This is the sixth article in a leadership series exploring the six practices that create exceptional leaders. Read the introductory article here: The Future Of Work Has Outgrown “Good Enough” Leadership. Your 6-Part Playbook To Become An Exceptional Leader Starts Here
In every organization going through change, every employee is silently asking the same question. “Do I still have a future here?”
They may not say it out loud or even admit it to themselves. But the question is there, sitting underneath every meeting, every strategic announcement, every conversation about where the business is headed. And whether a leader answers it, and how, determines more about employee retention and engagement than any compensation adjustment or wellness program ever will.
This is the fifth of six differentiators in our research with The Harris Poll on what separates exceptional leaders from good ones. Exceptional leaders were 2.22 times stronger at connecting strategy to employee growth than good leaders. The gap matters, because underneath that multiplier was a finding every senior leader should see.
The number in the research that ought to worry every executive
Only 14% of employees under good leaders feel they are reaching their full potential. That was the lowest score on any dimension we measured. Eighty-six percent of people working for a good leader do not feel they are growing.
Take a moment with that. Under leaders who are solid and competent, nearly nine out of ten people believe their potential is going unused. They are showing up and doing the work, but they have stopped investing in a future at your company, even if no one in HR has seen it yet.
The retention cost is real. Gallup research shows that organizations that have made a strategic investment in employee development report 11% greater profitability and are twice as likely to retain their employees. That gap does not come from training budgets alone but from leadership doing the work of tying individual growth to where the business is going.
What good leaders get wrong
Most good leaders think they are doing this well. They share the strategy, hold career development conversations, and approve training budgets. They may also sponsor high-potential programs, and all are real and valuable things.
What many leaders miss is that connecting strategy to growth requires a specific conversation that has to go both directions. Good leaders tend to communicate strategy at their teams. Here is where the company is going. Here is what we need to execute. Here is how your team’s goals support the plan. That is the top-down half, and it matters.
What it does not do is answer the question the employee is actually asking, which is: “Where do I fit in this future? Is there a version of it that has room for me and what I care about?”
Exceptional leaders answer both questions. They tell people where the company is going, and they connect that direction to what each person is trying to become. Communicating strategy and leading growth are distinct skills, and most leaders are trained in the first one but not the second.
A leader who saw it coming 11 years early
Ron Culp, a longtime agency leader and now a lecturer at DePaul University, told a story in our book about a young intern he spotted at Ketchum one evening in Chicago.
It was late, and Culp was leaving the office when he saw Myreete Wolford Stanforth, a recent hire, sitting on the floor of the business development office. She was pasting artwork on storyboards that were needed for a new business pitch the next morning. When Culp asked what she was doing, she explained that she made it a routine to stop by the offices of busy-looking people before leaving each night to offer her help.
In that moment, Culp said, he predicted she would be a standout success in the agency world.
Eleven years later, Stanforth is based in London as Ketchum’s head of global markets and marketing. She credits the senior leaders who noticed her, made space for her to show her passion, and treated her visibility as an asset rather than as an interruption. The leaders did not push her into a career path. They saw the one she was already building and helped her see it more clearly.
That is what connecting strategy to employee growth looks like in practice. A leader paying attention to who a person is already becoming, and helping them see where that growth fits into the future the company is building.
What to do starting Monday
Three practices close the gap faster than any formal development program.
1. Ask the question most leaders avoid.
In your next 1:1 with each direct report, ask some version of this. “What is the career you are actually trying to build? Not the one on your current job description but the one you would build if no one was watching.” Then listen. Most leaders never ask this because they are afraid of the answer and yet the answer is critical for you to lead this person well.
2. Stop talking about strategy in the abstract.
Every time you communicate the company strategy, connect it to each person on the receiving end. Rather than “here is the plan for the next two years,” try “here is the plan for the next two years, and here is what it could mean for someone in your role, someone building your skills, or someone looking to grow in the direction you are growing.” The strategy is the setup and the personal connection is what makes it land.
3. Recognize the direction someone is already going.
Most leaders wait for formal moments to acknowledge growth, such as performance reviews, promotions, or annual surveys. By that point, the employee has usually already decided whether they see a future at your company. Notice the direction someone is moving in the small moments, and say it out loud. “I see you leaning into the client strategy work. That is where the business is going, and you are already there.”
Why this matters right now
The labor market has changed permanently. Employees have easy online access to every alternative to their current job and can easily compare compensation, culture, and career trajectory across dozens of companies in minutes. People stay at companies where they believe they are becoming something and they leave companies where they feel stuck.
Artificial intelligence is intensifying this. As AI entirely alters job descriptions across every industry, employees are paying closer attention than ever to whether their leaders are helping them build skills that will matter in five years.
Connecting strategy to employee growth was one of the six differentiators for a reason. It is where strategy becomes personal, and where a company either earns the right to its own people’s futures or gives them up.
Next article: The sixth and final differentiator, enabling employees to meet the moment, and why control slows things down at the exact moment leaders need their people to move faster.
