Our recent study identifies the importance of planning and development in determining success for high impact leaders. As seen in leading business publications, such as Morningstar, MarketWatch and Yahoo! Finance, ProjectNext Leadership reported that the crisis of 2020 presented fresh demands to reconfigure staffing, technology, and delivery of goods and services, requiring an unprecedented level of corporate resilience and agility. In fact, the stakes have never been higher, with multiple studies indicating that 35-50% of leaders moving into executive roles will fail in their first 18 months. The study focused on better understanding the state of leadership development and succession planning for key senior roles. “Rolling the Dice: The Troubling State of Succession Development for High Impact Roles” reveals that while studies consistently correlate senior leadership success with financial success, “most organizations still haven’t cracked the code…on how to prepare leaders transitioning into high impact roles.”

This research examines the unique challenges associated with senior-level roles, the elusive nature of effective succession planning, and how ill-equipped many leaders feel. Experience, while valuable, is simply not enough, the report finds, noting that critically needed development decreases as leadership responsibility increases, often resulting in costly missteps.

We noted how essential mitigating risk is to long-term organizational success by leveraging effective succession planning and increasing development for high impact leaders. Our ProjectNext Co-CEOs Molly Rosen and Jeff Rosenthal concluded, “Everyone seems to agree that organizations which effectively choose and prepare the best leaders for high impact roles will dominate their competition. Yet research suggests that few have converted that belief into regular practice.”

For a full copy of the “Rolling the Dice” report and its comprehensive research findings and implications, visit ProjectNext Leadership.