July 22, 2010 - Greensboro, NC - How do talented managers develop into effective senior leaders? And what can organizations do to ensure this growth? Extraordinary Leadership: Addressing the Gaps in Senior Executive Development proposes some groundbreaking answers, providing strategies and tools to round out leadership skills and create a steady pipeline of top executives.

A joint publication of The Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) and Jossey-Bass, the book is edited by executive leadership experts Kerry A. Bunker, Douglas T. Hall, and Kathy E. Kram. It collects views on the often invisible elements of intrapersonal, relational, organizational, and contextual development from more than 20 leading thinkers in the field.

"The chapters in this book address the subtle yet powerful forces that combine to differentiate outstanding leaders from also-rans," Bunker, Hall and Kram say in the book's introduction. "The end product is a comprehensive guide for leader development, a resource for executive coaches, human resource professionals, mentors, corporate officers, and aspiring senior leaders themselves."

The 321-page book provides techniques and strategies based on real-world examples, helping executives, mid-level managers and emerging leaders identify the issues that contribute to these leadership gaps. Such issues include the accelerated career advancement of high potential managers, the rapid pace of technology and globalization, and the importance of accountability and emotional intelligence.

Leaders must now be as approachable as they are inspirational, according to the editors. To fill the gaps present in the workplace, they must demonstrate authenticity, integrity, emotional competence, and the ability to inspire leadership with and through others.

In Views from the C-Suite, a chapter on intrapersonal development, former CCL Board member Naomi Marrow explains that self- assessment helps executives gain clear insight into the impact they have on others. In The How-to-Be Leader: A Conversation with Frances Hesselbein, Kathy Kram explores what it means to lead with authenticity.

Other chapters with contributions from CCL include The Learning Premise: A Conversation with Peter B. Vaill by Kerry A. Bunker and CCL faculty member Laura Curnutt Santana; Developing Leaders with Cultural Intelligence: Exploring the Cultural Dimension of Leadership by Santana, Mira las Heras, and Jina Maol; Leading Inclusively: Mind-Sets, Skills, and Actions for a Diverse, Complex World by CCL Board member Ilene C. Wasserman and Stacey Blake-Beard; and a final chapter entitled Looking Forward: Creating Conditions for Extraordinary Leadership, where editors Kram, Hall, and Bunker integrate the perspectives shared throughout the book.

Bunker, founder and president of executive development firm Mangrove Leadership Solutions, is a former CCL senior fellow. Kram, a professor of organizational behavior at the Boston University School of Management, is a former member of CCL's Board of Governors. Hall, a professor of management at the Boston University School of Management, is a former H. Smith Richardson Jr. Visiting Fellow at CCL.

About the Center for Creative Leadership

The Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) is a top-ranked, global provider of executive education that accelerates strategy and business results by unlocking individual and organizational leadership potential. Founded in 1970 as a nonprofit, educational institution, CCL helps clients worldwide align business and leadership strategy, develop the organizational environment and prepare individuals to be more effective leaders. Each year, through its proven, innovative and highly personal approach, CCL inspires and supports more than 23,000 leaders in 3,000 organizations around the world. Through an array of programs, products and services, CCL and its world-class faculty, coaches and researchers deliver unparalleled leadership development, education and research in more than 120 countries. Ranked by clients as No.3 worldwide in the 2010 Financial Times annual executive education survey and among the world's top providers of executive education by BusinessWeek, CCL operates out of eight locations around the world. Headquartered in Greensboro, NC, CCL's additional locations include, Colorado Springs, CO, San Diego, CA, Brussels, Belgium, Moscow, Russia, India, Africa and Singapore.