome them, whether it is explaining things more clearly, being more willing to compromise or developing better team-building skills. Remember, even if you aren’t aware of your flaws, those around you are. If you are self-aware, people you work with will recognize that you are making an effort to overcome your faults – a very important trait of a great leader.

4. A Sense of Purpose

Every business needs the vision to set its direction and successful leaders are able to tap into that vision to achieve success. Good business leaders have a strong sense of purpose and the ability to convey this purposefulness to the people they work with. Leaders who understand the true purpose behind the vision inspire others and motivate them to work towards achieving the company’s vision.

5. Decisiveness

Decisiveness involves making good judgments in a timely manner and is one of the most effective leadership skills to have. Even the most decisive leader has some fear of being held responsible for an incorrect decision because the decisions they make have a direct impact on how they are accepted as a leader.

Although some leaders are reluctant to make quick decisions, the consequences of being indecisive are much greater than the consequences of occasionally making the wrong decision. The chances of facing tragic consequences down the line are much higher for those leaders who have a difficult time being decisive – and these types of leaders are also remembered much longer for their inability to make a solid decision.

6. Collaborative Skills

Successful leaders understand that they don’t have to come up with all of the ideas on their own – they nurture growth in others and encourage employees to contribute. Today’s business environment benefits greatly from a culture of collaboration, both internally and externally.

Technology has created new methods for communicating and collaborating in today’s workforce, and the Internet makes collaborating with others easy to do at a low cost. If you can create an environment where everyone can contribute ideas or help increase sales, the collaboration will quickly add to your bottom line.

How can I Improve my Leadership and Management Skills?

The prospect of advancing to the top of one’s field is what makes it possible for many people to keep plugging away at their jobs, honing their skills, and taking on new projects. But after a certain point, career development depends on more than technical skills and a willingness to work hard. You also need a few soft skills, not the least of which is the ability to take on a leadership role.

Some people are natural leaders, but anyone can develop the skill set needed with some practice. If you want to take your career as far as it can go, then you have to be willing to put in the work.

Here are 9 strategies to help you develop your leadership skills and keep advancing your career.

1. Practice discipline

A good leader needs discipline. Developing discipline in your professional (and personal) life is a must in order to be an effective leader, and to inspire others to be disciplined as well. People will judge your capacity to lead by the amount of discipline you display at work.

Demonstrate discipline at work by always meeting deadlines, keeping appointments, and ending meetings on time. If you are naturally disorganized, then you may have your work cut out for you, but you can always start small: try implementing good habits at home, like waking up early and getting daily exercise, and work your way up from there.

2. Take on more projects

A great way to develop your leadership skills is to take on more responsibility. You don’t have to take on more than you can handle, but you do need to do more than simply what’s covered in your job description if you want to grow. Stepping out of your comfort zone is the only way you will learn anything new, and doing so will get you noticed by executives as someone who takes initiative.

3. Learn to follow

A true leader has no problem yielding control to another person when appropriate. You should not feel threatened when someone disagrees with you, questions your thinking, or puts forth ideas of their own. Keep an open mind and give merit where merit is due. It won’t always be easy, but if you learn to value and respect others on your team, they’ll be more likely to step up to the plate for you.

4. Develop situational awareness

A mark of a good leader is someone who can see the bigger picture, and anticipate problems before they occur. This is a valuable skill to have when handling complex projects with tight deadlines. The ability to foresee and provide suggestions for avoiding potential problems is invaluable for a leader. This ability also helps you recognize opportunities that others overlook, which will certainly earn you recognition.

5. Inspire others

Being a leader means you are part of a team, and as a leader you should be able to motivate and inspire those you work with to collaborate as best they can. When a team member needs encouragement or guidance, offer it. Sometimes, all a person needs is someone to listen and be sympathetic.

6. Keep learning

The best path to becoming a good leader is to always keep learning new things. It keeps your mind sharp, and your skills fresh. It primes you for new challenges that may come your way, which is always a good thing in a leader.

7. Empower your teammates

No one is the best at everything, and the sooner you realize that, the sooner you can learn to be a good leader. Delegating tasks to others not only frees you up for things you do well, it also empowers other people on your team.

8. Resolve conflicts

Don’t be a manager from hell! Not everyone will get along all the time. Instead of ignoring interpersonal conflicts, hoping they will go away, address it by talking to those involved privately. Also, be open to reassigning team members if the conflict can’t be resolved.

9. Be a discerning listener

Becoming a leader doesn’t mean you always have to be in the spotlight. An important trait of a good leader is someone who listens to suggestions, ideas, and feedback from other people, and build on them. Good listeners know that communication is not only about words, but picking up on non-verbal cues, such as eye contact and body language.

Good leadership skills are essential to advancing your career, but as you can see, leadership is much more than simply being in charge. As American statesman John Quincy Adams said, “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.”

Where do CEOs Start Their Careers?

There’s no single path to becoming the CEO of a company. Historically, many CEOs were successor CEOs, usually the COO or another executive. However, in 2019, the Wall Street Journal noted that externally hired CEOs had become more common than those chosen from an internal pool. That means you’ve got more chances than ever at landing the role without spending 20 years at the same company.

Although the Harvard Business Review found that as many as 8 percent of CEOs don’t have bachelor’s degrees at all, you’ll need one if you aren’t a founder CEO. Some 50 percent of all CEOs of Fortune 500 companies have MBAs.

Choosing an MBA program involves a lot of considerations. Fortunately, we’ve got a few thoughts to help you with that.

Best MBA Programs for a Future CEO

When it comes to MBA programs, you’ve got three main routes:

A traditional MBA from an accredited university
An online MBA from an accredited university
An executive MBA (EMBA) that’s either online or traditional

Online and traditional MBAs both have their advantages. People choose traditional MBAs when they need structure and have the time to devote to the program. They turn to online MBAs if they prefer the flexibility to continue working.

Given the nature of the CEO’s role, however, we strongly recommend that you consider an EMBA. These programs are geared specifically to professionals seeking to enter the boardroom. They emphasize core skills like:

Corporate governance. As a CEO, you’ll need to understand how rules, processes, and practices are used to manage a company.
Supply chain and operations. You should understand how supply chains impact business costs and profits to make smart decisions.
Advanced business strategy. This will allow you to make better decisions that affect the future of the company.
U.S. business law for corporations. Corporations may be subjected to special laws and regulations – you’ll need to understand them.

An EMBA is especially valuable if you’ve already got a background in business, or you’ve got a highly technical background with deep industry expertise. With so much hinging on your ability to lead an organization and make business decisions, this specialized MBA is uniquely equipped to position you for success.

What Are The Top 5 Leadership Skills?

Recent studies have found leadership quality to be a significant determinant of an organization’s success, which explains companies’ large investments in leadership-focused initiatives.

Organizations with strong leaders experience better overall organizational performance, including high levels of customer satisfaction, organizational productivity, financial gains, and product quality. Effective leadership also has a positive impact on employee retention, performance, engagement, and morale.

Technical training is helpful, but it is often the case that your soft skills are what inspires others to work.

1. Self-development

Because businesses today operate at breakneck speed, leaders should prioritize a half-hour a week to focus on themselves, whether that means learning something new or taking time to plan for the week ahead, Bullock says.

“This could be seeking out quick learning experiences, whether they’re through online videos or short, online trainings,” he says. “Maybe it’s learning about how to work with difficult people, how to have a difficult conversation, or how to motivate someone who’s difficult to motivate. Learning isn’t something that should ever end; it should be continual.”

Self-development might also mean setting aside time each week to prioritize what you want to achieve in the week ahead. This helps you become more intentional, Bullock says.

“When you step into your workspace, you’re immediately flooded with communications and fires to put out. This whirlwind hinders your intentionality because you’re only reacting,” he says. “Think about what’s most important for you and your team in the upcoming week, and set strategic actions to accomplish them.”

2. Team development

Equally as important as your own development is the development of your team members, Bullock says. Some of the most successful managers today are adopting a leadership approach that embraces developing partnerships with employees, he adds.

In this paradigm, superiors embrace developing partnerships with employees, working together with them to develop and achieve goals, and allowing employees to take a more independent approach in completing their work.

“Leaders today might check in once a week for 10 to 15 minutes with the people on their team to review priorities, what they’re working on, and how they’re feeling—whether they’re overwhelmed or engaged, for example,” Bullock says. “It’s more about collecting real-time data on their team to make sure they’re focused on the right things at the right time.”

Moreover, as job-hopping trends continue to increase, retaining talent is more important than ever. Leaders should meet with their team members quarterly to discuss the employee’s interests, ambitions, and goals and then work together to develop a path with resources to get there.

“Many times leaders aren’t aware of all the resources that are available to them,” he says. “When people think about development, their mind goes to sitting in a classroom—but that’s not necessarily the only option. There are videos, e-learning opportunities, on-the-job trainings, and even networking events that can be useful. The leader’s job is to facilitate this process.”

3. Strategic thinking and acting

Companies today must remain nimble and responsive to change, which is why strategic thinking are among the most highly effective leaders, according to Harvard Business Review.

In the report, HBR found that a strategic approach to leadership was 10 times more important to the perception of effectiveness than other behaviors it studied, including communication and hands-on tactical behaviors. Strategic thinkers take a broad, long-range approach to problem-solving and decision making that involves objective analysis, thinking ahead, and planning.

“Leaders need to think about the best route to get to the outcomes that exceed the expectations for the people they serve,” Bullock says. “There are many ways to go about that, including setting a vision and being clear about what that means, along with everyone’s role in achieving that vision.”

4. Ethical practice and civic-mindedness

Leaders set the standard for teams based on their values, Bullock says. “The things you talk about, do, and allow all become part of your team’s culture,” he says. “If you’re talking about ethics and doing the right thing, your team will pick up on that,” he says. “What you value gets valued by your team.”

Ethics and civic mindedness are often dictated by the organization through written policies and procedures that leaders should learn and periodically reference. Many leaders are aware that these policies exist, but only seek them out in times of crisis, Bullock says. Instead, leaders should familiarize themselves with the policies and procedures so they’re prepared when an ethics situation arises.

“Most leaders don’t take ethics as seriously as they should,” he says. “Mishaps happen when something drastic happens and they get caught up in the whirlwind. Leaders should have ethics front-of-mind so when a problem happens they can handle it quickly and effectively.”

5. Innovation

For businesses to keep pace in today’s competitive marketplace, innovation needs to be an organizational priority—and this type of culture starts at the top. It’s easy for leaders to get stuck in a rut performing their everyday responsibilities because people are creatures of habit, Bullock says. Innovation is a good way for leaders to change things up and try something new—which sometimes leads to great ideas and better methods.

“Leaders need to create an environment in which people feel psychologically safe to try something new, see how it goes, and even fail,” he says. “In today’s fast-paced world, people are reluctant to try new things.”

Once again, this starts by setting the example yourself. Bullock recommends that leaders make time every week to try something new, whether it’s a new process or idea.

“Leadership is synonymous with learning,” Bullock says. “The best leaders are the ones who are constantly learning and figuring out how to fill the gaps and develop skills that are the most meaningful to them.”

How do CEOs Get Hired?

Hiring a CEO is a big task. Finding the perfect candidate to lead a business takes a lot of work and requires a thorough and robust recruitment process in order to get it right. Whilst many organisations work with recruitment agencies to help find candidates, a more prudent approach to ensure the best possible candidates are found is to engage with a headhunter.

Standard recruiters gather ad response and search for actively looking candidates, whereas headhunters conduct a much more detailed research process and proactively search for the best performing CEOs who might not necessarily be actively looking for a new role.

To hire the best candidate, it’s important to understand the key stages of the hiring process and how this may differ from the typical recruitment process for less senior roles.

1. Identifying the Need

The process of hiring a CEO starts with identifying the need. It’s important to understand exactly what the business needs from their CEO. This includes skills, experience, job history, connections, personality, and a range of other factors. Starting the recruitment process without taking the time to fully identify the needs of the organisation can result in the wrong person being hired.

As part of this, it’s also vital to identify the key stakeholders within the organisation who will play an important role in the recruitment process. Which stakeholders will be involved at which stage? Which ones will be undertaking the interviewing and crucially, which one(s) will make the ultimate decision on who to appoint?

This will help any external headhunter ensure they keep the relevant people informed along the way as well as booking out time in the relevant people’s diaries for interviews.

2. Conducting Research

Once the need has been established, the next step is determining where to search. This involves a detailed research process whereby the headhunter pinpoints which sectors to target, identifies specific target businesses, and decides how the search is going to be conducted.

Without a solid research phase, the search process will be unfocused, could end up taking a lot longer than expected and is unlikely to identify all of the suitable candidates.

3. Approaching Candidates

After deciding who to target, the candidates need to be approached. Having the correct approach is absolutely vital in getting candidates’ attention and should consist of key questions and criteria, as well as the main selling points of the opportunity.

This latter point is often underestimated, and it must be remembered that recruiting for any role is a two-way process. The candidate must be right for the organisation, but the organisation must also be right for the candidate.

As a result, understanding the appeal of the organisation and the opportunity at hand is key to capturing the attention of the best candidates. The top-performing CEOs will receive offers on a regular basis, so organisations need to stand out and offer an exciting opportunity that no other business can.

This can be a lengthy and time-consuming process at a senior level involving multiple calls and meetings to get the best candidates on the hook, but this is where the expertise of headhunters is vital.

4. Screening Candidates and Establishing a Shortlist

After candidates have been approached, it’s important to conduct a screening process in order to confirm and ensure that they’re the right quality and have all the right skills. This will help narrow down a lengthy list of candidates to a shortlist of the strongest prospects by identifying which ones have the right experience and are likely to fit with the culture of the organisation.

The CEO screening process will vary depending on the recruiting organisation, but due to the importance of a CEO position, there is an in-depth due diligence exercise undertaken at both this stage and once the preferred candidate has been chosen.

Detailed press and social media searches are performed to ensure they have not had any negative coverage and they have no history which might bring the recruiting organisation into disrepute. In addition, where possible and subject to confidentiality, references are acquired on a 360 basis – so the candidate’s boss, subordinates and any non-executive directors they may have worked with.

There will also be an initial screening interview undertaken face-to-face by the headhunter to get a better impression of the candidate and compile the strongest possible shortlist.

In addition, a detailed psychometric and personality profile will be undertaken at this stage. These assessments play a significant role in ensuring the candidate will have the right cultural fit and leadership qualities for the organisation. All top headhunting firms will include full psychometric profiling as a standard part of their process.

5. Conducting Final Interviews

Once candidates are shortlisted, the final stage interview will take place. Due to the business-critical nature of the CEO role, it’s vital to have a stringent set of competency-based questions that will enable a candidate to provide clear examples of their skill set. This will also allow the hiring organisation to easily compare and score candidates.

Once a preferred candidate has been identified, further due diligence is undertaken. With the candidate’s consent, a full identity check and director search is performed which will include checking for any form of criminal record, as well as past and present directorships to ascertain any disqualifications.

A detailed credit check to ensure they don’t have any bankruptcies or financial issues is completed in addition to confirming they have achieved any relevant qualifications.

6. Making the Decision

When the final interview stage is completed, it’s time to decide who the best candidate is and make an appropriate offer. It’s crucial to ensure all the relevant people are involved and providing as much input as possible to ensure the right person is hired.

All stakeholders must be confident in the candidate’s suitability for the CEO role. Final references will also be taken once the candidate has accepted the offer.

How do I Start a Leadership Development Program?

If you think your organization would benefit from creating a leadership development program, read on to learn four of the most important steps you can take to get started:

1. Define your company’s leadership needs

A good “square one” exercise is to think about any specific leadership gaps that your organization has or may soon face. For example, are any leaders looking to retire soon? And if current leaders were to leave, what attributes and characteristics would the business sorely miss?

Think, too, about the company’s short-term and long-term strategic goals. For example, if the organization is on a fast track for growth, your leadership development program should be aligned to ensure the business has the right leadership in place to meet those priorities.

Also, reflect on what leadership means to your business. What are the traits your firm values most in its leaders? Dig deep on this, and avoid reaching for vague descriptors such as “go-getting” or “perceptive.” Recent surveys by our company found that traits like integrity, fairness and decisiveness often rise to the top of the list as the most important attributes for business leaders to possess.

2. Develop, don’t train

Remember that leaders can be nurtured and developed, but not manufactured. When creating a leadership development program, think about how you can place participants into situations that will require them to learn and grow.

Examples include giving candidates the opportunity to step up when other leaders are away or to collaborate with colleagues in other departments on a special project. (Collaboration abilities are very important for today’s leaders to possess.)

Mentoring, training and organizational planning, with individual activities such as job rotation, job shadowing and project leadership, are often components of effective leadership development programs. Classroom training, such as MBA programs, executive education and online courses might also be part of a formal program.

Also, be sure to support participants with ongoing feedback and coaching; this can be especially helpful coming from senior managers who can serve as role models and mentors.

3. Identify potential leaders (and avoid tunnel vision)

Potential leaders may be anywhere in your company — and identifying them isn’t always easy. A common mistake with leadership development programs is focusing resources only on top-performing employees.

However, just because someone has demonstrated excellent work in his or her current position doesn’t mean that person will evolve into a leader for the business. Have an open mind, and be willing to look beyond the most obvious candidates. You might also consider inviting promising employees from other departments to engage in the program.

An effective leadership development program should be able to polish all the “diamonds in the rough” in your organization and give employees the skills and confidence to ascend the career ladder. You’ll likely find some people are perfectly happy to stay in their current jobs or pursue a different path that doesn’t take them to the management level. That’s OK.

They can be leaders for your business in other ways. Just make sure that all employees are aware of the leadership development opportunities available in your organization and have an opportunity to take advantage of them.

4. Measure results

Before formally implementing your leadership development program, determine how you will measure your program’s success and impact. Some measurement options include:

The number of participants who complete the program successfully
The number of participants you promote after they have gone through the program
Increases in employees’ leadership responsibilities
Whether peers feel that program participants are developing into effective leaders

In addition, as part of your evaluation, assess whether employees developed leadership skills that will help them be more effective at their current jobs — not just qualify them for promotions down the line.

Effective business leaders also understand how every facet of the organization works. They don’t necessarily know all the fine details, but they do have a working overview of operations. So, encourage employees in your leadership development program to stretch their abilities even further by taking on projects that don’t typically cross their desks.

This will require them to work outside their comfort zones and think along new lines. Their ability to adapt and thrive in these situations is another measure of success. (Just be careful not to overload these workers in the process.)

Keep retention in focus

In many ways, leadership development programs are like long-term staffing strategies: They help you to identify and groom talented employees who could potentially assume key management positions in the future. So, you want to be careful not to lose these valuable team members.

Offering promising employees compensation to match their developing skills is one strategy. You might also consider holding regular face-to-face meetings with future leaders to ensure they’re satisfied with their career path and feeling engaged.

An employee rewards system, in which staff members earn incentives such as extra vacation days, designated parking spots or letters of appreciation from higher-ups for specific achievements long after the program has ended, can also positively impact retention.

CEO Education Requirements

Chief executive officer positions often require at least a bachelor’s degree and extensive business and industry experience. Competition is keen for these high-level positions, and preference is often given to candidates with an MBA.

Management professionals who wish to advance into a chief executive officer position can improve their career prospects by enrolling in a Master of Business Administration degree program. Coursework typically includes global information technology management, strategic project management, financial management policy and strategic cost management.

Professionals who have earned an MBA are expected to be able to:

Use critical thinking to effectively solve problems
Apply modern theories of leadership, management and negotiation to real-world business challenges
Manage risk through analysis of statistics and economic data
Lead financial, personnel and operational initiatives to maximize growth and profitability
Advance organizational stability through proper risk management

Executive Career Planning

Career planning is an ongoing process that can help you manage your learning and development. When you plan your career, you consider many opportunities because of your age, interests, family, friends, and, importantly, how those will link back to the achievement of your core goals.

The career planning process has four steps:

Step 1: Knowing Yourself

Start by thinking about where you are now, where you want to be, and how you’re going to get there. Once you have thought about your current state and your future state, you can work on understanding your skills, competences, interests and values by asking yourself the following questions:

Where am I at now?
Where do I want to be?
What do I want out of a job/career?
What do I like to do?
What are my strengths?
What is important to me?

This introspection will provide you with a clearer idea of your work, learning and development targets and your individual preferences. You should create your personal wish list against which you can compare all the information you get. Your personal preferences are very useful for helping you choose your current best options to guide your career plan.

Step 2: Research

Once you have an idea of your occupational preferences you can research the specific skills and qualifications required for those. Explore occupations that interest you and ask yourself:

How do my skills and interests match up with these occupations?
Where are the gaps? If any?
What skills do I need?
Where is the work?

At the end you will have a list of preferred occupations and/or learning options.

Step 3: Decision Making

At the end of this step you will have refined your options and will have a better idea of what you need to do next to help you achieve your goals. It is worth asking yourself:

What are my best work/training options?
How do they match with my skills, interests and values?
How do they fit with the current labor market?
How do they fit with my current situation and responsibilities?
What are the advantages and disadvantages of each option?
What will help and what will hinder me?
What can I do about it?

Step 4: Taking Action

Use all you have learnt about your skills, interests and values together with the information you have gathered about the world of work to create your plan and detail the steps you need to take to put your plan into action. Ask yourself:

What actions/steps will help me achieve my work, training and career goals?
Where can I get help?
Who will support me?

At the end of this step you will have either:

A plan to help you explore your options further (work experience, work shadowing or more research); or
A plan which sets out the steps to help you achieve the next learning or work goal.

How to Become a CEO Without a Degree

Getting to the top is never easy, but it is especially hard when you lack the hallmarks of prestige that can wow potential employers. So how did the 8% of our CEO sample make it to the top without a college degree? The CEOs who overcame the odds made themselves look like a safe bet by excelling in three ways.

Become a proven insider: In the absence of ready-made credibility that comes with academic credentials, you can establish bona fides by gaining deep industry-specific and firm-specific knowledge. 89% of CEOs without college degrees “grew up” in the same industry where they served as CEO, and spent 40% more time in the industry where they became CEO compared to their peers with college degrees.

Employers often feel safer hiring industry and company insiders. These CEOs’ deep knowledge and relationships gave them a platform for success that more than compensated for lack of formal education.

CEOs without a degree also stayed on average 25% longer in roles and held 13% fewer roles than their college-graduating CEO peers. It typically took 15% longer for them to get to the CEO seat.

In 1970, Bob started his career as a code breaker during the Vietnam War. In his first job out of the military, he worked for an alarm company. By holding multiple positions in two companies and working alongside four different CEOs, Bob built up sufficient trust and credibility to extinguish any concerns over his credentials.

His crowning achievement was turning around and selling a security company which had only a few thousand dollars left in the bank, and which had been written down as an investment by the owners when he took it over. The company was sold for nearly $50 million.

His deep industry knowledge helped him take the company through a nine-year transformation where he consolidated operations, acquired 24 businesses, and reduced bad debt by 88%, all while doubling revenue.

If you don’t have a strong track record in a single company or industry, you will likely have better luck at smaller companies than large ones.

We have found that small businesses are open to a much broader range of educational backgrounds and pedigrees, in part because the available talent pool is often thinner. Finally, there’s always the option of starting your own company. CEOs who don’t have a college degree are twice as likely to be company founders as CEOs who do.

Overindex on results. CEOs who get to the top without a college degree let their outsized results speak for themselves. As it was shared in What Sets Successful CEOs Apart, reliability is one of four CEO Genome behaviors that differentiates successful CEOs — and the only one that also doubles your chances of getting hired into the role.

One of the CEOs that was studied, “Mark,” had been accustomed to being underestimated and thrived on exceeding people’s expectations. When he started out his career as a truck driver, a competitor noticed that he was delivering three truck-loads a day rather than the expected one daily load. “That was unheard of,” Mark said. “So he asked me to come work for him.” In his first sales job, he again delivered the same outsized results.

Although his colleagues were expected to grow their divisions’ sales by 5% to 10%, his boss challenged him to grow his division by 30% and promised that anything over 10% would be returned as a bonus. Undaunted, Mark grew his division by 60% and expanded the company’s footprint from a single city to 13 states. With a laser-like focus on driving results, Mark went from truck driver to CEO of a $50 million business in less than two decades.

Mark’s success derived from the fact that he got things done — and got noticed for them. The majority (56%) of CEOs without college degrees in our survey came up through sales and marketing. Numbers speak louder than credentials, and it’s easier to get noticed in roles that drive measurable topline results for the business.

Interestingly, the CEOs without college degrees had almost twice the rate of military experience than the overall pool of CEOs we analyzed. In the absence of a college degree, military experience can offer opportunities to learn important skills and demonstrate results in early leadership experiences.

Be a talent magnet. The CEOs without degrees that we analyzed were more likely than their peers to proactively surround themselves with strong talent and lean on the team to contribute expertise. They were humble, and more open to soliciting ideas from all types of people, regardless of status or rank.

We met Brian when he became CEO of a $350 million staffing company. His recipe for success? Banking on strong performers and seeking out big ideas — at every level of the organization. Soon after he hired a new administrative assistant, she suggested an idea that landed the biggest contract in the industry’s history.

Earlier in his career at a different company, Brian started a practice of asking his customers to name the most talented people they knew in the industry. Although a customer named someone who was much more senior and made significantly more money than Brian, he convinced that person to join his team. “He runs one of their most profitable branches to this day.”

This kind of focus on building a strong team goes a long way. In contrast, we were intrigued to uncover that the CEOs who saw “independence” as their defining character trait were twice as likely to underperform compared to other CEOs.

Each of us faces our own formidable hurdles on the way to the top. While the CEOs we studied surmounted the extra obstacle of not having gone to college, we think their career paths can provide lessons to other leaders regardless of their level of education. We will all do a better job if we learn our business deeply, focus on delivering results, and learn to lean on others.

How to Become a CEO in 5 Years

1. Find the right entry-level role

Alternatively, launching your career at a major consultancy can help you quickly develop the adaptability and practical breadth of experience that’s highly desirable in an executive position. In fact, a USA Today study found that former McKinsey consultants have the best odds of becoming the CEO of a public company.

2. Earn recognition (and reputation) for the right reasons

Wherever you currently are on the corporate ladder, the best way to position yourself to take the next step up is to earn recognition internally for your initiative.

3. Develop the characteristics of a leader

Of course, leadership isn’t just about talking. Good leaders “walk the walk” too, actively contributing to the success of the team.

CEO Qualifications And Skills

To be successful in this role, you’ll generally need the following skills and qualities:

Interpersonal skills: CEOs need to form good relationships with other leaders in the company and get significant input from the organization so that there is little pushback regarding strategic decisions and direction.
Analytical skills: CEOs must participate in evaluating the success of the organization in reaching its goals. They must make sure that each strategic goal is measurable.
Leadership skills: CEOs must demonstrate the leadership necessary to make the organization’s mission a success. This includes providing vision direction, attracting followers, and all other aspects of successful leadership.
Management skills: The CEO is responsible for creating a culture of learning to help enhance and grow the skills and abilities of employees. When significant players continue to learn and grow the organization truly succeeds.

How to Become an Executive Director

1. Do you want the risks and liabilities of a director?

Firstly understand what becoming an executive director means. Yes, it is the next step up the ladder but that step comes at a price. If you are on the board of a company then you have liabilities for the operation of that company that you do not have as an employee.

The IOD does a good factsheet on the Duties, responsibilities and liabilities of directors. If you are on the board of a public company you will become visible, your pay will be in the annual report. You will be responsible for more than just your area of expertise, you are responsible with your fellow board members for the strategy and governance of the company.

2. Executives need to understand governance

If this is what you want to do then start learning about governance. There are plenty of short courses that will help you (the CBI run some good ones). If you can, talk to NEDs either on your board or any others you may know and get a view from them as to how the board operates.

3. Develop your ‘brand’ and promote yourself

The difference between an executive director and being an expert in a particular area, say finance or marketing means that you need a much broader view. So to prepare yourself it is important that you do a great job in your speciality but that is not sufficient. You need to work to get a wider view of the company. Do not think that people will notice you doing a great job and promote you.

You have to promote yourself. This is hard but you have to do it. It also means putting yourself forward for projects that are outside your role, taking risks and getting noticed.

4. Understand change and the wider picture in your market

Understand what is changing in your company’s market in technology, globalization and market structure and how it will affect your world. Become an expert on change. I wonder, did anyone in the BBC notice that the non-compete clause in Jeremy Clarkson’s contract was irrelevant?

It said he could not work for another UK media company for a year. No-one writing that contract – or managing the broadcaster’s asset value – ever thought about his joining a company (Amazon) that was not in broadcasting, that was not in the UK but could effectively stream to every screen in the UK. It does not seem to have crossed their minds. People who can understand the wider picture have real strategic value.

5. Be strategic

Understand the strategy of your company, how it operates now and how it might need to change in the future. One of the most career limiting things that can be said about you as you move up the ladder is “Not a strategic thinker”.

6. Manage upwards

The fact that your team thinks you are wonderful will not get you promoted – no one will ask them. This is true of all promotions. Create a stakeholder map of all the people who might influence your promotion, and then work out a strategy to influence them.

None of these things guarantees you a seat on the board but they will go a long way to getting you there.

Leadership Development Career Path

The most common approach to leadership development is the formal classroom program in which basic principles of leadership are presented, discussed, and reflected on. It has been estimated that approximately 85 percent of companies engaged in leadership-development efforts use some version of classroom programs.

Frequently, these programs are designed to promote self-insight and enhance self-awareness through the application of leadership principles to participants’ personal experiences. Another version is the assessment-for-development approach that was pioneered by the Center for Creative Leadership, in which participants complete self-assessment (e.g., personality) inventories and receive feedback about their personal characteristics and behavioral profiles.

Often, formal programs occur over the course of several days and are held off-site. Open-enrollment programs are classroom courses in which participation is open to all qualified participants (usually determined by job level) regardless of their organizational affiliation. Custom programs are specifically designed for a particular organization to enhance the relevance of the course with regard to the business objectives of the client firm.

Although popular, formal classroom programs are limited by high development costs (especially in custom work) and issues with the transfer of knowledge from the classroom to the job (especially in open-enrollment programs). Thus, many organizations are coming to realize that formal classroom programs are valuable but not completely adequate for effective leadership development.

As leadership tends to be most effectively developed through the enactment of leadership, a majority of the more cutting-edge approaches emphasize the role of hands-on experiences in development. In particular, experiences that occur in the context of ongoing work may provide the most meaningful development and are often used as follow-up efforts to formal classroom programs.

Why is Leadership Development Important?

So why is leadership development important? According to the research, leadership development enables organizations to do the following 4 things that drive sustained success:

Improve bottom-line financial performance.
Attract and retain talent.
Drive strategy execution.
Increase success in navigating change.

1. Improve Bottom-Line Financial Performance

Companies that rate highly for their investments in human capital deliver stock market returns 5 times higher than those of companies with less emphasis on human capital. Leadership development builds capacity to reduce costs, drive new lines of revenue, and improve customer satisfaction.

2. Attract, Develop, and Retain Talent

Leadership development boosts employee engagement, increases the organization’s ability to deal with gaps in the talent pipeline, and reduces the headaches and costs associated with turnover. Great leaders attract, hire, and inspire great people. A manager without strong leadership skills will struggle to attract and retain high-performing employees.

In addition, it’s often significantly less expensive to develop, coach, and promote people internally over the long run than to hire someone externally, which makes leadership development a good investment.

3. Drive Strategy Execution

Effective leadership development isn’t development for its own sake. Organizations need a leadership strategy that closely connects with the business strategy and equips employees with the leadership skills needed to implement it. Leadership development allows organizations to shape the culture and strategy of the business.

In the words of The Conference Board: “Leadership development has enormous power in both shaping and changing the culture and strategy of business. Developing, coaching, and promoting people internally is significantly less expensive than the costs typically required to hire someone externally.”

4. Increase Success in Navigating Change

Leadership development increases people’s ability to leading in a disruptive world. When organizations look beyond developing senior executives and high potentials to unlock the full potential of their talent pools, agility is magnified.

How to Develop Leadership Skills in Employees

1. Practice discipline

2. Take on more projects

3. Learn to follow

4. Develop situational awareness

5. Inspire others

6. Keep learning

7. Empower your teammates

8. Resolve conflicts

9. Be a discerning listener

How to Develop Leaders in Your Organization

Here are 6 ways to develop leaders in your business:

1. Learn to recognize potential

Identify emerging leaders who can step in and fill critical roles when necessary. Push people out of their comfort zone. Difficult or unusual situations are excellent for testing whether someone is leadership material.

Look beyond job-related skills to behaviour and attitudes. Learn about their interests, goals and values.

TIP: Leaders exist at all levels of your organization—seek them out.

2. Get help finding high-potential employees

Make sure your managers are also on the lookout for the best and brightest in the ranks.

TIP: Make leaders accountable for developing other leaders.

3. Sell your vision

It’s your role to set and communicate a strategic direction for the business. Discuss your vision and ask for your people’s help in shaping it.

This gives employees a shared sense of mission and encourages potential leaders to see a future for themselves in the business.

TIP: Keep in mind the “what’s in it for me” element. No matter how happy they are in their job, it’s difficult for employees to reach the business owner’s level of engagement.

For example, Carte International’s President Brian Klaponski, a BDC client, gives company shares to key managers. His rationale? “To run the business as if they own it, you have to allow them to own a piece of it.”

4. Provide opportunities for leadership development

Make leadership development a part of your business strategy. A leadership plan should cover all levels and indicate when an employee should be ready to move to a higher position.

Formal training can help, but isn’t a substitute for experience and on-the-job learning. Challenging assignments or job rotation develop new abilities, deepen the understanding of the organization and improve confidence.

TIP: Make sure employees have the support and guidance they need to perform in new roles.

5. Monitor. Measure. Reward.

People need to be accountable for their performance, including getting credit for their accomplishments.

Put in place an appraisal and incentive system that fairly evaluates performance and rewards excellence.

TIP: Don’t give up on people too easily. Work together to improve performance. You may find a diamond in the rough.

6. Support through coaching

Coaching is a form of development usually based on one-on-one discussions, providing guidance and advice for specific challenges. Use coaching discussions to help your emerging leaders address their fears and weaknesses.

Leadership Development Programs

Leadership isn’t rocket science, but like rocket science, it can be taught. There’s a wealth of leadership courses available, online and in the real world. Some are free and others are not. We’ve done the footwork for you. Below is a list of 10 leadership programs, seminars, online courses and degrees you can take to help yourself become the best leader you can be.

1. Chicago Booth

The University of Chicago Booth School of Business developed one of the first experiential leadership programs for full-time students in 1989, and launched its Effective Leadership program in 2009, tailored for evening and weekend Booth MBA students. The program’s guiding principles are self-awareness and acting your way into thinking, as opposed to thinking your way into action.

2. Pryor Learning Solutions

The Management and Leadership program at Pryor, which includes live and online learning options, offers a wide variety of management seminars that focus leadership training, motivating yourself and your employees, budgeting skills and effective communications, such as how to effectively deliver criticism and discipline for employee growth. The lessons provide practical tips for transforming a work group into a cohesive and coordinated team.

3. Bell Leadership Institute

Bell Leadership Institute has been helping organizations build leadership mastery since 1972 with programs focused on practical, take-home actions designed for your specific needs and culture. They offer keynote speeches, a Leader’s Roundtable, open-enrollment seminars, custom programs, annual meetings, executive retreats, licensed programs, assessment tools and coaching for individuals, business and organizations, as well as families and communities.

4. Harvard

Leadership and Management Courses at Harvard University help maximize team productivity, drive breakthrough innovation and secure a competitive edge. Through hands-on exercises and discussion, management theories and leadership best practices, you’re taught to master complex challenges and capitalize on opportunities.

Courses include building good judgement, building more effective teams, influence and persuasion in leadership, leadership coaching strategies, conflict resolution, strategic leadership and management skills for emerging leaders.

5. Dale Carnegie Training

Dale Carnegie, founded in 1912, offers Live Online Personal Leadership Courses as well as on team and organizational leadership. These courses all are designed to build more effective coaching techniques, master problem analysis and decision-making, effectively communicate change, strengthen listening skills, recognize team success with enthusiasm and learn delegation processes. The mission of the program is to teach you how to stop managing and start leading.

6. American Management Association

The American Management Association’s Leadership Training Courses and Seminars offers courses in general leadership study, such as its “5 Day MBA Workshop,” as well as more specific courses in strategic leadership.

Their mission is to shore up students’ capabilities in management, including communication and collaboration skills, critical thinking, finance and project management skills. They promise to provide the competitive tools you’ll need to differentiate yourself in a challenging marketplace.

7. Latitude U

Free (registration required) courses of study at Latitude U include its Level 5 Leadership program. It’s a one-hour online course offering tools for effective leadership and management relations with employees and the workplace.

The course is quick, but to the point in advocating a positive attitude and discipline. They see leadership as more people-focused than strategy-focused. You want to know how to identify the right person for the right task. The course suggests consistent evaluation to maintain growth and progression.

8. Alison.com

Alison.com is an online company that offers free leadership skills in business. They’re geared to the entrepreneur and provide a course of study on the essential leadership skills an entrepreneur or business person will need. Among the skills taught are how to organize your business, select and manage your team, and how to maintain proper professional behavior.

Four different types of organizations and four stages of organizational growth are taught, as well as recruitment methods to build your team, helping you understand corporate responsibility and business ethics. While the courses are free, if you score well enough to earn certification, that documentation will come at a fee.

9. Open.edu

Another online option is Open.edu, which offers free leadership and management courses. Some of the more popular choices include management: perspective and practice, marketing in the 21st century, how teams work, project management, the start of the project journey, creativity and innovation, and understanding operations management.

There are over 1,000 free courses on the site, and while some of them may not be the deep dive you’re looking for, they’re a great and free opportunity to gain vital skills for anyone new to management.

10. Coursera

Coursera is an online learning center, which collates courses from universities and educational institutions from around the globe. These classes include video lectures, auto-graded and peer-reviewed assignments and community discussion forums.

Courses are prices from $29-$99, usually run between four-to-six weeks, and when completed supply a certification. The leadership and management courses include leading people and teams, inspired leadership, organizational leadership, conflict management, inspirational leadership and culture-driven team building.

What Are Some Examples of Leadership Skills?

Leadership skills are skills you use when organizing other people to reach a shared goal. Whether you’re in a management position or leading a project, leadership skills require you to motivate others to complete a series of tasks, often according to a schedule. Leadership is not just one skill but rather a combination of several different skills working together.

Some examples of skills that make a strong leader include:

1. Problem-solving

Good leaders are skilled at problem-solving issues that arise on the job. Effective problem solving often requires staying calm and identifying a step-by-step solution. Problem-solving skills can help leaders make quick decisions, resolve obstacles with their team and external teams alike, and ensure projects are completed on time, according to the specifications. Leaders who are effective problem-solvers also have the following skills:

Critical thinking
Analytical skills
Research
Decisiveness

2. Active Listening

Active listening is the ability to focus completely on a speaker, understand their message, comprehend the information and respond thoughtfully. Unlike passive listening, which is the act of hearing a speaker without retaining their message, this highly valued interpersonal communication skill ensures you’re able to engage and later recall specific details without needing information repeated.

Active listeners use verbal and non-verbal techniques to show and keep their attention on the speaker. This not only supports your ability to focus, but also helps ensure the speaker can see that you are focused and engaged.

Instead of thinking about and mentally rehearsing what you might say when the speaker is done, an active listener carefully considers the speaker’s words and commits the information to memory.

3. Communication

Communication skills allow you to give and receive information. Indeed employers consistently rank communication skills as one of the most commonly requested skills in 2020 job postings. Using, improving and showcasing your communication skills can help you both advance in your career and be competitive when searching for new jobs.

Communication skills are abilities you use when giving and receiving different kinds of information. While these skills may be a regular part of your day-to-day work life, communicating in a clear, effective and efficient way is an extremely special and useful skill.

Learning from great communicators around you and actively practicing ways to improve your communications over time will certainly support your efforts to achieve various personal and professional goals.

Communication skills involve listening, speaking, observing and empathizing. It is also helpful to understand the differences in how to communicate through face-to-face interactions, phone conversations and digital communications, like email and social media.

4. Empathy

It is important for leaders to understand how the people around them are feeling about projects, decisions, morale, direction and company or team vision.

5. Delegation

Delegation is an essential part of effective leadership. Delegation does not mean offloading work so you can have less stress as a leader. Effective delegation means you are building the leadership skills of those individuals who have the potential to become future leaders.

Delegating tasks means that you trust your team members to do more than what is expected of them. More importantly, delegation is one of the most important leadership competencies because it allows you to focus on more pressing issues.

Through delegation, you are essentially mentoring your team members. It is a form of informal management skills training as they undertake tasks above their paygrade.

6. Creativity

When it comes to finding the right answers or making the best decisions, the solution isn’t always a straight line. That’s why it’s vital for leaders to have creativity when it comes to their responses – a leader isn’t afraid to take the less-used path.

7. Motivation

For a leader to be successful, they must motivate those around them to achieve more, go the extra mile and do better in their work. This motivation goes beyond simply providing verbal encouragement; it can include offering team members tangible rewards for their effort through recognition, improved responsibility and even physical rewards. Providing employees with better autonomy and productive work is key to maintaining high motivation.

8. Collaboration

Collaboration means working together with one or more people to complete a project or task or develop ideas or processes. In the workplace, collaboration occurs when two or more people work together towards a common goal that benefits the team or company. Workplace collaboration requires interpersonal skills, communication skills, knowledge sharing and strategy, and can occur in a traditional office or between members of a virtual team.

Working as a team not only drives greater productivity, but it also fosters healthy relationships between employees. Often, when employees work together they’re more effective and efficient than those who attempt to manage the same projects alone.

Read Also: How to Become a Successful Career Woman

Successfully collaborating with your coworkers can also increase your motivation and level of engagement at work. Additionally, sharing ideas and brainstorming is helpful for developing unique solutions to complex challenges.

Here are two examples of collaborative working:

Example 1: Brainstorming as a group
Getting together as a team to share ideas and ask questions as you move toward a decision is a great opportunity for collaboration. By sourcing ideas from several people, you can leverage multiple areas of expertise.

Example 2: Collaborative communication and open discussion
Open discussion gives each team member an opportunity to contribute and ensures all ideas are valued and respected. Instead of one person lecturing the rest of the group in a meeting, collaborative discussion requires each team member to participate and share their thoughts and opinions.

This set up breaks down the boundaries of hierarchy often found in the workplace and keeps everyone engaged. When everyone has a stake in the conversation, meetings become more productive.

9. Team Building

Leadership requires the ability to build and maintain a strong and collaborative team of individuals working toward the same goal. Team building requires other leadership strengths, like effective communication skills and conflict resolution.

Relationship building is potentially one of the most important skills to a leadership role as it makes communication of tasks, responsibilities and goals more effective. Once you understand each other, you will benefit by being able to assess strengths, delegate tasks and complete your goals more seamlessly.

A successful leader who is adept at relationship building will also have the following skills:

Collaboration
Management
Interpersonal
Social
Communication
Active listening
Teamwork

Conclusion

Consider connecting with a mentor in your company or a professional organization. Discuss your leadership goals, and create objectives that you can work toward together. If you want to guide your team toward a specific quota by the end of the quarter, talk with your mentor about creating a plan to improve productivity, encourage teamwork and accomplish smaller goals that can contribute to your overall objective.