THE BRAVE-NEW-WORLD OF LEADERSHIP TRAINING

Fundamental changes in the marketplace and in the workforce are forcing the need for new kinds of corporate leadership. By giving short shrift to the competencies future leaders must master, most of our leadership training misses the mark. Tomorrow's leaders will need to be strategic opportunists, capable of balancing short- and long-term contingencies. They will need to be well schooled in global markets, adept at managing a diverse workforce, and capable of achieving results in a highly decentralized network organization. In addition, they will be asked to create a sense of community in the organization, as employees continue to seek a sense of family in their workplace relationships. We need to reassess our leadership training practices in view of these demands. The most promising new approaches emphasize action learning, visualization, mentoring, and the use of off-shore settings as learning laboratories.