Good old apprenticeships

To paraphrase a cliché, some are born that way, others are made leaders. Ram Charan, who has risen from owning a shoe store in a small village in Uttar Pradesh to become one of the most sought-after consultants in the US, has endeared himself to industry leaders, such as Jack Welch, for his down-to-earth practical advice. In this book, he treats the 'making' problem. For Charan, leadership is something to be apprenticed to, then journeymanned and fi nally mastered.

He starts, logically enough, by explaining, and demonstrating that there is a shortage of executives who are able to breast the challenges of today's globalisation. Most companies simply do not have enough players in training and on the bench. Charan blames this on leadership development as practised by companies. As a follow-up, he also criticises their neglect of succession planning.

Title: Leaders at all Levels:
Deepening Your Talent Pool to
Solve the Succession Crisis
Author: Ram Charan
Publisher: Jossey-Bass; 2007
Price: Rs1168
No of pages: 192