The world's best companies for developing leaders

Procter & Gamble (P&G) has once again proven its ability to develop strong, purposeful leaders, as it emerges as the number one company for leadership.

Based on their overall capability  and determination to help its leaders develop and rise within the organisation, the Hay Group study also ranked General Electric and Coca-Cola as the second and third best-performing businesses for leadership.

IBM came in fourth place, just ahead of Unilever.

The survey highlighted the common trait these top companies shared was their continued focus in developing their high-potential talent.

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Eight out of 10 of the top 20 companies identified in the survey had established clear career paths for their employees, compared to only 48% of all other companies.

Similarly, 80% of the top 20 were also well ahead of their peer groups by providing career development experiences for their organisation’s highest potentials, ensuring the company has the right people with the right skills when needed to fill their most critical roles.

“This year’s research shows that the world’s leading organisations are purposefully developing leaders who will be able to drive innovation and transform their organisations,” Ruth Malloy, global managing director of Hay Group's leadership and talent practice and co-leader of the best companies for leadership study, said.

“These best-in-class organisations are providing non-traditional, more diverse, career paths and training high-potential employees to meet specific business challenges and develop the skills required to help their organisations succeed in today's increasingly volatile, global environment.”

The survey also found that not only do the top 20 companies provide clearly defined and varied routes to leadership, they also intentionally seek to develop diverse leaders.

Half of these companies offered special leadership development programmes for women, compared to 13% of all other companies, the survey found.

Correspondingly, the top 20 companies were also more likely to report diversity among their senior ranks, with 68% (compared to 53% of all other companies) indicating the diversity of their senior leadership reflects the diversity of their employees.

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Top companies also tended to make leadership development programmes available at all experience levels (83% compared to 57%).

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