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Research reveals what top leaders value most

Credibility heads the list of eight aspects identified as crucial to effective top leadership, according to new research from Ashridge.

The Top Leader Journey, based on in-depth interviews with over 40 international business leaders, reveals eight areas of the greatest significance and value to people when moving into a leadership role. The findings are being used as the basis for a new Ashridge programme - Top Leader Journey - due to be launched in July 2004.

Phil Hodgson, Director of Leadership Programmes at Ashridge and author of the report comments: "Since the late 1990s, there have been many well documented falls from grace for leaders and their organisations. It has left present day leaders and those aspiring to such roles, with few proven and trustworthy examples of how to behave. We set out to find out how today’s leaders are coping and what is important to them."

While it is nothing new to note that leaders need credibility, the research clearly points to its intrinsic importance to leaders from across industries and cultures. If leaders, especially new ones, do not have credibility with the right people at the right time, they will be unable to exert any power or influence.

The research identified seven other areas important to people when they find themselves in positions of ultimate responsibility. These include support of the leader’s top team, the leader’s focus of attention, emotional and intellectual support, learning, spotting and developing potential, plus inspiration.

The findings suggest that the top leader of today and tomorrow is first and foremost orientated towards learning and is more used to utilising the support and expertise of those around him or her. Today’s leaders increasingly operate in an atmosphere where stimulation and transition are the norm and the rates of success or failure are accelerated.

"There is no scientific formula for leadership success particularly in today’s complex business environment," concludes Hodgson. "But the research suggests that leaders use many of the eight aspects identified - if not to guarantee success, but at least to increase its probability."

About the Study

Forty-one CEOs and Managing Directors were interviewed from organisations stretching from India through Europe to North America and Canada. Twenty-five came from the private sector, 6 from government organisations and 10 from charities and other not for profit organisations. The split between male/female was 80/20.

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