IMPORTANCE OF LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT

Contrary to the opinion of many people, leaders are not born. Leaders are made, and they are made by effort and hard work. Vince Lombardi

The most dangerous leadership myth is that leaders are born - that there is a genetic factor to leadership. This myth asserts that people simply either have certain charismatic qualities or not. That's nonsense; in fact, the opposite is true. Leaders are made rather than born. Warren Bennis, author of On Becoming a Leader

Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other. John F. Kennedy

There's a process to becoming a leader and it's up to you to not only learn what that process is, but be able to benefit from it. You must study people who have been successful as leaders. Whether you call it modeling or using a mentor or simply following people in your profession you admire, the method is the same. You look at people who have been successful leaders and you study them. What do they do? What do they do right? You have to learn from people who are successful. You especially have to recognize those traits that enabled them to be successful. Rick Pitino, Louisville Men's Basketball Coach

If you want your leaders to be extensions of you, you must extend yourself to them. Jeff Janssen, author of The Team Captain's Leadership Manual

We build self-esteem in small increments just like athletes build strength. They don't do it overnight. They do it day by day, adding a little more weight to the bar, adding a little more distance to the run. Pretty soon, they are magnificent, powerful, wonderful athletes. The same is true with leadership; it happens the same way. A little bit every day, a little better at communication, a little better at delegation, a little better at servant leadership, a little bit better at listening to people. Getting 2 percent, maybe 4 percent, better. No more than that. But it's conscious and it is inspiring to be around. Steve Chandler, author of 100 Ways to Motivate People

The longest development process we have in the United States Army is development of a commander. It takes less time to develop a tank - less time to develop an Apache helicopter - than it does to develop a commander. It takes anywhere from twenty-two to twenty-five years before we entrust a division of soldiers to a commander... [leaders] must continue to grow and to learn and to study [their] profession, to learn by [their] own experience, to learn by study, school, reading and from others... It [requires] total professional involvement. General Fred Franks

Every leader has weaknesses and screws up some of the time; an effective leader learns to admit that. My shortcomings are painfully obvious to me. I have high expectations and don't hand out praise easy. Though most players find me compassionate, I'm not a touchy-feely kind of guy who'll slap a fellow on the back and console him when he doesn't perform. I also can be stubborn and intractable, and sometimes I get caught in conflicts that rumble on in the background for months before they get resolved. Phil Jackson, Los Angeles Lakers Coach

A well-designed leadership pipeline, discipline, and commitment are absolutely essential in order for an organization to assure that it will have the leaders it needs when and where it needs them. Without a deliberate and formal pipeline structure, leadership development is only random. Some leaders will emerge, but their emergence will not be predictable, there will not be nearly enough of them, nor will they have the diversity and level of skills of those who have been systematically taught and tracked. Noel Tichy, author of the Cycle of Leadership

To every man there comes in his lifetime that special moment when he is figuratively tapped on the shoulder and offered a chance to do a very special thing, unique to him and fitted to his talents. What a tragedy if that moment finds him unprepared or unqualified for the work which would be his finest hour. Winston Churchill