Before you read

Do youthink that leadership can be taught? Why / why not?  If it can, how?

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School seeks to lead the field in leadership

By Simon London

While leadership can be learnt, it cannot be taught.It is a skill that, like swimming or flamenco guitar, is developed throughpersonal experience and coaching. Stanford University's Graduate School ofBusiness likes to think of itself as better than the rest. Harvard may bericher and Wharton bigger; but nowhere takes management more seriously thanStanford.

How does this rigorous institution approachleadership'? It is a field so confused that the experts rarely agree on definitions,let alone what should be studied or how success should be measured or testabletheories developed. Bob Joss, Stanford business school's Dean, has beenconsidering this question since taking the top job five years ago. Now, nearingthe end of his first term in office, he has an answer:' Stanford will have aLeadership centre, dedicated to adding academic backbone to the subject.

' The challenge for us is to bring to leadershipthat rigour we have in other areas,' he says. 'I can't predict exactly how itwill develop, but our aim has got to be to encourage more scholarship.' Plansare still in the early stages, but the aim is for an interdisciplinary researchcentre modelled on Stanford's existing Global management, Entrepreneurship andSocial innovation centres.

In addition to the new centre, Stanford MBA studentswill from this year have the opportunity to take part in workshops designed toimprove their leadership skills. Eight executive coaches have also been hiredfrom the local business community to give one-on-one feedback on Stanford's students.Sixty students are going through the pilot programme this year receiving noacademic credits for their trouble.

With leadership there is a challenge: how to developleadership skills in each of Stanford's bright, but not always self-aware MBAstudents. 'Self-awareness - knowing who you are and the effect that you have onother people - is a big part of this,' says Prof Charles O'Reilly, who ischampioning this side of the project. You don't get that by sitting in aclassroom.

The pilot workshops now in progress are an attempt tobuild a leadership development programme that is effective and can be fittedround the rest of the two-year MBA programme." We are not going to betaking 900 students up Everest,' says Prof O'Reilly, in a reference to MichaelUseem, the Wharton leadership professor with a taste for mountaineering.

From the Financial Times

Before you read

Is it always easy to spot future leaders among junior managers? What are the signs offuture leadership talent?

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Tough lessons on leadership

By HerminiaIbarra

It has become generally accepted that our organisationsneed better leadership if they are to survive and prosper in these difficult times.Well-led companies know that leaders are made, not born, and invest in thedevelopment of their future managers. But, in spite of the energy devoted to leadershipdevelopment, the return on investment rarely comes up to the hopes and expectationsof participating executives or company sponsors. As ever, the question is Can leadershipbe learned?'

Most of us can agree on basic definitions. Simplystated, leaders are people who:

. Establisha new direction or goal for a group;

. Gain thesupport, cooperation and commitment of those they need to move in that new direction;

. Motivate themto overcome obstacles in the way of the company's goals.

   Consider the experience of a manager called Anne. After a steady risethrough the functional ranks in logistics and distribution, Anne found herselfunable to handle a proposal for a radical reorganization that came from outsideher division. Accustomed to planning for annual improvements in her basicbusiness strategy, she failed to notice changing priorities in the widermarket.

Although she had built a loyal, high-performingteam, she had few networks outside her group to help her anticipate the newdemands. Worse, she was assessed by her boss as lacking the broader businesspicture. Frustrated, 8oo Anne thought about leaving.

Let us examine Anne's situation more closely. Nolonger able simply to rely on her technical skills, Anne needed to acquire theability to think creatively and consider a broader range of forces in finding anew strategy for the group. As a leader, she is expected to identify new trendsand spot new opportunities in the business environment.

She is also expected to recognize new partners andfind new ways of bringing them on board. But, for Anne, working throughnetworks was political activity in her view, relying on who you know rather thanwhat you know- and she had always rejected time-wasting on politics'. She failedto recognise the importance of building and using networks that cut acrossmanagerial levels and divisions.

To be successful at the next level Anne had tochange her perspective on what was important and accordingly what she wouldspend her time doing. Letting go of old ways of thinking can be a terrifyingproposition. The leadership transition, therefore, can provoke deepself-questioning: Who am I? Who do I want to become? What do I like to do? Do Ihave what it takes to learn a different way of operating? Is it me? Is it worthit?

Fromthe Financial Times