The emperor has no clothes?

I have always found it both fascinating and confusing that people will spend the better part of their careers striving to augment their professional skill sets in preparation for the day when they will elevate to a position of leadership, only to immediately terminate the need to further develop their capacity once they achieve this objective.

When the business climate is favorable (i.e. a strong economy, a "hot" industry, a monopolistic position, etc.), people in leadership positions are not often forced to further enhance their capabilities in order to "succeed" in their roles. However, when the favorable climate dissipates and no longer hides the imperfections that inevitably arise in every organization, the onus is on the leader to find a way to extend beyond these imperfections and leverage the company's core strengths. Unfortunately, the problem is that in many situations it is the leadership of the company itself that now falls outside of the company's list of core strengths. Thus, when the company is most in need of a clear strategy and a definitive plan on how to move forward, it is often found that it's "emperor has no clothes". Or at the very least, not the right ones.

The most successful business leaders that I have encountered over the years working with both entrepreneurial and established organizations are those who continue to challenge themselves to broaden their portfolio of skills, regardless of how the company is currently performing. They always prepare for the worst case scenario and in their minds that is the scenario where the difference between their company's success or failure effectively comes down to the leadership skills (i.e. coaching, communicating, etc.) that they are able to call upon when the times are not so forgiving.