Leadership Solutions: The Pathway to Bridge the Leadership Gap

Weiss, David S., Vince Molinaro, and Liane Davey. Leadership Solutions: The Pathway To Bridge The Leadership Gap. Jossey Bass. 2007. ISBN 978-0-470-840924

Building leadership capacity is mission critical. In fact, it is predicted to be the biggest challenge facing executives for the next decade. However, many organizations struggle with developing the leaders they need in order to thrive now and in the future. Even more alarming is that despite significant investments many have made in leadership development, these gaps are not closing. For many organizations, the leadership gap is becoming vast and serious, but where do you start to attack the problem?

Leadership Solutions offers a practical roadmap that organizations can follow to overcome the leadership deficit they face, and to develop strong leadership as a source of sustainable competitive advantage. It outlines precisely what you as an organization need to do to build your leadership capacity and identifies what individual leaders need to do, and what they need from others, to bridge the leadership gap.

Leadership Solutions also brings concrete measurement and diagnostics to the problem of the leadership gap. It focuses on how to diagnose, understand and measure the nature and extent of your organization’s leadership deficit by conducting a comprehensive Leadership Gap Analysis™, a diagnostic process that pinpoints exactly where the gaps are in both organizational and individual leadership, analyzes the challenges, helps in understanding the nature of the organization’s leadership deficit, and generates leadership solutions tailored to the organization’s particular needs and shortcomings. This approach ensures that limited resources are applied where they matter most, and that the organization derives the greatest return on its investment in building leadership capacity.

Leadership Solutions is full of vivid stories and case studies, and features an Appendix with the tools necessary to conduct a complete Leadership Gap Analysis™–the Audit of Organizational Practices, the Survey of Leadership Culture, and the individual leaders’ 360° survey.

Leadership Solutions provides the practical tools and strategies that individual leaders, senior managers and HR professionals need to close the leadership gap in their organizations—and to unleash their internal leadership potential to drive business results.

Praise for Leadership Solutions

“Leadership Solutions challenges the conventional focus on individual leadership development. By highlighting the critical role of culture and organizational practices, it provides the pathway to build the leadership capacity of your organization. Leadership Solutions has an ideal blend of insights and practical tools that will make it essential reading for anyone trying to accelerate the development of leadership in their organization.”
Marianne Hasold-Schilter, Senior Vice President, Leadership & Top Talent Management, Scotiabank

“A significant work that is worth reading and re-reading. It combines clarity of thinking with the ability to be executed, resulting in value delivered each and every time”
Paul Lucas, President & CEO, GlaxoSmithKline Inc.

“Leadership Solutions delivers what the title promises. Moving from an analysis of the leadership gap, the book offers a holistic model of leadership then offers a realistic and practical pathway forward for dealing with the leadership gap. Specific steps for determining leadership requirements, measuring the gap, and acting to build capacity move this book beyond what a lot of other leadership books offer. I also very much like the finale of the book, with its emphasis on individual responsibilities for doing your part and shaping your future. While some great leaders may be born, the vast majority are ‘made’ and the first responsibility of any leader is to take responsibility for themselves.”
Dr. Dan Ondrack, Professor and Academic Director – Executive Programs, Joseph L. Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto

“Leadership Solutions offers the theory and practice that can enable holistic leadership to develop within a strategy-driven organization. Today, the need for leadership transcends traditional functional expertise and hierarchical structures. This book provides the template for the personal and corporate growth that will permit holistic leaders to transform any organization.”
Dr. Robert S. Bell, MDCM, MSc, FACS, FRCSC, President and Chief Executive Officer, University Health Network