This paper examines existing concepts of the leadership development of high potential managers and aims to take a step further toward them understanding their leadership development within the context of the working environment and gain a more developed self‐awareness. Once armed with this greater sensitivity, the way they choose to use it is surprising. Specifically, several waves of carefully screened participants holding a full leadership portfolio and attending a specific and focused program – the Integrated Leadership Development Program (ILDP) – are studied. After leadership training, field experience and reflective journal keeping, the participants produced a wide range of qualitative feedback to be set alongside that of their peers and subordinates. The experiences of the 216 study participants and the leadership traits they revealed are reined in on the Leadership Discretion model to assess the similarities and differences between four defined categories of leader. The majority of participants reported benefit from an increased self‐awareness, particularly in terms of being more conscious of and thoughtful regarding their impact on others. A minority sported the tendency to covet and collect more control.
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1 December 2005
This article was originally published in
Handbook of Business Strategy
