The short answer is this: Great leaders are not developed over night – it takes years of experience, years of learning how influence works, years to develop the skills needed to efficiently unite followers in a common goal, years to learn how to efficiently harness the talents of others and years to develop a reputation worthy for followers to voluntarily dedicate time, talents and needed resources to an objective greater than themselves.

In other words – it takes time to develop leaders. As the years pass while a young person is developing what it takes to become an effective leader, they become an older person.

What if you could accelerate leadership development? What if you could compress some of that learning, some of that developing. Imagine the influence for good when combining genuine leadership ability with the energy of youth!

The key to acceleration of any ability is the same with leadership development as it is with athletics, the arts or any skill based endeavor. That key is gaining the right knowledge and applying the appropriate practice of that knowledge until the practice turns into skill. This sounds so logical but think about it in context of basketball.

Almost without exception, one of the first moves taught in basketball is the layup, a two-point shot attempt made by leaping from below, laying the ball up near the basket, and using one hand to bounce it off the backboard and into the basket. The layup is considered the most basic shot in basketball. I remember the coach teaching me how to dribble, step and leap in just the right way to be in perfect position to lay the ball up against the backboard and into the basket. In a recent NBA game I attended, in watching the warm-ups, the teams still practiced layups. These guys were the best of the best and they still practiced this fundamental shot. Why? Because it is the highest percentage shot in the game (with the exception of the slam dunk by the big guys who can dunk). Without this shot a player will never become a complete player.

So just as basketball has offense fundamentals like the layup, the free throw, the dribble, the jump shot, the pick and roll, etc., there are leadership fundamentals just as important for a leader to become a complete leader, these include; fostering trust, developing strategies, creating a vision, engaging alliances and so forth.

Will a young ball player ever become great without a coach? Without watching other players and analyzing what they do? Without practicing properly?

So why do we expect to become effective leaders without a coach, without carefully observing great leaders and without practicing leadership fundamentals, principles and skills?

So where can you gain the knowledge and how do you know how to practice?

The General Theory of Leadership is the only place where you find all the theory, all the principles, all the skills and competencies where an emerging leader can get all the knowledge, coupled with the “how to practice” with that knowledge.

So how does that accelerate leadership development?

Now think how much faster I could master the layup if I was taught each step, each move, each release and then the correct way to practice, rather than just try and figure it out by myself while I’m driving down court with a defender on my heals.

In like manner, if I learn what fostering trust means to leadership development, how it pertains to the success of a leader, what hinders that trust and how to foster and enhance that trust, my leadership development is accelerated.

Fortune Magazine’s list of the World’s Greatest Leaders:

Leadership should not be reserved for the old folks.

There has never been a time in the world’s history were leadership is needed more than right now. We don’t have time for the years to slowly turn out a leader here and a leader there.

It is essential that more than a handful of young people make the “The World’s Greatest Leaders” lists. Take a look at the breakdown by age group for the past three years selection of Fortune’s list of “Greatest Leaders.”

0 – 30   1

31 – 40 17

41 – 50 30

51 – 60 56

61 – 70 32

71 – 80 12

81+ 2

Each year Fortune magazine publishes their list of “Their 50 Greatest Leaders.”

Fortune Magazine gets it. In talking about leaders and leadership they point out when you look at their list of great leaders, very few are well know personalities.

As Fortune Magazine editors introduce this year’s Greatest Leaders list they preface with;

“Demagoguery, pandering, even populism aren’t leadership.”

In our media-saturated, personality-obsessed global culture, how can that be? Yet it is so, and that’s what makes this group so heartening. It turns out the world is full of people you’ve never heard of who are rallying followers to make life better in ways you never imagined.

As always, we cast a wide net, seeking outstanding leaders in all sectors of society around the world. It isn’t enough to be accomplished, brilliant, or admirable. We recognize those who are inspiring others to act, to follow them on a worthy quest, and who have shown staying power. No mere flashes in the pan, and thus none of the U.S. presidential aspirants, make our list. And no, we didn’t select Donald Trump, the phenomenon of the moment; many candidates over the decades have ignited flames that flared brightly and then went out if the candidate lost the nomination or the election; others have proved to be little more than demagogues. Simply applying for the world’s top leadership job, as Trump and his rivals are doing now, does not in itself make one a great leader. Nor, as you’ll see, does having that job necessarily put you on our list.

The leaders you’ll meet here, known and new, will lift your mood and upgrade your assessment of the world’s future. Some may inspire you to join their followers. And those unheard-ofs, so seemingly ordinary, may even prompt you to rethink your own potential as an inspiring leader.

https://hbr.org/2016/03/why-leadership-development-has-to-happen-on-the-job