In the realm of towering ideas, "leadership acceleration" stands a story or two above the rest. It's a notion capable of advancing not just one company or one nation, but the world, and its origins can be traced not simply to a classroom, laboratory, or business best-seller, but to a handful of consultants from McKinsey & Company. One of those consultants is McKinsey partner David Fine, who is today described as the core leader of the firm's capability-building practices. However, Fine's contribution to the firm is hardly revealed by his title. Having been among the core group of consultants who opened the firm's Johannesburg office in 1995, Fine is recognized as one of the authors of what the Johannesburg office calls its African Manifesto. More a pledge, perhaps, than a legal document, the Manifesto embraces the goal of helping talented black South Africans develop as leaders. For its part, the South African government has mandated a timetable for the ascension of black managers to leadership positions as part of a wave of post-apartheid reforms.
"Our sense is that the long-term sustainable economic growth of South Africa and Africa depends enormously on building high-quality leaders," says Fine, who last year had an opportunity to expose the precepts of leadership acceleration on a world stage when he led a panel exploring South Africa's leadership challenge at the World Economic Forum.
In South Africa, conversations between business and government leaders are already taking place to accelerate leadership development, as Fine and his McKinsey colleagues advance their objective and help secure commitments from business institutions to be part of their leadership development curriculum.
"We look at this as an office that ultimately has to truly shape in some way the social fabric of the continent," says Fine, who believes that the grand ambition of McKinsey's South African office has been fueled in part by the excitement shown by McKinsey consultants from all parts of the world.
© Arc, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to TMSalesOperations@arc-network.com. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.