Creating leadership talent is not easy, given just how vast a capable leader's toolkit is. A leader is the cusp of people skills, strategy, technical competence, vision, commercial sense and selling ability, says Dr Jitendra K Das

A key concern across industries and geographies is the lack of leadership talent. While the ranks of executors and managers are adequately staffed with superior talent, the top of the corporate pyramid lacks enough visionaries. Where is the next Jack Welch? The next Bill Gates? The next Steve Jobs? The next Lee Iacocca? Or closer home, the next JRD Tata? The next Aditya Birla?

Creating leadership talent is not easy, given just how vast a capable leader’s toolkit is. A leader is a cusp of people skills, strategy, technical competence, vision, commercial sense, and selling ability. Little wonder that the business world is suffering from a dearth of leaders just when they are needed the most in volatile times.

The majority of millennials (the leaders of tomorrow) agree that their leadership skills are underdeveloped. Organisations thus have to invest heavily in leadership development of their workforce which has huge cost implications. To develop tomorrow’s leaders, enter B-schools as a training ground. Think of it this way — from the industry’s perspective, if they could hire competent business managers from B-schools who have the right seeds of leadership already planted then it would reduce time, cost, and effort down the road when it is time to select CXOs.

This clarion call from industry has led to B-schools sharpening their curriculum and pedagogy to include specific and proven techniques for identifying and nurturing leadership talent on the one hand and helping others who are lacking in leadership potential to develop it. The emphasis is based on the belief that leadership is better learned when experienced than when explained. Here are some of the initiatives seen in select B-schools:

Structured courses on leadership: Many B-schools offer personalised and intensive structured programmes on leadership for students. These courses help students assess their strengths and weaknesses as a leader, learn different leadership styles, provide them with opportunities and challenges to develop their leadership capabilities. This is aided by lessons from history and real-life case studies.

Emphasis on experiential learning: B-schools are making continuous efforts to re-design their curriculum in a way that enables students to apply academic knowledge into practice through internships, case studies, industry projects, teams, and mock situations to give them a reflection of real-life situations. Practical exposure involves challenging situations, which helps students to think critically and find creative solutions thus strengthening their decision-making skills. The objective is to push students out of their comfort zones — after all, leaders have vast comfort zones.

Integrating Entrepreneurship skills into the curriculum: Not every management student wants to pursue a corporate career. Many of them choose a management programme to polish their entrepreneurial capabilities, which also emphasises the significance of leadership qualities. Of course, the first gateway to successful entrepreneurship is effective leadership and team building. Realising this, many business schools have come forward with incubators, innovation labs, accelerators, and also organise ‘start-up pitch’ competitions which help students explore and refine their entrepreneurial skills.

Emphasis on technology and digital skills: Digital technology is reshaping the industry and hence, the leadership style. Business leaders are now required to possess digital and technical competence to grow the business and take decisions that are aligned with the evolving trends. Business schools are taking measures to bridge the techno-functional leadership gap to make students ready for an ever-evolving business landscape disrupted by technological trends.

The gap in leadership talent is not something that can be plugged in the short term. However, a beginning has been made in nurturing talent at an early stage in the cradle of business education.

The writer is Director, FORE School of Management, New Delhi