Linkage Launches New Leadership Model Based on One Million Data Points from Leaders Worldwide

BURLINGTON, Mass., Oct. 04, 2017 -- Linkage, Inc., a global leadership consulting and strategy firm today announced The Purposeful Leadership model. Over the past year, Linkage analyzed the decision making, actions and performance of hundreds-of-thousands of leaders to identify a common set of commitments successful leaders make. The study, which supports the model, focused on more than one million data points and experiences that Linkage has accumulated over the past 30 years from working with leaders at Fortune 1000 enterprises, start-ups as well as not-for-profit organizations from around the world.

“Leadership is critical for companies and for the people involved. Leaders make or break companies and define cultures of success or failure. For too long, mythical perceptions of leadership have persisted, discouraging everyday leaders from believing that they could be exceptional leaders. Our research shows this is just plain false – that exceptional leadership is a skill that can be practiced and honed over time, by anyone who is willing to make and meet certain commitments,” said Matt Norquist, president and CEO, Linkage. “The Purposeful Leadership model offers the first practical roadmap to developing and advancing diverse leaders who accelerate change and innovation, and drive growth and employee engagement.”

The study identified that the most effective leaders hold a strong conviction to identify and accomplish specific goals, combined with the ability to clearly, and regularly, explain their vision. Additionally, the top performers are able to demonstrate their commitment to both goals and colleagues in a tangible, transparent and trackable way. How effective a leader is directly correlates to how well they:

• Inspire those around them to join the pursuit of a common vision
• Engage every team member in meaningful activities
• Innovate products or processes
• Achieve significant results by organizing people
• Become more self-aware in their ability to transform, coach and influence people

“Purposeful Leadership is about identifying a personal ‘why’ and then successfully translating that into an organizational ‘what for’—a broader vision and messaging that teams can rally around, that affects real change,” said Mark Hannum, senior vice president of research and development, Linkage. “The data we uncovered overwhelmingly points to tangible actions that have consistently led to better financial performance, increased employee engagement and stronger competitive differentiation.”

Linkage found that purposeful leaders are four times as likely to grow company profits and six times more likely to drive competitive differentiation than their peers. Additionally, the data from their new Purpose Index™, a survey of a thousand working Americans, shows that these types of leaders foster stronger respect with their employees (nine times more likely to receive superlative scores from their staff, also known as net promoter scores). These findings are evident across three of the leaders who participated in the study:

• Aviation pioneer Jeppesen, a Boeing Company, CEO, Mark Van Tine, motivated the company to secure over 100 new patents and grow its annual revenue by nearly 400 percent
• Guitar maker C.F. Martin and Co. CEO, Chris Martin IV, reinvigorated the acoustic guitar manufacturing industry in the United States, while transforming the supply chain to become a symbol of environmentally friendly manufacturing
• Shawmut Design and Construction CEO, Les Hiscoe, transformed the company to focus on client service, building a talent-driven organization and became a leading-edge service provider, resulting in increased revenue of $1.3 billion

For more information about the Linkage Purposeful Leadership research and model and its methodology, please visit here. To set up an assessment on the effectiveness of your organization's leadership, please visit here or contact us here.

About Linkage, Inc.
For 30 years, Linkage has helped nearly 10,000 organizations strengthen their leaders and build cultures of employee engagement that achieve and exceed organizational objectives with leadership development insights, learning and strategy. Linkage believes that becoming an impactful and purposeful leader requires a lifelong commitment to learning, adapting and changing. We’re passionate about working with leaders who want to create lasting impact and positive change in their organizations, with their teams, and in greater society. Please visit www.linkageinc.com for more information on how Purposeful Leadership can help you strengthen your own leadership and the leadership of your organization.

Contact:

Lauren Johnson
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