Today's leadership challenge: hardwiring people development to the bottom line

I WAS having a chat with one of Singapore's leading chief executive officers (CEOs), when she asked me what legacy she needed to leave behind once she retired from her organisation. I thought long and hard and came up with this: "Create a unique growth culture that will stand the test of time; one that allows your people to continuously evolve and flourish to maximise their performance potential."

The core message is that it is the building of a growth culture that will set the company apart and allow it to thrive and prosper long after the CEO has retired. That she would be remembered for sowing the seeds of this culture and allowing it to take root, thereby delivering sustainable competitive advantage for years to come. Culture itself has to be seen as a business strategy.

I recall a conversation I had with Robert Kegan at Harvard some years ago when he helped train me on his Immunity to Change coaching process. Do you realise, he asked, that in most organisations people have two jobs?