The Leadership Progression Blueprint: New Data on What Shapes Leaders, What Skills Matter, and What Accelerates Careers

The Leadership Progression Blueprint: What Shapes Leaders, What Skills Matter, and What Accelerates Careers

New data from 100+ professionals reveals the hidden gaps in leadership development and why the path to senior roles looks nothing like what companies teach.

In an era where leadership pipelines are under scrutiny and succession planning feels more urgent than ever, organisations continue to invest heavily in formal development programs, executive coaching, and credential-based advancement. Yet a recent LinkedIn poll series of professionals across industries reveals a striking disconnect: the factors that actually shape leaders and accelerate careers have little to do with what’s in the corporate playbook.
  

The data paints a clear picture. Leadership growth is experiential and self-driven. The skills that matter most for advancement aren’t technical—they’re relational and strategic. And the single biggest miss from managers? Failing to give emerging leaders proximity to the decisions that matter.  

Here’s what the data shows, and what leaders and organisations must do differently to build the next generation of senior talent.  

Leaders are Forged by Fire, Not Formal Programs  

When asked what shaped their leadership growth most in the last two years, respondents pointed overwhelmingly to experience over enablement:
  

• 36% cited first-hand setbacks and challenges as their primary growth driver  

• 32% credited personal initiative—self-directed learning, stretch goals, and proactive skill-building  

• 20% named a great manager as the key factor  

• Just 12% pointed to external coaching or mentorship 

The takeaway? Leadership is built in the arena, not the classroom. While great managers and coaches provide valuable support, they’re accelerants—not substitutes—for the hard-won lessons that come from navigating ambiguity, recovering from failure, and taking ownership when the path isn’t clear.
  

This aligns with decades of research on adult learning: we develop competence through deliberate practice in high-stakes environments, not passive consumption of frameworks. Yet many organisations still design leadership development around workshops, assessments, and certifications—tools that inform but rarely transform.
 

What this means for organisations: Stop treating leadership development as a program. Treat it as a portfolio of experiences. Rotate high-potential talent through stretch assignments, cross-functional projects, and turnaround situations. Create safe-to-fail environments where setbacks become teachable moments, not career enders.  

The Next-Role Gap: Executive Presence and Stakeholder Influence  

When asked which skill they most need to grow into their next role, respondents revealed a clear pattern: the barrier to advancement isn’t technical competence—it’s the ability to show up, influence, and navigate complexity at senior levels.
  

• 39% identified executive presence as their top development need  

• 32% pointed to stakeholder influence—the ability to align, persuade, and move decisions across organisational boundaries  

• 21% cited strategic thinking  

• Just 7% named people leadership
    

Combined, 71% of respondents see presence and influence as the critical gap—skills that are rarely taught explicitly but are essential for operating in senior roles.
  

Executive presence isn’t about charisma or polish. It’s about clarity under pressure, the ability to distill complexity into crisp recommendations, and the confidence to hold a point of view in rooms where you’re not the most senior person. Stakeholder influence is equally nuanced: it requires understanding organisational politics, building coalitions, and pre-aligning decisions before they hit the table.  

These are the skills that separate high performers from high-potential leaders. Yet they’re often learned through osmosis—or not at all.  

What this means for aspiring leaders: Seek opportunities to present to senior stakeholders. Practice translating technical work into business impact. Build relationships laterally and upward, not just within your team. And ask for feedback specifically on how you show up in high-stakes moments.  

What this means for managers: Coach your team on presence and influence explicitly. Role-play difficult conversations. Debrief after key meetings. Sponsor your high-potentials into rooms where they can observe and practice these skills in real time.  

The Manager Miss: Exposure To Decision-Making  

Perhaps the most revealing finding came when respondents were asked what they wish their past manager had done to better prepare them for leadership:  

• 47% said they wish they’d been given exposure to decision-making—the chance to see how leaders weigh trade-offs, navigate ambiguity, and make calls with incomplete information  

• 24% wanted more honest feedback  

• 18% wished they’d been challenged more  

• Just 12% felt fully prepared  

Nearly half of respondents felt shut out of the decision-making process—and that gap has lasting consequences. Without exposure to how decisions are made, emerging leaders lack the mental models, judgment, and confidence to step into senior roles when the opportunity arises.  

This isn’t about inviting everyone into every decision. It’s about intentionally creating proximity: bringing high-potentials into strategy discussions, walking them through your reasoning after tough calls, and delegating decisions with coaching rather than directives.  

The best managers treat decision-making as a teaching opportunity. They narrate their thought process, expose the trade-offs, and invite input—even when the final call is theirs. The worst managers hoard decisions, leaving their teams to execute without context or agency. 

What this means for managers: Audit your decision-making process. Are you creating opportunities for your team to observe, contribute, and own decisions? Or are you defaulting to command-and-control because it’s faster? The short-term efficiency of top-down decisions comes at the long-term cost of underdeveloped leaders.  

What Actually Accelerates Careers  

When asked what accelerated their career progression most significantly, respondents pointed to a clear winner:  

• 54% credited continuous learning and upskilling—personal initiative to stay relevant, build new capabilities, and adapt to changing demands  

• 23% cited high-visibility projects that created exposure and opportunity  

• 15% pointed to building key relationships through networking and strategic connections  

• Just 8% named crisis or change delivery as the primary accelerator
    

More than half of respondents attribute their career momentum to self-directed growth. This isn’t about collecting certifications—it’s about staying curious, seeking feedback, and proactively closing skill gaps before they become career blockers.  

High-visibility projects came in second, reinforcing a key truth: impact matters, but discoverable impact matters more. The best work in the world won’t accelerate your career if no one knows you did it. Leaders who progress fastest find ways to make their contributions visible—through cross-functional collaboration, executive sponsorship, or strategic positioning on initiatives that matter to the business.  

What this means for aspiring leaders: Own your development. Don’t wait for your manager to hand you a growth plan. Identify the skills your next role requires, find ways to build them, and seek projects that put those skills on display. And don’t underestimate the power of relationships—careers are built on trust, not just talent. 

What this means for organisations: Create pathways for visibility. Rotate talent through high-impact, cross-functional initiatives. Recognise and reward continuous learning. And make sure your promotion criteria reward outcomes, not just tenure.  

What Demonstrates Readiness for Senior Leadership  

The final question cut to the heart of what organisations should look for when evaluating leadership readiness:  

• 39% said elevating team performance is the clearest signal  

• 33% pointed to delivering measurable results  

• 28% cited demonstrating influence at the executive level  

• 0% selected training or credentials earned
    

Zero percent. Not a single respondent believed that credentials alone demonstrate readiness for senior leadership.  

Instead, 72% pointed to outcomes—either individual results or team performance—as the primary indicator. This reflects a fundamental truth: senior leadership is about impact through others. It’s not what you can do—it’s what you can enable, scale, and multiply across a team or organisation.  

Elevating team performance topped the list because it signals the transition from individual contributor to force multiplier. Senior leaders don’t just deliver—they build systems, develop talent, and create conditions for others to succeed.
  

What this means for organisations: Rethink your promotion criteria. Are you rewarding people who deliver results themselves, or people who elevate the performance of those around them? Are you promoting based on potential, or based on evidence of impact through others? The best predictor of senior leadership success isn’t what someone has learned—it’s what they’ve enabled.  

The Leadership Progression Blueprint

Synthesising the data, a clear blueprint emerges for how leaders actually grow, what skills matter most, and what accelerates careers:
  

How Leaders Grow (Inputs)
  

• Experience over enablement: First-hand challenges (36%) and personal initiative (32%) outpace formal supports  

• Managers matter, but not as much as we think: Only 20% cited a great manager as the primary growth driver  

• Coaching is additive, not transformative: Just 12% pointed to external mentorship  

Where Leaders Get Stuck (Gaps)
  

• Executive presence (39%) and stakeholder influence (32%) are the biggest barriers to the next role  

• 47% wish they’d had earlier exposure to decision-making—the single biggest manager miss  

• Technical skills and people leadership are less of a concern than the ability to show up and influence at senior levels
    

What Accelerates Careers (Catalysts)
  

• Continuous learning and upskilling (54%) are the dominant accelerators—self-directed growth beats networking, visibility, and crisis delivery  

• High-visibility projects (23%) create opportunity—impact must be discoverable  

• Relationships matter (15%), but they’re not the primary driver
    

What Signals Readiness (Outcomes)
  

• Elevating team performance (39%) and delivering measurable results (33%) are the top indicators  

• Executive-level influence (28%) matters, but outcomes matter more  

• Credentials and training (0%) don’t signal readiness—experience and impact do  

What Leaders and Organisations Should Do Differently
  

For Aspiring Leaders:
  

1. Seek stretch assignments and high-stakes experiences. Growth happens at the edge of your competence, not in your comfort zone.
2. Build executive presence and stakeholder influence deliberately. Practice distilling complexity, holding a point of view, and pre-aligning decisions.
3. Make your impact discoverable. Choose work that matters and find ways to make your contributions visible.
4. Own your development. Don’t wait for a program or a manager to hand you a growth plan. Identify gaps and close them proactively.
5. Focus on outcomes through others. The transition to senior leadership is about enabling, not just executing.
     

For Managers:
  

1. Create decision proximity. Rotate high-potentials into key decisions monthly. Narrate your reasoning. Delegate with coaching, not just directives.
2. Stretch with scaffolding. Scope assignments 10–20% beyond current capability, with clear guardrails and support.
3. Give honest, specific feedback. 24% of respondents wished for more candour. Don’t let kindness become a barrier to growth.
4. Sponsor your talent into visibility. Get them into rooms, readouts, and recognition opportunities. Make their impact discoverable.
5. Coach on presence and influence explicitly. These skills are rarely taught but essential for advancement. Role-play, debrief, and give real-time feedback.
     

For Organisations:  

1. Treat leadership development as a portfolio of experiences, not a program. Rotate talent through stretch assignments, cross-functional projects, and turnaround situations. 
2. Promote based on outcomes through others, not credentials. Elevating team performance and measurable results should be the primary criteria. 
3. Create pathways for visibility. High-impact, cross-functional initiatives should be accessible to high-potentials, not just senior leaders. 
4. Reward continuous learning. Make upskilling and self-directed growth part of your culture and promotion criteria. 
5. Close the empathy gap. 47% of respondents felt shut out of decision-making. Managers need training on how to develop leaders, not just manage work.
     

Final Thoughts
  

Leadership isn’t built in a classroom. It’s forged in challenging moments, proximity to decision making processes, and the ability to deliver measurable impact—through others. The data is clear: leaders progress fastest when they put themselves in the path of challenge, visibility, and continuous growth. Credentials don’t carry the day. Outcomes do.  

For organisations, the imperative is equally clear: stop treating leadership development as a program. Treat it as a system of experiences, exposure, and accountability. The leaders who will shape your future aren’t waiting for permission—they’re already taking initiative. Your job is to create the conditions for them to succeed.  

The blueprint is simple. The execution is hard. But the cost of getting it wrong—underdeveloped leaders, broken pipelines, and talent walking out the door—is far higher than the investment required to get it right. 

Insights from Chris Preston, CEO Zeren & Renoir. Chris leads the global teams at Zeren and Renoir, bringing over 20 years of experience building teams, brands, and businesses. He has partnered with clients around the world to deliver permanent, interim, and consulting solutions.