Best Practices in Talent Management: How the World's Leading Corporations Manage, Develop, and Retain Top Talent

INITIAL IMPROVEMENTS

Following the review, Southern Company took steps to improve leadership development. The initial effort focused on building a common leadership framework across Southern Company, including a common definition and understanding of leadership. Southern Company adopted the leadership framework articulated by Ram Charan, Stephen Drotter, and James Noel in their book The Leadership Pipeline: How to Build the Leadership-Powered Company. Central to this framework is understanding that leadership begins with the work leaders perform. Managers go through key transitions in their careers when they move up the organizational ladder. The scope and complexity of work increases at each level, requiring new skills, time applications, ...