Are you tired of reading about other organizations’ stories of success (read: seeming perfection) because you simply cannot relate? How is “Company A” able to pull off a huge leadership development program for high-potential employees with such ease, but you can barely convince your COO that your company should invest in its rising stars? Sure, best practices from such case studies can be valuable, but if you cannot apply the principles in your organization, these stories can have very little practical impact.

CTDO magazine has a refreshing and new approach to your typical happily-ever-after workplace fairy tale. Confessions From the C-Suite is a standing column in the free, digital, quarterly publication for talent development (TD) executives. This case study column, written by a TD executive, focuses on a big problem and how he or she did not succeed as planned. It explores the following questions:

• What was the program, initiative, or issue you were trying to solve? 

• What did you do? 

• Why didn’t it work? 

• What lessons did you learn, and what would you do differently?

You will find authentic accounts of real-life, high-pressure situations involving great risk and even failure. In the Winter 2015 issue, Mary Slaughter expounds on the difficulties new executives face when they join the ranks of a senior leadership team. And in the Spring 2016 magazine, Karie Willyerd explains that not everything was a glowing success for a new leadership development program she implemented, but lessons learned helped to improve future program designs. Check out the latest CTDO magazine issue, Summer 2016, for realistic stories and relatable lessons from your peers.