Leveraging Leadership Development to Pre-Empt Leader Derailments
2024
Preventing Leadership Failures Through Development
publication
Evidence: moderate
Author Information
Author(s): Jay A. Conger
Primary Institution: Claremont McKenna College
Hypothesis
Can leadership development—especially at early managerial-career stages and during transitions—play a significant role in mitigating leader derailments?
Conclusion
Leadership development interventions can help prevent costly leader derailments by addressing harmful behaviors early in a leader's career.
Supporting Evidence
- Leadership derailments are costly, with estimates running into the tens of billions of dollars.
- Most leadership failures occur at senior levels, suggesting early interventions could be beneficial.
- Coaching alone may not be sufficient to prevent derailments, indicating a need for a broader range of interventions.
Takeaway
This study says that helping leaders learn what not to do early in their careers can stop them from failing later on.
Limitations
This is a conceptual paper that requires further research to validate the proposed interventions.
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
Want to read the original?
Access the complete publication on the publisher's website