In the recent HBR Blog Network post, “We Wait Too Long to Train Our Leaders,” author and well-known leadership development consultant Jack Zenger contends that “leadership development can be taught at any age — and that companies wait far, far too long to begin.” 

Zenger offers some homegrown statistical proof for this assumption. After reviewing the data from some 17,000 worldwide leaders participating in Zenger/Folkman training programs, Zenger found that the average age was 42, and less than 10 percent were under the age of 30. However, in those same companies, the average age of supervisors was 33, with many taking leadership roles beginning at age 30. Zenger logically concludes that the bulk of leaders must be “operating within the company untrained, on average, for over a decade.” 

Alarmed by these figures? Well, according to Zenger you should be.  

Zenger offers three reasons why organizations should be concerned that many managers are practicing leadership without training.  

• Practicing without training ingrains bad habits.

• Practice makes perfect only if done correctly.

• Your young supervisors are practicing on the job whether you've trained them or not.

To learn the details about each of these reasons, read the complete blog post from the HBR Blog Network.