The Leadership Pipeline: How to Build the Leadership-Powered Company [Hardcover]

For every organization that's ever reached beyond its own borders for top leadership only to have those high-profile, high-salary top leaders bungle and exit as abruptly as they appeared, this smart, substantive, and clear-eyed book is a godsend.

Written by three genuine experts in management development (one of them helped design GE's deservedly famous succession-development process), The Leadership Pipeline: How to Build the Leadership Powered Company finally shows organizations how to undo the knots and clogs in their in-house "leadership pipeline" so they can constantly groom the best people at every level to move up to the next rung of leadership. Not only do the authors identify the six transition phases, or "turns," of the pipeline--from self-manager (individual worker), first-line manager, and managers' manager to function manager, business manager, group manager and enterprise manager (the last essentially being a CEO)--they describe each with remarkable insight; these six levels of leadership growth, for example, exist at the base of every midsize or large organization regardless of how each structures its individual hierarchy. With each, they take care to point out both the new skills and values (there is a difference) one must acquire before making a turn, as well as how to measure whether someone has them before moving them along. They also show how to determine whether candidates are embodying those skills and values once they've made the transition, and how to groom them for the next level right from day one.

The result? Not just one potentially qualified in-house candidate for a top leadership position (the kind of dearth that forces companies to look outward for expensive and often short-lived leadership "stars"), but a whole generation of them, not to mention younger generations to succeed them.

The book includes sample scenarios (from both fictional and real-life organizations), definitions, checklists and charts that break down and illustrate its main points in every chapter. Though shrewd and straightforward on every page, The Leadership Pipeline isn't for anyone looking an easy, step-by-step, worksheet-guided quick fix to management development and succession planning. The authors stress that it takes some hard thinking for companies to determine what they really need from leaders at each level (and to figure out which individuals have the potential and desire to scale those levels). It requires serious homework to translate this book's excellent guidance into a plan for your own organization's pipeline.

That's a small price to pay, however, for a book with such uncommonly clear insight into what it takes to nurture and navigate the best leadership from right inside your own house. --Timothy Murphy

One of management's biggest challenges is finding new leaders, and one of the questions that arises in this quest is whether to bring in "new blood" and fresh ideas or take advantage of "home-grown" experts already acclimated to an organization's corporate culture. The current labor shortage and a greater willingness by younger workers to change jobs have only added to this challenge. Recent books such as High Flyers: Developing the Next Generation of Leaders (1998) and Hidden Value: How Great Companies Achieve Extraordinary Results with Ordinary People [BKL Ag 00] have weighed in on the side of "growing your own," and now Charan and his coauthors add their support. Charan is a "leadership coach" and has written extensively for academic and popular business journals. He and two fellow consultants describe the natural hierarchy of work that exists in most organizations, which takes the form of six career passages that the authors call the "leadership pipeline." For leaders to progress, they must be working within each passage at a level appropriate to their skills, values, and use of time. David Rouse
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‘…offers an updated model for selecting strong leaders at all levels of a business.' (Finance & Management Faculty, January 2011). --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Together, these authors have more first-hand experience in leadership development and succession planning than you're likely to find anywhere else. And here, they show companies how to create a pipeline of talent that will continuously fill their leadership needs-needs they may not even yet realize. The Leadership Pipeline delivers a proven framework for priming future leaders by planning for their development, coaching them, and measuring the results of those efforts. Moreover, the book presents a combination leadership-development/succession-planning program that ensures a steady line-up of leaders for every critical position within the company. It's an approach that bolsters the retention of intellectual capital as it eliminates the need to go outside for expensive "stars," who will probably jump ship before they reach their full potential anyway.

"A great book. The Leadership Pipeline is an invaluable resource for developing leaders at all levels in today's competitive business environment."—J.W. Marriott, Jr., chairman of the board and CEO, Marriott International

"These concepts have been tremendously influential in shaping my leadership approach and in building cohesive leadership teams at many levels."—Robert L. Nardelli, president and CEO, GE Power Systems

"People everywhere are talking about the war for talent. This book provides a framework for assessing and developing your own internal pipeline for leadership talent." —Norman C. Walker, head of human resources, Novartis International AG

"Many of the best and most successful corporations in the world have adopted the Leadership Pipeline model as the core framework for their efforts on the human side of their businesses.

Built around the common leadership 'passages' all leaders go through, it helps organizations select, develop, and assess based on specific respon-sibilities and work values at each leadership level." —from the Foreword

Strong leaders at all levels within an organization are a requisite for business success. Yet the leadership pipeline—the internal architecture for growing leaders—is often broken or nonexistent. This updated edition of the best-selling The Leadership Pipeline has been revised to help address the challenges of today's business environment. Anchored in experience, it offers a tested model for planning leadership succession and development that has proven to get results.

The authors draw on their work at more than one hundred international companies to report on what has been learned in the ten years since the first edition of The Leadership Pipeline was published. They show how a company can develop leadership in each layer of their organization by defining the different skills required as leaders move from one level to the next. They explain how time should be applied differently, how work values required for success must change, and clearly illustrate what inappropriate leadership looks like at each step. In addition, the authors answer commonly asked questions and add new insights from their in-the-field research.

The Leadership Pipeline shows how today's companies can keep their leadership "pipeline" filled and flowing to ensure a steady supply of skilled leaders throughout the organization. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Praise for The Leadership Pipeline

"Management Development 101—but only if you have read the book and understood and acted on the processes so clearly articulated. While these are first principles, it is very useful to have them set out. I have seen them work to great effect in several companies."—John B. Prescott, chairman, QR National Limited

"The wisdom added to this second edition is based on experience working with many of the best companies in the world. Whether you are a first-time reader or rejoining the conversation, this book adds critical points and answers that can be used immediately in your leadership work to make your business better. Charan, Drotter, and Noel make clear what can be confusing about the work of a leader at every level."—Tom Flanagan, president and CEO, Applied Insight Consulting, Inc.

"The Leadership Pipeline has the ability to transform a company. The leadership concepts are enduring and simple enough that managers at every level can quickly grasp what it means to be a highly effective leader. The authors, Charan, Drotter, and Noel, are true leadership development 'gurus' and continue to provide us with the best thinking in developing the world's future generation of business leaders."—Abby Curnow-Chavez, vice president of talent management, Newmont Mining Corporation --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Ram Charan is a leadership coach and a past faculty member of Harvard Business School and the Kellogg School of Business at Northwestern University. He is author of Boards at Work and coauthor of Every Business is a Growth Business. He lives in Dallas, Texas. Steve Drotter is chief executive of Drotter Human Resources, Inc. He lives in Berwyn, Pennsylvania. Jim Noel is an executive consultant and formerly vice president of Executive Development at Citibank and lives in New York City.