One of your most valuable assets is the leaders you create

I work in the data center industry, where we’re known for our digital-ready, adaptive infrastructure. Yet one of our most valuable products is actually the leaders we create.

Developing leaders is critical for every growing company. For us, it’s an urgent priority. Demand for AI and high-powered computing means we’re expanding almost 30% annually. In just two years, we’ve grown from under 200 employees in the U.S. to around 900 across five countries.

But as vital as leadership development is, it often gets overlooked. Just four out of 10 executives say their company has high-quality leadership, while 45% of managers don’t think their organization is doing enough to develop senior talent.

Turning your company into a leadership development engine requires looking at tomorrow through a talent lens. It’s not just about hiring great people—it’s about building a pipeline of leaders who can step up, inspire teams, and represent the business at its best. That means promoting from within, bringing in fresh perspectives, and upskilling existing leaders to be ready for what’s next.

Even for companies that aren’t on a rapid growth trajectory, our experience offers some lessons worth considering. Here are three things any business can do to develop its leaders.

1. Identify potential and create the roadmap

To start, you need a clear leadership philosophy. Ours is simple: Grow people, grow the business. We see leaders as those who take initiative, elevate others, and deliver results without needing to be micromanaged.

The next step: Create a leadership roadmap by figuring out which roles you need today and tomorrow. This isn’t just about identifying people but also pinpointing business needs. Who on your team can be developed to meet those objectives? What roles call for a new hire? Who will need replacing? With an aging workforce threatening a talent shortage, succession planning is increasingly important for future-proofing.

It’s also crucial to balance internal promotions with new blood. When I became CEO, I could have recreated the C-suite from my previous company. Instead, we built a culture rooted in our unique business needs—recruiting leaders from a variety of organizations and developing existing talent. Last quarter alone, we promoted four executives within the company to new roles.

I’m also a firm believer that A players should hire A players. That demands letting go of fears around being replaced and bringing on people who help raise everybody’s game. 

Finally, one of the most powerful things an organization can do is treat leadership as a behavior, not a goal. Give people the chance to lead projects, influence peers, and solve hard problems before they ever manage a team. It builds confidence, surfaces potential, and helps people grow into leaders long before their title says so.

2. Train and develop your leaders

Identifying a future leader is just the beginning. The real work lies in helping them develop. General Electric’s Leadership Development Institute once set the standard here, especially during the Jack Welch era. IBM’s offerings include online leadership development programs that earn participants a certificate from a top business school.

While some companies prefer a one-size-fits-all approach, we break down leadership development into three cohorts. One is for team members who have never led before. The next is for midlevel managers, covering topics like having tough conversations, big-picture thinking and leading rather than managing. For high-potential employees (chosen by the C-suite), we offer a Leadership Excellence program designed to accelerate those who can move the business forward.

One-on-one training is also essential. Through our mentorship program, we pair top leadership candidates with senior executives. We also have promising leaders shadow more senior team members, especially if they might end up succeeding that person.

Such efforts pay off. One study found that the average ROI for every dollar spent on leadership development is $7. Besides a revenue boost, those benefits include savings from higher employee retention and lower recruiting costs.

3. Support the leaders you have

Leaders need autonomy to do what they do best, but that freedom hinges on support from their peers.

We recently brought the entire executive team together for an offsite. Such meetings are a chance to align on priorities, share ideas, talk about what is and isn’t working, and brainstorm how to overcome obstacles. Having that peer network to lean on helps set leaders up for success with their teams.

Burnout is also a major problem. Younger people are especially vulnerable, with 75% of leaders under age 35 saying they feel used up at the end of each day.

To prevent that, we provide executive coaching, settle on a realistic scope for leaders’ duties and encourage setting boundaries. Avoiding burnout also means normalizing vulnerability and urging leaders to tell us if they’re at capacity. The worst thing that can happen is someone quitting because they didn’t have bandwidth. Especially when we can help them, whether that’s by hiring or bringing in staff from elsewhere in the business.

Challenges and opportunities

Developing the next generation of leaders has its stumbling blocks. One hurdle is that many young professionals are reluctant to lead. More than half of Gen Z employees don’t want to be middle managers, and roughly 70% would prefer to advance as individual contributors.

We’re tackling this challenge with a robust internship program that gives new grads exposure to multiple career paths, including leadership, so they can make an informed decision about what’s right for them.

AI adds another layer of complexity. On the one hand, I see it becoming a powerful development tool, offering leaders real-time feedback, personalized learning journeys and data-backed insights into team dynamics. On the other hand, AI is forcing leaders to start thinking about how it will transform the workforce and impact their teams.

But no matter what changes AI brings, it can’t replace the human element of leadership. For leaders at any successful business in any industry, qualities like empathy, judgment, and presence can’t be outsourced. If anything, AI frees up more time for leaders to focus on their most important job: bringing out the best in the people around them.

Andrew Schaap is CEO of Aligned Data Centers.