Corporations engaged in long-term planning must give high priority to the development of their future leaders. Any organization intending to thrive and prosper in the years ahead undoubtedly spends a good deal of time and energy—as well as money—today to develop people with the ability to lead the company tomorrow. But in a fluctuating business environment, traditional processes for educating and developing leadership are also changing. In Leadership by Design, Vicere and Fulmer argue that executive development is undergoing a fundamental shift away from conventional methods that benefit only a few chosen successors toward a strategy that drives the flexibility, commitment, and competitiveness of the entire organization.

The authors define the emerging practice of "strategic leadership development" as a uniquely effective tool for influencing not just individual success, but overall corporate competitiveness. With Leadership by Design, they explain strategic leadership development: what it is, how it evolves, and how it's being addressed through both traditional techniques as well as revolutionary new practices. Here, in a single volume, Vicere and Fulmer have synthesized the most influential ideas that shape the current thinking on organizational strategies for professional growth and executive education.

Drawing on their wide-ranging experience as consultants, HRD executives, professors, and executive educators, the authors advocate the creation of "learning laboratories" within organizations as a way of facilitating continuous learning and knowledge creation to enhance organizational competitiveness. Leadership by Design catalogs the best practices and benchmark programs currently available, and offers a hands-on framework to help companies design unique—and effective—programs for inspiring and enabling their future leaders. In aligning leadership training with a company's strategy, Vicere and Fulmer break new ground as they explain how to:

• Design world-class leadership development initiatives
• Assess development methodologies
• Evaluate and select effective providers
• Calculate the impact of leadership development programs