Preparing Leaders for the Future:
Duke CE's 2011 Global Roundtable

Duke Corporate Education (Duke CE) gathered senior corporate learning and development professionals together for its ninth annual Roundtable discussion in Durham, North Carolina, USA, on 16-17 November 2011. Twenty-three participants from companies and governments around the world shared perspective from Canada, China, Europe, India, Kazakhstan, South Africa, Qatar and the United States. Participants discussed their challenges to begin the conversation, calling to light a renewed challenge of developing leaders who have global mindset, the agility to work in different markets and possess “ego-maturity.”

Focused on this year’s theme of Preparing Leaders for the Future, the two-day event was designed to be both thought-provoking and practical for senior learning leaders. On the first day, the 23 participants in attendance heard from globally renowned author, business consultant and expert on leadership, Ram Charan. Ram helped the group consider how the world is changing and the impact of those changes on business. Within this context, he challenged the group to think differently about preparing talent for the future, calling out that, “Leaders compete, businesses do not.” Ram offered his insights on why one size does not fit all in leadership development, hence the need for segmentation of leadership talent.  

CEO Mike Canning shared Duke CE’s point of view based on preliminary results of our study across work with 60 clients and input from 70 educators. This year’s study focused on “Preparing Leaders for the Future.” We explored three aspects of this broad topic: 1) what are the critical challenges facing businesses in the future 2) what do leaders need to know, do and believe differently to succeed in this new reality, and 3) how do we better prepare them for success. We explored each of these questions in plenary and in three smaller groups in rooms that were “themed” around the three key business challenges of becoming more global, marketplace complexity, and technology and innovation. The rooms were filled with data, examples and provocative questions linked to each of the challenges presented via trends boards and video. Based on the study and discussions, participants discussed leadership challenges they need to address at their own organizations.

Blair Sheppard, Duke CE Chairman and former Dean of Duke’s Fuqua School of Business, joined to share provocative firsthand perspective on the challenge for business schools and universities to prepare graduates who are more suited for global leadership. 

On the second day, focus turned to the practical as Duke CE clients Harley-Davidson, Nazarbayev University (Kazakhstan), Rio Tinto, Boeing and American Express shared solutions in action, uncovering practical insights from their learning initiatives. 

The very thoughtful, global group of participants drove an interesting dialogue over the two days, offering important insights for Duke CE’s point of view on Preparing Leaders for the Future.