Identifying high potentials early : case study

Purpose: Driven by a shortage of leadership capacity, companies are seeking to identify leadership talent earlier. Some companies are introducing programs to identify leadership potential among university students and then hire “high potentials” directly into management designate roles. The purpose of this paper is to explore one such early-stage leadership development program. Currently, little information is available about these initiatives. Design/methodology/approach: Case study based on interviews with 18 managers and director of HR and archival employee records. Findings: This case study provides a detailed description of an early-stage leadership identification and development program. This program has been developed to identify leadership talent among senior university students prior to hiring and onboarding, provide support, training and development and fast-track them into leadership positions. The study provides insight into the challenges and effectiveness of an early-stage leadership program and offers some practical implications. Originality/value: To the author’s knowledge, this is the first study to document a leadership development program that identifies “high potentials” among university students for the purpose of developing them into company leaders.