Latest Articles & Knowledge Resources

For practical information and cutting-edge research on today's most pressing leadership issues, explore an array of resources assembled by CCL's faculty experts.

Annotated Bibliographies

Review introductions to published material, in both the business and academic press, about key areas of organizational development.

Executive Coaching: An Annotated Bibliographya
What does a typical coaching process look like? What are the steps that lead through that process? This book examines these questions and others in a review of the current literature about executive coaching. (more...) (PDF, 1.1 MB)
Printed Copy Available for Purchase
Emerging Leaders: An Annotated Bibliographya
In an increasingly global, technology-driven marketplace, a key organizational challenge is the development of leaders from the newest generation of managers. This publication provides an introduction to the current thinking about and the relevant research into developing, working with, and retaining emerging leaders. (more...) (PDF, 1.2 MB)
Printed Copy Available for Purchase

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Articles

CCL's Leading Effectively e-newsletter brings you relevant tips and articles to help you become a better leader today.

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Podcasts

Learn new and actionable tips for strengthening your leadership skills today with selections from CCL's Leading Effectively podcast series.

Access the full podcasts archive.

Research Findings & Reports

QuickView Leadership Series

Review the most recently published results from the World Leadership Survey.

The Innovation Equation for Leaders: People + Context = Innovation
CCL research shows why creative people and a workplace that fosters innovation must both be present for innovation to thrive. (PDF 1.7 MB)
Motivated by the Organization's Mission or Their Career?
Our research examines how leaders in public and private institutions can motivate and retain valued employees through complexity and change. (PDF 2.3 MB)
Focus on Africa: Employee Perceptions of Corporate Social Responsibility
Special report on attitudes about corporate social responsibility among African employees. (PDF, 2.6 MB)
Focus on Africa: Workplace Attitudes
Special report on workplace attitudes among African employees. (PDF, 3.6 MB)
Annual Report on Workplace Attitudes
Despite everything that has been going on in the economy, executives, managers, and professional employees are pretty positive, but there are warning signs about the future. (PDF, 2.2 MB)
Building Trust in the Workplace: A Key to Retaining Women
What organizations need to know about trust today, and how to improve it. (PDF, 1.2 MB)
Employee Engagement: Has It Been a Bull Market?
How the economy has affected employee engagement, and what organizations need to worry about now. (PDF, 1.4 MB)
Employee Perceptions of Corporate Social Responsibility
How employee perceptions of corporate social responsibility really affect employee loyalty. (PDF, 3.3 MB)

Research Reports

Explore peer-reviewed publications documenting completed research projects.

Emerging Leadership in Nonprofit Organizations: Myths, Meaning, and Motivations
In 2010, American Express and the Center for Creative Leadership embarked on research efforts to advance the understanding of, and to promote excellence in the field of, nonprofit leadership by focusing on the needs of emerging leaders. (more...) (PDF, 2.3 MB)
Youth Leadership Summit 2011
Reflections and Insights from Youth Leadership Summit 2011 held March 23-25 at the Center for Creative Leadership headquarters in Greensboro, NC. (more...) (PDF, 2.2 MB)
Leadership Across Differences: A Report on Research and Findingsl
The data shared in this report are drawn from the Leadership across Differences research project. We wanted to better understand what contributed to social identity tensions and conflicts in organizations and explore what leadership responses were desired and which were used. A total of 3,041 individuals across 10 ten countries participated in the survey, representing 21 organizations. (more...) (PDF, 4.9 MB)
Printed Copy Available for Purchase.
Leading Across Differences Facilitator's Guide Set Available for Purchase.
Developing Future Leaders for High-Growth Indian Companies: New Perspectives
For businesses within and outside India, an exhilarating era of expansive global growth has arrived. Specifically in India, many home-grown businesses are seeking to double, triple and quadruple their revenues over the next decade, if not sooner. Companies are therefore beginning to show great interest in leadership development and corporate India is increasingly investing in leadership training and development. But where and how are the most important "lessons of leadership" learned and what are those lessons? This report describes the results of investigating these important questions in an Indian context. (more...) (PDF, 309 KB)
Developing Chinese Leaders in the 21st Century
All around the world, better leadership is needed, and more so in growing economies like China. How can we develop more effective leaders for China-based companies? Are there experiences that would better prepare them? What lessons would they need to learn to become effective managers? To address these issues, we present relevant research findings and implications for leadership development from the Lessons of Experience-China research project. (more...) (PDF, 735 KB)

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White Papers

Learn from publications representing some of CCL's work in progress, including research projects, conferences, and innovative thinking.

Future Trends in Leadership Development
CCL Senior Faculty Member Nick Petrie took a year's sabbatical at Harvard University, studying across the university's schools and interviewing experts to uncover what the future of leadership development will look like in an increasingly complex and uncertain world.(more...) (PDF, 1.9 MB)
The Coach's View: Best Practices for Successful Coaching Engagements
Executive coaches in the U.S., Europe and Asia were interviewed about their real-world experiences to glean practical information about their best practices for effective coaching. (more...) (PDF, 1.4 MB)
Making Your Life Work: A New Approach to Increasing Your Effectiveness On and Off the Job
Behavior, identity and control. Find out how these three factors can help working people, who are pulled in many directions, identify strategies and small changes that will make them more effective both on and off the job. (more...) (PDF, 1.2 MB)
Learning Leadership in the Military
Military officers attending CCL's Leadership at the Peak program were surveyed on their key developmental experiences and the lessons learned from those events. Learn what these senior officers reported most frequently as developmental experiences, which led to lessons on Managing Subordinates, Executive Leadership, Communication, Integrity and Decision-Making. (more...) (PDF, 1.3 MB)
Collaborative Healthcare
As sweeping reform and challenging market forces change the way healthcare is delivered and managed, CCL offers healthcare leaders a six-part model for adapting and thriving during this time of transformative change. (more...) (PDF, 1.6 MB)
Making Leadership Happen
The list of behaviors and characteristics for leaders seems endless. This white paper describes CCL's "whole system" approach to leadership, which refrains from putting the entire weight of leadership on individual managers. (more...) (PDF, 1.8 MB)
Grooming Top Leaders
CCL researchers have identified five basic experiences that deliver valuable leadership learning. But our research from China, India, Singapore and the U.S. shows that some developmental experiences are more country-specific. (more...) (PDF, 1.5 MB)
Creating Tomorrow's Government Leaders: An Overview of Top Leadership Challenges and How They Can Be Addressed
Government leaders need specific skills to survive in today's uncertain and volatile world under constant watch of social networkers and traditional news media. This research-based paper explores those vital skills. (more...) (PDF, 1.3 MB)
The Leadership Challenge in the Pharmaceutical Sector
What leadership competencies are most critical for success in the pharmaceutical industry and how strong are current pharma leaders in those competencies? This white paper examines those questions in a research-based discussion of capabilities that are missing among pharma leaders and how those missing skills can be developed. (more...) (PDF, 1.3 MB)
Addressing the Leadership Gap in Healthcare
The healthcare sector is experiencing significant and rapid change, with more dramatic change yet to come. In an evolving and challenging environment, healthcare organizations must develop the leadership capacity needed to adapt and succeed in the future. CCL analyzed leadership effectiveness data from nearly 35,000 people working in the field, and the results and insights from that study are outlined in this paper. (more...) (PDF, 1.7 MB)
Empathy in the Workplace: A Tool for Effective Leadership
To determine if empathy influences a manager's job performance, CCL analyzed data from 6,731 managers in 38 countries. Key findings were that empathy is positively related to job performance, and it's more important to performance in some cultures than in others. This white paper unveils the details of that research. (more...) (PDF, 2.2 MB)
High-Potential Talent: A View from Inside the Leadership Pipeline
The leadership pipeline bends, turns, and sometimes breaks as organizations identify who is "ready now" and who is "on track" for larger leadership roles. From this perspective, talent management is something done to and for an organization's high-potential employees, in service of the organization's needs. But talent management has another, overlooked perspective: The view from the pipe. (more...) (PDF, 2 MB)
Leadership Development in Africa: A Focus on Strengths
There is no doubt that the need for effective leadership in Africa is high. But traditionally, talented leaders have not received much structured support for developing their full leadership potential. For this reason, many organizations in Africa are underperforming. By strengthening leadership skills, they could improve their business results and strengthen their prospects for sustainable growth and prosperity. (more...) (PDF, 1.4 MB)
Innovation Leadership
In today's volatile economy, innovation leadership matters more than ever. Leaders need these skills themselves, as they operate in challenging times. They also need to create a climate in their companies that nurtures the innovative systems, thinking and tools that are crucial for growth. CCL and renowned design firm Continuum have partnered to show you the impact of innovation leadership -- and to help you cultivate it now. (more...) (PDF, 1.3 MB)
The Leadership Challenge in the Energy Sector
In challenging times, energy companies cannot afford to pour resources into generalized development, expecting that they will end up with employees who are well-equipped to lead the business. Well-targeted leadership development initiatives are essential for success. To help our energy clients better understand and focus their leadership development efforts, CCL analyzed leadership effectiveness data from more than 11,000 people working in the energy sector. This paper outlines the results. (more...) (PDF, 1.3 MB)