The ultimate threat to organizational success is not markets, technology, products or competition. It is the ability to attract, lead, develop and retain the best people.

In the eighteenth century, economist Vilfredo Pareto developed what is popularly known as the 80/20 Rule, or the Pareto Principle. This rule states that 80 percent of the value of a group of activities is generally concentrated in only 20 percent of those activities.

This is certainly true of most positions in organizations and perhaps for none more than leaders. Although many, many activities can and are carried out by leaders, the critical few are the ones to target in developing leadership capacity.

What are the critical few for leaders? There are two things that contribute more to the success of a leader than almost anything else they do. They are:

A mistake in either area is one of the most costly mistakes a leader can make. An investment in helping leaders develop the skills to excel in these areas pays big dividends to organizations.

Unfortunately, the leadership skills to carry out these activities do not come naturally or easily to most but they can be learned.

Psychologist and researcher Daniel Goleman coined the phrase emotional intelligence to refer to the possession and use of soft skills. His research revealed that although soft skills are harder to teach and harder to learn than technical skills, they contribute more to an employee's ultimate success or failure than do technical skills or raw brainpower.

For everyone who has wrestled with how to deliver bad news to an employee, handle an emotional conflict, motivate a team, calm their own anger, inspire others toward a vision or persuade others to a course of action, it is vividly clear on a deep personal level how hard the soft interpersonal skills can be to master.

Although some leaders approach the task of leadership with strengths in either relationship building or strategy, everyone has to learn how to balance the skills they have with the skills they have to learn; hence the need for purposeful leadership development in a safe and structured environment.

Participants in this comprehensive series will: