Leadership development strategy: the missing links

Purpose Current volatile environments, business complexity, and leadership gaps are compelling organizations to deploy effective leadership development strategies. Fueled by competitive growth and people challenges, efforts continue to scale up but fail to create the desired leaders. This paper aims to address the missing links and calls for new ways of deploying leadership development strategy. Design/methodology/approach Qualitative data on experiential feedback have been collected from participants and stakeholders of leadership development programs in Indian organizations. Findings An integrated six-step approach to leadership development has been proposed for scholars and practitioners. Practical implications From the practitioner’s perspective, this study contributes to the field of leadership development by challenging the relevance of current approaches. It also adds to the scholarly literature on leadership development in the context of the organization and the individual. Originality/value Current studies in the area of leadership development in the Indian context are scarce.