β Scribed by Mark C. Maletz; Jon R. Katzenbach
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
This statement by tlie C E O of a successful financial services coiiipmy reflects tlit. 'ittitude o f many top executives, and helps explain \vhy many .ire qiiestioiiiiig t h ctftctiveness of their organizations' iiianageiiieiit development ethrts. Top esecutivcs 1 i . i ~~ seeii fc\v tangible results from their past iiivestiiieiits in developing fiiturc Ic..idcm. Hcncc it is easier to conceiitratc 011 hiring those ivho are nblc t o cicvclop t1iemselvt.s. and let them "\vork it out'' in the heat o f battle.
T h e problem is, you quickly run out of talent if y o ~i rely solely on hiring .itid ~.lidcvelopnient. A recent survey of corporate otticers and high-potcnti,iI esec-uti.ec ti-om 77 leadins coinpanies indicates that the most glaring g;ip iit t h e eyes of t1ic.w Ic.idcm w i s "dcvclopnient" (see " T h e H u n t for Tiileiit." Fnll 1998). F~II. cx~iiip,iriics hc*lii*vcthey do it wvell--and most high-perfi)r~nir~g irlJividirals cspect it to lw d o i i c lx-ttc-r.
Moreover, organizations t o d q routinely face Ii,iirpin turn< in stratogic dircction or radicd r e d c s i y o f organization~il structurcs. and w c h abrupt ch,iiiges tisu.illy r q u i r c ditTereiit capabilities t h m current managers liavc. For cs,uiiple. the dr,iriiatic iiiovt' of Enron--foniirrly a gas pipeline company-into tlie titianc-ial cervicw 'ireti'i \:is .I \tr.it q i c coup; SmitliKline's merger kvith l3cecliam in 1089 crecited ii ne\v culturc of gl oba 1 prop o r t i o ti s; and \v 11 e I i A 13 13 .i do p t e d its \vel Ip 11 bl i ci z e d 11 i .it r i s s t r i i c. t ti rc including 1 ,200 aiitoiioiiioiis bucinesc iinitc, it set the stage for c-omp~nies .iroiiiid tlic
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