By Ram Charan, Stephen Trotter and James Noel

Jossey-Bass, 2001,

248 pages, $28.50

The Leadership Pipeline is a straight-forward, what-to-do book on how implement a leadership development program in a medium to large sized organization (although the authors contend that a truncated version can be used in small businesses.) The framework looks impossibly idealistic until one takes into account the credentials of the writers. Ram Charan is a business consultant who has taught at some of the top U.S. business schools and works closely with major corporations on their in-house development programs. Consultants Stephen Trotter and James Noel both have experience with GE at the famed Crotonville Management Development Center. So one assumes they know whereof they write! The authors identify six key leadership ‘passages,’ each of which requires distinctly different skills, uses of time and work values. Together the passages form a leadership ‘pipeline’ that zigs and zags up the hierarchy of work: from managing self to managing others; from managing others to managing managers; from managing managers to functional manager; from functional manager to business manager; from business manager to group manager; and from group manager to enterprise manager. The framework is detailed and comprehensive: it supports assessments and audits. The challenge for every manager is how to use this complex tool in an effective way. As most practitioners know, the magic is rarely in the wands: it’s usually in the wizards that wield them! And a leadership pipeline implemented literally along these lines could easily turn into a bureaucratic nightmare, with managers getting their ticket punched at each stage of a paper program. As GE’s example suggests, only a disciplined corporate culture and the intimate involvement of senior managers in the day-to-day activities can prevent this from happening.