Leadership Development: Are We Doing It Wrong — Or Just Incompletely?
Corporate America is projected to increase its leadership development investment from $166 billion to over $200 billion in the next five years. That’s a massive bet on the power of leaders to move organizations forward.
But here's the real question: If we're investing this much, why aren't more organizations teeming with leadership talent?
Content Is Good — But Application Is Critical
Most leadership programs begin with well-researched, thoughtful content. Some is custom-built, some pulled off-the-shelf. Learners laugh, reflect, and maybe build a Styrofoam cup tower out of pipe cleaners and tape.
But as Kirkpatrick's model reminds us, real ROI shows up at Level 3 (behavior change) and Level 4 (results).
The key question isn’t:
“Did we enjoy the session?”
It’s: “Will this learning be applied, and will it change anything?”
If the workshop is the end of the learning journey, don’t expect transformation.
Culture: The Hidden Variable in Every Leadership Program
Peter Drucker famously said: “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.”
The same could be said for leadership development.
You can build a brilliant curriculum, aligned with priorities like safety, innovation, or equity, but if leaders return to a culture that doesn't support or reward those behaviors, the effort stalls. It is a very wasteful investment in terms of time and money, not to mention lost or lowered outcomes.
Maybe the more accurate phrase might be: Culture eats leadership development for breakfast.
So ask yourself:
Does your culture support the transfer of training?
If yes, how exactly does that happen? Seriously, what do you do?
Or are you simply hoping that enough leadership development will move the culture eventually?
Sustained Conversation Beats Single Events
Leadership programs are often compressed into multi-day events, as if cramming 24 hours of learning into a short window will lead to lasting change. We provided it, they now own it.
But leadership development doesn’t work like that. It’s not a deer to be swallowed whole by a snake.
True development unfolds in bite-sized, meaningful, sustained conversations over time: We
Learn a concept
Apply it
Reflect and adjust
Apply again
Discuss, deconstruct, refine
Stay curious
Leadership learning must be iterative, not episodic.
Strategic Connection Is Essential
It’s understandable that some leaders are skeptical. Unlike buildings or equipment, leadership development isn’t always visible. It can feel like a soft investment—especially in the short term.
Let’s name two truths:
Leadership development is a long game.
You don’t feed a baby and say the next day, “Why isn’t this kid growing, I’m not seeing it?” Growth takes consistency, support, and time.Development must be tied to strategic goals.
The ROI shows up in two places:A leader’s personal growth
Tangible movement in organizational key metrics, for example: engagement, retention, customer experience, DEI, safety, quality, or performance.
When senior leaders see the connection between learning and measurable outcomes, the investment makes more sense to everyone, but it needs sustained cultural support.
Closing Thought: Growth Requires More Than Events
Leadership development isn’t an event. It’s a commitment to:
Ongoing learning
Cultural reinforcement
Strategic alignment
And leaders who are willing to grow
So here’s the question to leave with:
What would change if we treated leadership development not as a program to complete—but as a mindset to practice?
That’s when leadership starts to work.