Leadership is essential to organizational life. We are all leaders in a sense, even if it is just our own lives. With any decision that we make, we weigh the implications of the choices that are in front of us, and in the end, we accept responsibility for the choices we make.

The transition to leading others (versus just ourselves) puts everything into a different context. Leading others means that our decisions, our processes, and the outcomes of our decisions are viewed and judged publicly. Leaders are agents of the organization and any action or decision they make are viewed through a cultural lens, a legalistic lens, a humanistic lens, and an historical lens.

In an organizational context, just about every organization grapples with how best to develop their leaders. The approaches range from doing nothing to standing up a large internal leadership development training function. Sometimes the organization does nothing in this area. They may be too small to afford a learning program or maybe no one believes that leadership development is integral to the health and success of the organization. These organizations might function successfully behind a charismatic leader for a while if the business is young and relatively small, but as they mature, and the leadership team expands, they will have to come to terms with the organization's role in fostering leadership.  Learn more.