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Pumping the Leadership Pipeline Many companies have developed their own comprehensive, in-house, leadership training programs, which will ensure them a homegrown supply of leaders. As a result, some business schools are looking to corporate leadership pro- grams as models for their own. BizEd spoke to Dennis Donovan, executive vice president of human resources for Atlanta-based Home Depot. Donovan oversees the company's 325,000 employees and helped design the company's three formal leadership train- ing programs. The company's two-year Store Leadership Program (SLP) trains store managers, and its 12-week Future Leaders Program (FLP) is aimed at college seniors and grad- uate students. Both were launched in 2002. The best and brightest students from the FLP are then invited to attend Home Depot's intense two-year Business Leadership Program (BLP), which has been in place since 1998. Together, these three programs train hundreds of individuals a year. The key for Home Depot, Donovan explains, is not just to find the best talent. The company also wants to ensure, through these programs, that it develops and retains talent with exactly the leadership skills it requires. Why did the Home Depot find it necessary to start the SLP, FLP, and BLP? To fill leadership positions, we first promote our best people; second, we look for experienced retailers. But we wanted to create a third option and create what we call "pipeline pro- grams." That way, we know we have a continuous pipeline of the best talent. What leadership skills are taught in these programs? We focus on three basic planning processes in the company: dents don't "learn by doing." They learn by doing and then reflecting on what they've done. In fact, the first year that Goizueta's new MBA Leadership Program was in place, fac- ulty and students didn't take enough time to reflect, Jones says. As a result, the program suffered. Now, debriefing and reflection is an essential portion of the curriculum. "Everyone must understand how important it is to take time to reflect on an experience," Jones comments. "People have their 'aha'moments during times of reflection, not when they're going 90 miles an hour." Only by participating in a curriculum that relies on experi- ence, discussion, and reflection can students develop their own leadership potential, agrees Martha Maznevski, professor and director for the Strategic Leadership for Women program at IMD in Lausanne, Switzerland. "We rely a great deal on struc- strategic, operational, and HR. We then look at what we call the "leadership essentials." These refer to what we have identi- fied as the behaviors of high-performing leaders: They drive and deliver results, excel in customer service, inspire achieve- ment, build relationships, create inclusion, and live integrity. We also use 360-degree feedback with every officer of the compa- ny to ensure that leadership will be covered on all fronts. Eighty percent of students in the BLP are at master's level, and most are mid-program MBAs. What is lacking in MBAs coming out of business school that your training program addresses? At one time, the BLP was actually a program for undergradu- ates, but we decided to weight it more toward those at the MBA or master's level. We wanted to stimulate their motiva- tion and supplement their knowledge by giving them more exposure to our organization and building on the experience base they already have. The BLP, SLP, and FLP are pipelines that help us identify good people and accelerate their growth in the company. What would you like to see more of from graduates of b-school based leadership programs? I'd like to see business schools focus more on helping students understand how to drive large-scale change in organizations. Too many people have the best strategic plan in the world, or have gone to the eighth layer of an operating plan, but can't bring about competitive advantage in their organizations. They can't drive systematic change on a sustained basis. The best CEOs are those who bring about successful change. Business schools that focus on this aspect of leadership will help catapult their students into success in business. I think a number of schools seem to be onto this, but a number of tured discussion and reflection on experiences," says Maznevski. "We find that studentsmust reflect on their experi- ences, develop generalizations from that experience, and move that forward into new experiences to truly develop as leaders." The Hardest Soft Skill Itmay be a tough order for business schools tomake the cur- ricular changes necessary to help students develop these unique and often ineffable behaviors. In fact, leadership may be the hardest "soft" skill for business schools or students to tackle, says Jones. "We know leadership is difficult because of the leadership void we see in business right now," he says. "If the elements of leadership were easy—knowing yourself, understanding your values, identifying your leadership style— we wouldn't be seeing the problems we see today." BizEd SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2005 45