A leadership crisis has erupted at Barker Foods. Doug Lothian, the national sales director of the chocolates and confections division, was just fired for making some bad marketing choices, engaging in questionable selling behaviors, and, ultimately, losing the confidence of his customers and his staff. As a result, there's a schism in Sales. Senior managers are wondering whether a competency model would help the company replace Doug with the right kind of leader and prevent other leadership problems from cropping up. HR director Anne Baxter thinks Doug's situation is the perfect example of why Barker Foods needs to define exactly what it's looking for from its top people. Colin Anthony, the CEO, has given Anne the go-ahead to work with a special task force on a framework that would not only highlight the critical values, knowledge, and skills necessary to lead any of the company's divisions but also identify the corresponding tasks, behaviors, and measures of success. Colin has asked Anne and her team to present their findings to the executive committee, which has voiced mixed opinions about competency modeling. On the one hand, it makes sense to hire and develop the right people to execute the company's strategy; on the other, it doesn't seem wise to oversimplify the work that senior executives do--and boiling down great leadership to a checklist of qualities could be a step in that direction. Should the executive committee go forward with plans for competency modeling? Commenting on this fictional case study in R0701B and R0701Z are: Reuben Mark, chairman of Colgate-Palmolive; Rebecca Ray, senior vice president for global learning and organizational development at MasterCard Worldwide; George Manderlink, a partner in Heidrick & Struggles Leadership Consulting; and Dave Ulrich, a cofounder of the RBL Group, a leadership consultancy.

A leadership crisis has erupted at Barker Foods. Doug Lothian, the national sales director of the chocolates and confections division, was just fired for making some bad marketing choices, engaging in questionable selling behaviors, and, ultimately, losing the confidence of his customers and his staff. As a result, there's a schism in Sales. Senior managers are wondering whether a competency model would help the company replace Doug with the right kind of leader and prevent other leadership problems from cropping up. HR director Anne Baxter thinks Doug's situation is the perfect example of why Barker Foods needs to define exactly what it's looking for from its top people. Colin Anthony, the CEO, has given Anne the go-ahead to work with a special task force on a framework that would not only highlight the critical values, knowledge, and skills necessary to lead any of the company's divisions but also identify the corresponding tasks, behaviors, and measures of success. Colin has asked Anne and her team to present their findings to the executive committee, which has voiced mixed opinions about competency modeling. On the one hand, it makes sense to hire and develop the right people to execute the company's strategy; on the other, it doesn't seem wise to oversimplify the work that senior executives do--and boiling down great leadership to a checklist of qualities could be a step in that direction. Should the executive committee go forward with plans for competency modeling? Commenting on this fictional case study in R0701B and R0701Z are: Reuben Mark, chairman of Colgate-Palmolive; Rebecca Ray, senior vice president for global learning and organizational development at MasterCard Worldwide; George Manderlink, a partner in Heidrick & Struggles Leadership Consulting; and Dave Ulrich, a cofounder of the RBL Group, a leadership consultancy.

A leadership crisis has erupted at Barker Foods. Doug Lothian, the national sales director of the chocolates and confections division, was just fired for making some bad marketing choices, engaging in questionable selling behaviors, and, ultimately, losing the confidence of his customers and his staff. As a result, there's a schism in Sales. Senior managers are wondering whether a competency model would help the company replace Doug with the right kind of leader and prevent other leadership problems from cropping up. HR director Anne Baxter thinks Doug's situation is the perfect example of why Barker Foods needs to define exactly what it's looking for from its top people. Colin Anthony, the CEO, has given Anne the go-ahead to work with a special task force on a framework that would not only highlight the critical values, knowledge, and skills necessary to lead any of the company's divisions but also identify the corresponding tasks, behaviors, and measures of success. Colin has asked Anne and her team to present their findings to the executive committee, which has voiced mixed opinions about competency modeling. On the one hand, it makes sense to hire and develop the right people to execute the company's strategy; on the other, it doesn't seem wise to oversimplify the work that senior executives do-- and boiling down great leadership to a checklist of qualities could be a step in that direction. Should the executive committee go forward with plans for competency modeling? Commenting on this fictional case study in R0701B and R0701Z are: Reuben Mark, chairman of Colgate-Palmolive; Rebecca Ray, senior vice president for global learning and organizational development at MasterCard Worldwide; George Manderlink, a partner in Heidrick & Struggles Leadership Consulting; and Dave Ulrich, a cofounder of the RBL Group, a leadership consultancy.

Karen Barton, Zendal Pharmaceuticals' senior vice-president of human resources, was livid when COO Dave Palmer slashed her executive education budget by 75%. Without funding, there could be no in-house leadership development program, which was to be the first step toward a full-blown Zendal University. Palmer was not against bold initiatives, but sales were down 26%, and there was that $300 million debt Zendal took on when it acquired Premier Pharmaceuticals. As a result, Barton's budget wasn't the only one being cut. Palmer added that it wasn't clear what the return on investment of her proposed program--or any of her current ones for that matter--would be. Barton's analysis had been woefully short on quantitative benefits. Figuring ROI for people isn't the same as calculating the payback from a machine, Barton complained to friend and ally Carlos Freitas, head of the medical devices division. But Freitas disagreed: "If you want dollars, you have to show how you fit in with [management's] plans. You must be willing to fight for resources with the rest of us." She knew Freitas was right. She needed to make the case that doubling her budget was a smart move even in tough times. The question was, How? In R0305A and R0305Z, four commentators--Susan Burnett, an HR executive at Hewlett-Packard; Mike Morrison, dean of the University of Toyota; Noel M. Tichy, professor at the University of Michigan Business School; and David Owens, vice-president of Bausch & Lomb's corporate university--offer advice in this fictional case study.

Karen Barton, Zendal Pharmaceuticals' senior vice-president of human resources, was livid when COO Dave Palmer slashed her executive education budget by 75%. Without funding, there could be no in-house leadership development program, which was to be the first step toward a full-blown Zendal University. Palmer was not against bold initiatives, but sales were down 26%, and there was that $300 million debt Zendal took on when it acquired Premier Pharmaceuticals. As a result, Barton's budget wasn't the only one being cut. Palmer added that it wasn't clear what the return on investment of her proposed program--or any of her current ones for that matter--would be. Barton's analysis had been woefully short on quantitative benefits. Figuring ROI for people isn't the same as calculating the payback from a machine, Barton complained to friend and ally Carlos Freitas, head of the medical devices division. But Freitas disagreed: "If you want dollars, you have to show how you fit in with [management's] plans. You must be willing to fight for resources with the rest of us." She knew Freitas was right. She needed to make the case that doubling her budget was a smart move even in tough times. The question was, How? In R0305A and R0305Z, four commentators--Susan Burnett, an HR executive at Hewlett-Packard; Mike Morrison, dean of the University of Toyota; Noel M. Tichy, professor at the University of Michigan Business School; and David Owens, vice-president of Bausch & Lomb's corporate university--offer advice on this fictional case study.