All three of them earned their first stars, but before they could pin them on, they went back to school to become exposed to another order of leadership. Our failure to teach leadership has had two unfortunate consequences. One is that we often put the wrong people in leadership positions. Think about it. Probably the person with the best sales record.
Leadership is a skill, just as surgery and sales and computer programming are skills.
If it's a skill, it can be taught. If we're in a leadership position, the people we're likely to think have the greatest leadership potential are people who look like, talk like, and act like us. In short, our current approach to leadership tends to perpetuate the old-boy network. Leadership training is one way we can help more women and minorities break through the glass ceiling. So, one of the things I want to do at the LBJ School is to upgrade our teaching of leadership.