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The purpose of this paper is to present and an interview with Norm Smallwood, co‐founder of The RBL Group, an advisory firm to the world's top HR leaders.

This briefing is prepared by an independent interviewer.

Norm Smallwood current work concentrates on increasing business value by building organization, strategic HR and leadership capabilities that measurably impact market value.

The interview provides insights into how organizations should implement their strategic vision.

Our query into “what is leadership” can be traced back to Galton (1869) in his book, Hereditary Genius. Leadership, as a unique characteristic of extraordinary individual leaders, has dominated leadership research up until the early 1950s and was then followed by the rise of behavioral views of leadership such as situational leadership, transformational leadership, among others. These earlier views of leadership have been developed mainly among psychologists. We have not done sufficient work to view leadership from a business values perspective. Filling in this important gap, Dave Ulrich and Norm Smallwood answer the question “what is leadership” by focusing on an outside/in view of leadership that draws on business values beyond psychological principles. They ask four important questions that shape the definition of effective leadership: What are the outcomes of good leadership? What must every leader know, do, and be? How do we develop leadership (not just leaders) from the outside/in? And how do leaders make long-term change really happen? Answers to these four questions can lead us to clarify why leadership matters, nail the basics of leadership, create a leadership brand, and ensure leadership sustainability.

In the opening chapter of this volume, Dave Ulrich and Norm Smallwood enlighten us with a unique perspective toward the understanding of leadership. They point out that in the past, most leadership research used an inside/out approach that studies leadership attributes (i.e., what is inside oneself that makes an effective leader). However, what matters more are the results that effective leadership produces. Therefore, an outside/in, business-values-driven approach should be adopted to match leadership to the expectations of various stakeholders, including customers, investors, organizations, and employees. The authors stress the importance of building leadership brand to better capture what stakeholders want and propose seven principles that can produce sustainable, long-lasting results from leadership development.

Traditional views of organizational culture have one thing in common; they define culture from the inside out – who we are, what we do and how we do it. In this article, the authors suggest that a more robust and practical approach to leveraging culture is to identify and shape culture from the outside in.

They define culture as “what we want to be known for by our best customers made real to our employees through systemic processes every day.” With a practical process, the article outlines four straightforward steps to create culture from the outside in. They are: clarify a compelling strategy to identify target customers; create a unity of identity; make that identity real for customers; and make that identity real for employees.

The paper reiterates that a more robust and impactful approach to leveraging culture is by defining and shaping it from the outside in. When leaders follow the four steps outlined above, they will define the right, customer‐centric culture. In a volatile world of speed and change, customers must be the foundation of organizational culture.

The authors conclude that in a volatile world of speed and change, organizations build winning cultures when their culture efforts begin with customers, then shift to employee behaviors and organizational processes.

There is little doubt that both leaders and leadership matters. Individual leaders shape strategy, execute decision, manage talent, develop future talent, and act with personal proficiency. Being a successful leader requires knowing what is expected and doing it. But, organizational leadership matters more. Leadership occurs when the organization builds a cadre of future leaders who have the capacity to shape an organization's culture and create patterns of success. In this chapter, we answer the question “what is leadership” by focusing on an outside/in view of leadership that draws on business values more than psychological principles. We identify four key principles and questions that shape the definition of effective leadership.1.Clarify why leadership matters: What are the outcomes of good leadership?2.Nail the basics: What must every leader know, do, and be?3.Create leadership brand: How do we develop leadership (not just leaders) from the outside/in?4.Ensure leadership sustainability: How do leaders make long-term change really happen?

By mastering these four principles, leaders can build leadership that lasts over time.

HR leaders face a range of challenges on assuming responsibility for the function in their organizations. This paper aims to argue that if managed well, the actions of HR leaders over the first 90 days offer a significant opportunity to put the fundamentals for success in place; in turn, badly managed transitions can hurt the leader's effectiveness at building key relationships, defining the strategic agenda, assessing needs for improvement and developing the plan for creating value for the business.

This paper draws on the authors' experience with dozens of new heads of HR. It synthesizes this work to offer a practical framework for action and specific tips on how HR leaders can make the most of the first 90 days.

It is shown that as a new leader, one has a unique opportunity to shape a new agenda for the HR department.

The paper is written as if the authors are coaching the reader through this transition by asking the right questions that increase the chance of success.

Leadership as a topic never goes away and probably never will as long as it's such an important part of being a successful strategist. And so we tackle this hearty evergreen again. The latest crop to face Stack's ax all take different spins on imparting leadership wisdom.

An interview with Kate Sweetman.

This briefing is prepared by an independent interviewer.

Kate Sweetman is a leading authority on leadership and human resources and principal consultant with the RBL Group.

Here Kate discusses leadership and in the next issue of Strategic Direction.

This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.

This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.

Want an easy question with an obvious answer? Well, here is one: “What is leadership?” Surely those in leadership positions, or those who aspire to them, will not be too tongue-tied to quickly come up with an impressive response. After all, if they need a reminder of an eloquent explanation, there are millions of articles about the subject to help them out. Let's start again. Do you want a question that is, far from being easy and obvious to answer, quite mystifying in its complexity and profundity? Well here is one: “What is leadership?” The easy answer is that there is not an easy answer. The more you delve into the intricacies of the subject, the more you get tangled up in the jungle that is leadership.

The paper provides strategic insights and practical thinking that have influenced some of the world's leading organizations.

The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to digest format.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the current elements of leadership and to give the reader an idea of how to assess a leader's fit within an organisation.

This paper is a combination of a&dc's methodology and external research.

The main conclusion of this paper is that an “all‐weather” leader has a huge role to play in the future success of any organisation, particularly in the current economic climate. However, we must learn to appreciate that one leader can do very well in one culture, but not so well in another, so it is vital that organisations have an effective assessment and development strategy in place to deliver their business agenda.

A change in the way leaders are assessed and managed is needed to ensure organisations have the “all‐weather” leaders needed for future growth.

The “Five Core Elements of Leaders” is a unique a&dc concept.