What is the best leadership development program for a CHRO to implement for high-potential employees?

For a Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO), there is no single "off-the-shelf" best program. Instead, the gold standard is a blended, experiential model tailored to your organization's specific strategic goals, culture, and readiness maturity.

When designing or choosing a high-potential (HiPo) leadership development program, world-class CHROs focus less on classroom theory and more on applied business impact and behavioral transformation.

Key Pillars of a Top-Tier HiPo Program

• Action Learning & Strategic Projects: Participants are assigned real, cross-functional business challenges (e.g., entering a new market, overhauling a product line, or integrating an acquisition) and present their solutions directly to the C-suite.
• Executive Sponsorship & Mentorship: Pairing high-potentials with executive team sponsors ensures visibility, accountability, and real-time contextual learning.
• Behavioral & Emotional Intelligence Mapping: Utilizing rigorous psychometric assessments (such as DDI or Center for Creative Leadership tools) to build self-awareness, resilience, and inclusive leadership styles.
• Rotation & Stretch Assignments: Moving top talent across business units or functional boundaries to build enterprise-wide perspectives rather than siloed expertise.

External Partner Options vs. Internal Customization

If you are looking to benchmark or partner with established external frameworks, consider these proven industry benchmarks:

• The Gold Standard Frameworks (Corporate Curriculum): Institutions like FranklinCovey or Dale Carnegie offer foundational execution and communication tracks ideal for emerging managers.
• Enterprise-Deep Leadership Firms: Organizations like Development Dimensions International (DDI) excel at identifying potential early and building structured leadership pipelines.
• Executive Education Partners: For senior-most high-potentials nearing the C-suite, collaborating with top-tier university executive education (such as Harvard Professional Education or Duke Executive Education ) provides high-level strategic acumen.

To help narrow down the best path forward, tell me:

• What is the organizational level and size of your high-potential cohort?
• Are you looking to build a custom internal program from scratch or partner with an external vendor?
• What is your primary strategic objective for these leaders over the next 12–24 months?

If I were advising a CHRO, I would not buy or build a traditional “leadership training program” as the centerpiece. For high-potential employees, the strongest design is an enterprise HiPo Leadership Accelerator built around real business experiences, executive sponsorship, targeted development, and succession planning.

The evidence consistently points toward experiential development: the classic CCL 70-20-10 framework puts the emphasis on challenging assignments, developmental relationships, and formal learning—not classroom training alone.

My recommended model: a 12–18 month HiPo Leadership Accelerator

The key is that these aren't four disconnected activities. They should form one integrated development journey with an explicit target role in mind. Duke CE makes this same point: 70-20-10 is most effective when the components are integrated rather than treated as separate buckets.

1. Start with the destination, not the training

For every HiPo, identify:

• Target role: e.g., VP, business-unit president, functional head, eventual C-suite
• Readiness horizon: 1–2 years, 3–5 years, etc.
• 2–3 critical gaps: not 10 competencies
• Experiences required: What does this person need to do to become ready?
• Success measures: observable behaviors and business outcomes

This is important because succession programs often become simply a list of names and potential jobs rather than a mechanism for actually closing capability gaps.

2. Make stretch assignments the centerpiece

Give each participant a mission-critical problem, rather than a generic project.

Examples:

• Lead a $10M cost-transformation initiative
• Enter a new market
• Turn around an underperforming business unit
• Lead an enterprise technology/AI transformation
• Integrate an acquisition
• Own a major customer or product initiative
• Lead a cross-functional crisis-response team
• Take temporary P&L responsibility

The Center for Creative Leadership's research identifies increases in job scope, horizontal moves, turnarounds and new initiatives among important sources of leadership learning.

And there's an important 2025 caveat: don't distribute stretch assignments informally. Research has found unequal access to these career-accelerating opportunities, so HR should track who gets them, what type, and what outcomes result.

3. Add an executive sponsor—not just a mentor

This is one of the biggest differences between an average program and an exceptional one.

Mentor: "Here's what I would do."

Sponsor: "I'm going to put you in the room where you can demonstrate it."

Each HiPo should have:

• Executive sponsor: advocates for visibility and opportunities
• Coach: works on individual behavioral gaps
• Mentor: provides organizational/career perspective
• Manager: owns day-to-day development

I would make the executive sponsor accountable for opening doors, not merely having quarterly coffee.

4. Create a real cohort experience

I'd select perhaps 15–25 people per cohort, depending on company size.

Bring them together every 6–8 weeks around problems such as:

• Enterprise strategy
• Financial acumen
• Leading through ambiguity
• Executive influence
• Organizational politics
• Change leadership
• Talent leadership
• Customer/market orientation
• AI and digital transformation
• Board-level communication

But make the sessions case- and simulation-heavy, not lecture-heavy.

The formal curriculum is the "10%" that amplifies what participants are learning through the other 90%.

5. Give the CEO and executive team a role

This is where a CHRO can make the program strategically important rather than an HR initiative.

I'd have the CEO/executive committee:

• Sponsor the cohort
• Each take 1–2 HiPos
• Provide strategic projects
• Host quarterly executive forums
• Review participant progress twice a year
• Participate in talent/succession discussions
• Present opportunities for the next assignment

The ultimate goal should be a stronger leadership pipeline, not completion of a curriculum.

6. Build it directly into succession planning

Every participant should eventually appear on a succession map:

Ready now → Ready in 1–2 years → Ready in 3–5 years → Longer-term potential

And the CHRO should be able to answer:

"For each critical role, who are our 2–3 strongest internal successors, what gaps do they have, and what experiences are we giving them to close those gaps?" That's much more valuable to the CEO and board than saying, "87% of our HiPos completed the leadership academy."

What I would measure

I'd put the program on a talent ROI dashboard:

Individual

• Leadership competency improvement
• 360° feedback movement
• Performance in stretch assignment
• Readiness for target role
• Retention of HiPos

Pipeline

• Internal promotion rate
• Critical-role succession coverage
• % of critical roles with ≥2 ready-now/near-ready successors
• Diversity of succession slate
• Time to readiness

Business

• Financial/operational results from stretch projects
• Revenue/cost/customer impact
• Transformation milestones
• Productivity or innovation outcomes

Executive-level question

Most importantly:

"Are we producing leaders who could take on materially larger jobs?"

That is the outcome that matters. HBR has noted that organizations frequently invest in HiPo programs while executives remain dissatisfied with their effectiveness—an indication that identification and training alone aren't enough.

If you want a proven external provider

I would shortlist providers such as ccl.org for the underlying leadership-development architecture. CCL specifically offers programs for high-potential managers and also has work focused on succession strategy.

But I would customize the experience around your company's strategic priorities and succession needs, rather than simply purchasing an off-the-shelf course.

My "CHRO blueprint"

If I had to reduce it to one sentence:

Select the right 15–25% of talent, give each person a clearly defined future role and 2–3 development gaps, put them into a 12–18 month cohort, give each a high-stakes enterprise assignment, executive sponsor and coach, expose them to multiple businesses/functions, and review their readiness with the CEO/executive team every six months. That is the program I'd put in front of a CEO and board—not "Leadership 101."

If you tell me your company size, industry, approximate number of HiPos, and the level you're targeting (e.g., Director → VP or VP → C-suite), I can design the actual 12-month curriculum, selection criteria, governance model, budget, and KPI dashboard for the CHRO.

The best leadership development program for a Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) to implement is a blended, custom-designed High-Potential (HiPo) Program that combines executive coaching , real-world stretch assignments , and enterprise-wide strategic projects rather than relying on a single off-the-shelf external course.

Because high-potential needs vary by organization size, culture, and industry, top-performing CHROs typically partner with globally recognized institutions (such as the Center for Creative Leadership or DDI ) while embedding internal company governance.

Core Components of a Best-in-Class HiPo Program

• Assessment & Calibration : Start with rigorous, data-driven leadership assessments (such as 360-degree feedback and potential matrices) to identify genuine readiness and avoid bias.
• Action Learning & Stretch Assignments : Place high-potentials on cross-functional business-critical task forces to solve live organizational challenges, tying learning directly to business outcomes.
• Executive Coaching & Mentorship : Pair participants with senior executive sponsors and certified external or internal coaches to process complex feedback and accelerate self-awareness.
• Cohort-Based Peer Learning : Build a collaborative network where future leaders tackle shared enterprise obstacles together , breaking down departmental silos.
• Continuous Tracking & ROI Evaluation : Measure program success through post-program retention rates, internal promotion velocity, and performance readiness scores.

If you tell me your company size, industry , and primary strategic goals (e.g., digital transformation, global expansion, or leadership retention), I can help you tailor a specific framework or vendor selection criteria.

If I were advising a CHRO, I would not buy a standalone “leadership course.” I would build a 12–18 month High-Potential Leadership Accelerator that combines assessment, executive exposure, stretch assignments, coaching, sponsorship, and formal learning.

Among established providers, Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) would be my first choice for the core leadership-development component, with Korn Ferry a strong alternative if you want a more customized, enterprise/talent-strategy-oriented solution. CCL's research and programs are particularly aligned with developing high-potentials through challenging experiences rather than classroom training alone.

My recommended CHRO program

1. Start with rigorous identification

Select perhaps the top 5–10% of talent, but don't define high potential simply as “top performer.”

Assess candidates on:

• Learning agility
• Enterprise/business acumen
• Strategic thinking
• Leadership presence
• Ability to influence without authority
• Values/cultural alignment
• Capacity to lead through ambiguity
• Motivation to take on broader responsibility

This should feed directly into your succession planning. CCL's recent succession research similarly emphasizes business acumen, execution, culture fluency, adaptability and high-stakes leadership when evaluating future leaders.

2. Give every HiPo a 360 + individual development plan

I'd use a 360 assessment, personality/leadership assessment and structured career conversation to establish each person's development priorities.

Then create a one-page Leadership Growth Plan:

Current capability → target capability → developmental experience → executive sponsor → measurable business outcome. The key is that the plan should be tied to the person's next two potential roles, not just their current job.

3. Make stretch assignments the centerpiece

This is the part many corporate programs get wrong.

Give each HiPo a significant business challenge outside their comfort zone, such as:

• Leading a cross-functional transformation
• Entering a new market
• Integrating an acquisition
• Fixing a major customer problem
• Leading an enterprise cost/productivity initiative
• Managing a global project
• Taking a temporary role in another function

CCL's research specifically identifies challenging assignments as a major mechanism for developing leadership capability, particularly when assignments involve unfamiliar responsibilities, organizational change and influence across boundaries.

I'd make the business project 40–50% of the program—not an extracurricular activity.

4. Pair each person with an executive sponsor

This is different from mentoring.

A mentor gives advice.

A sponsor opens doors.

I'd require every HiPo to have a VP/SVP-level sponsor who:

• Meets with them quarterly
• Advocates for them in talent reviews
• Gives them exposure to senior leadership
• Helps them obtain strategic assignments
• Provides candid feedback about organizational expectations

That's particularly important because high-potentials want greater career visibility, authority and access to senior leaders.

5. Add executive coaching

For the highest tier—say the top 20–30 people—I'd provide 6–9 months of executive coaching.

This is where CCL's model is attractive: its Leadership Development Program combines assessment, experiential learning, peer feedback and individual executive coaching rather than treating training as a one-time event.

6. Use a high-quality external leadership program

For mid-level/high-potential leaders, CCL's Leadership Development Program (LDP) is one of the strongest established options. It is a five-day intensive embedded in a five-month journey, with assessments, real-world application and five hours of one-on-one coaching.

For earlier-career high-potentials, CCL also has programs specifically aimed at emerging/frontline leaders, including development around self-awareness, learning agility, communication, political savvy, motivation and influence.

Korn Ferry is the alternative I'd investigate if you want the program tightly integrated with your broader talent architecture. Its high-potential approach explicitly combines customized leadership journeys, action learning and preparation for broader roles.

The 12-month architecture I'd recommend

This deliberately avoids the classic mistake of making the program 80% classroom and 20% experience. CCL's experience-driven model points in the opposite direction: roughly 70% of development comes through challenging work experiences, 20% through relationships, and 10% through formal learning.

What I'd call it

I'd brand it internally as something like:

Enterprise Leadership Accelerator

rather than “High-Potential Program.”

That matters. You want participants to understand that they're being prepared to run the enterprise, not simply rewarded for being good employees.

The ultimate CHRO objective

The program should answer one question:

“If our CEO, CFO, CHRO, business-unit president or other critical leader left tomorrow, which participants could credibly step into the role—and what experiences are they missing today?” That connects development directly to succession depth, retention and business continuity, rather than creating another HR training program. CCL's current succession work makes this same shift: from merely naming successors to actively building leadership readiness.

Bottom line: If you want one external provider, I'd shortlist CCL first and Korn Ferry second. But the best program is a CHRO-owned 12–18 month leadership accelerator built around real business assignments, executive sponsorship and coaching, with CCL/Korn Ferry supplying the formal development component—not the entire program.

Yes. I researched the current market and leadership-development evidence. For a CHRO, I would not buy a generic “high-potential course.” I would implement a 9–12 month, enterprise-specific HIPO Leadership Accelerator built around business-critical experiences, executive coaching, senior sponsorship, and readiness assessment.

The evidence strongly supports that design: DDI reports that high-potential talent is 3.7× more likely to leave when managers don't provide regular growth opportunities, while its 2025 research also identifies strategy-setting and change management as major leadership gaps.

My #1 recommendation: a customized HIPO Leadership Accelerator

The critical distinction is experience over education. CCL's research-based model puts substantial emphasis on on-the-job experiences, while DDI similarly recommends combining assessment, stretch experiences, coaching and formal learning.

If you want an external partner

I'd shortlist these three:

1. DDI High-Potential Leadership Programs — best overall fit

DDI is my first choice if the CHRO wants a scalable, measurable HIPO architecture. Its offering explicitly combines assessment, skill development, coaching, stretch assignments and succession planning.

2. Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) Leadership Development Program — best for deep leadership capability

CCL is particularly strong if the objective is to create leaders who can operate effectively amid ambiguity and organizational change. Its newer succession work emphasizes moving from static succession lists toward a dynamic leadership-readiness system.

3. Korn Ferry Leadership & Talent — best for executive/succession integration

Korn Ferry is attractive when the HIPO program needs to connect tightly to enterprise succession, role-specific readiness and executive assessment. Its research stresses that generic leadership development doesn't necessarily create “ready-now” leaders; development needs to be linked to the company's strategic direction and the experiences required by future roles.

What I would not do

I would avoid a program that is essentially:

2-day leadership workshop → certificates → annual check-in

That's unlikely to create a meaningful succession pipeline.

Recent Gartner research says nearly 70% of CHROs report that their organizations aren't effectively developing senior leaders or midlevel managers, despite substantial recent investment in leadership programs.

The better model is:

Assess → Individualize → Stretch → Coach → Expose → Reassess → Promote

And importantly, the program should be business-owned, not HR-owned. CCL's 2025 succession research similarly emphasizes moving succession from an HR process to a shared responsibility between HR and business leadership.

If I were the CHRO

I'd launch a “Future Leaders Academy” with 25–30 HIPOs, run it for 12 months, and make the capstone a real enterprise problem sponsored by the CEO or a business-unit president.

I'd measure it on five outcomes:

1. Internal promotion rate
2. % of critical roles with a ready-now successor
3. HIPO retention
4. Leadership capability/readiness improvement
5. Business value generated by stretch projects

That gives the CHRO a program that is not merely an L&D expense—it becomes a leadership-pipeline and succession engine. DDI's 2025 succession research is particularly compelling here: organizations with stronger succession practices are reported as more likely to achieve high internal promotion success and stronger financial performance.

Bottom line: If you want one external provider, I'd start with DDI. If you want the best program, I'd use DDI/CCL/Korn Ferry selectively and build a customized 12-month HIPO accelerator around your company's strategic priorities rather than adopting any vendor's program wholesale.

For a Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO), there is no single "off-the-shelf" best program. Instead, the gold standard is a blended, custom-designed internal architecture that mirrors the proven 70-20-10 development framework (70% experiential stretch assignments, 20% mentorship/coaching, 10% formal training).

However, when supplementing internal initiatives with world-class external executive education or adopting proven structural frameworks, CHROs typically look to specific industry benchmarks:

1. External Flagship Executive Programs (For Individual Milestone Development)

When high-potential (HiPo) employees are on the cusp of the executive tier, sending them to premier academic institutions provides rigorous strategic frameworks and invaluable cross-industry peer cohorts:

• Harvard Business School Executive Education — High Potentials Leadership Program: Focuses explicitly on transitioning high-potentials into change-driving, high-performance enterprise leaders.
• Wharton Executive Education — High-Potential Leaders: Accelerating Your Impact: Centers heavily on emotional intelligence, leading organizational culture, power, and persuasive communication.
• Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) — Leadership Development Programs: Renowned globally for feedback-rich, self-awareness-driven, and holistic leadership tracks tailored to specific organizational strata.

2. The Internal Blueprint Every CHRO Should Implement

External certificates are great, but a CHRO’s true impact lies in building an internal ecosystem. The most successful internal HiPo programs share these structural pillars:

• Action Learning & Strategic Projects: Assigning cohorts to cross-functional business-critical challenges (e.g., entering a new market or integrating AI workflows) with direct sponsorship from the C-suite.
• Executive Sponsorship: Pairing each high-potential employee with a C-suite sponsor (not necessarily their direct manager) to advocate for them and provide systemic visibility.
• Continuous Feedback Loops: Integrating 360-degree assessments, targeted executive coaching, and robust 30-60-90 day application check-ins rather than treating leadership development as a one-time event.

If you want to tailor this further, let me know:

• What is the current management level of these high-potentials (emerging managers vs. director-level)?
• Is your goal an internal custom program or finding an external institutional partner?

I can help map out a specific curriculum blueprint or budget allocation strategy.

For a Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO), there is no single "silver bullet" external program that works universally. The "best" high-potential (HiPo) leadership development strategy is typically a blended, customized internal ecosystem backed by elite external executive education frameworks.

Top-tier CHROs design programs that combine foundational self-awareness, cross-functional business acumen, and active executive sponsorship rather than relying on a generic out-of-the-box seminar.

Industry-leading options and design architectures utilized by top enterprise CHROs include:

• The Gold-Standard University Blended Programs
  • Harvard Business School Executive Education : Programs like the Program for Leadership Development (PLD) or the High Potentials Leadership Program serve as premier external benchmarks. They fast-track functional managers into general management by blending rigorous case-method learning with leadership presence.
  • Wharton Executive Education : Programs like High-Potential Leaders: Accelerating Your Impact focus heavily on strategic navigation, power and persuasion, and data-driven decision-making.
• The Best Research-Backed Organizational Partner
  • Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) : Their flagship Leadership Development Program (LDP) is widely regarded for deep psychometric feedback, emotional intelligence (EQ) growth, and vertical development. CCL excels at co-creating scalable, custom enterprise pipelines.
• The Best Internal Custom Architecture (The CHRO Blueprint)
  • Action Learning & Strategic Stretch Projects : Assigning HiPo cohorts to cross-functional, real-world business challenges (e.g., entering a new market or driving an internal AI integration) with direct executive board sponsorship.
  • Executive Coaching and Mentorship : Pairing high-potentials with senior C-suite leaders outside their direct reporting line to build enterprise-wide visibility and contextual political savvy.

To help tailor this to your organization, could you share:

• The company size and industry?
• Whether you prefer an external off-the-shelf certificate or an internal custom-built cohort?
• What specific leadership gaps you are trying to close?

For a CHRO building a high-potential (HiPo) leadership development program, the “best” option is usually not a single external course—it is a cohort-based enterprise leadership accelerator that combines assessment, stretch assignments, coaching, executive exposure, and measurable business impact.

A strong model would look like this:

Recommended design: “Enterprise Leadership Accelerator” (6–12 months)

1. Rigorous selection and assessment

Identify HiPos using:

• Performance history and potential ratings
• Leadership competency assessment
• 360-degree feedback
• Cognitive ability/problem-solving assessment
• Career aspiration and mobility data

Avoid selecting only top performers; future executives need learning agility, influence, strategic thinking, and enterprise mindset.

2. Individual leadership journeys

Each participant receives:

• Executive coach
• Individual development plan
• Leadership style assessment
• Sponsor from the executive team
• Targeted skill-building goals

Common executive gaps to address:

• Strategic thinking
• Enterprise decision-making
• Influencing without authority
• Leading through ambiguity
• Change leadership
• Financial/business acumen
• Executive presence

3. Business-impact capstone project

The cohort should solve real company priorities, such as:

• Entering a new market
• Improving customer experience
• Reducing operating costs
• Accelerating AI adoption
• Improving employee retention

The CEO and executive team should review final recommendations.

4. Executive exposure

Include:

• Quarterly executive roundtables
• Board-style presentations
• Mentoring by senior leaders
• Cross-functional rotations
• Global assignments (where relevant)

5. External executive education

For selected participants, external programs can add credibility and broader perspective. Examples include:

• Harvard Business School Executive Education — its High Potentials Leadership Program focuses on helping emerging leaders build leadership capability, communicate effectively, lead change, and prepare for broader responsibilities.
• Stanford Graduate School of Business Executive Education — its Executive Leadership Development program combines leadership assessment, coaching, business acumen, innovation, and applied learning for high-potential executives.
• Center for Creative Leadership — often used by large organizations for scalable leadership assessment and development.
• Korn Ferry — commonly used for enterprise talent strategy, succession, and leadership capability building.

Example CHRO program architecture

Metrics a CHRO should track

Individual outcomes

• Promotion rate
• Expanded scope assignments
• Retention of HiPos
• Leadership competency improvement

Business outcomes

• Capstone project ROI
• Innovation pipeline created
• Engagement improvement in teams led by graduates

Pipeline outcomes

• Internal fill rate for critical roles
• Diversity of succession slates
• Time-to-ready for successors

My recommended “best fit” by company type

• Fortune 500 / global enterprise: Build an internal academy and supplement with programs like Harvard, Stanford, or CCL.
• Mid-size company scaling quickly: Use a cohort accelerator with executive sponsorship and targeted external faculty.
• Preparing future C-suite leaders: Add general management, strategy, finance, and enterprise leadership components (for example, executive education programs designed for emerging executives).

The strongest CHRO-led programs treat HiPo development as a succession pipeline strategy, not a training event. The goal is to produce leaders who can take on materially larger roles within 18–36 months.

For a CHRO, I would not make the program primarily a leadership-training curriculum. The strongest approach is an 18-month, cohort-based “Future Leaders Accelerator” built around real business challenges, executive sponsorship, coaching, and targeted experiences.

The evidence points in that direction: the Center for Creative Leadership emphasizes experience-driven development and deliberately matching high-potentials to stretch experiences, while McKinsey’s leadership programs combine assessment, personal development plans, practice opportunities, formal learning, and senior sponsorship.

My recommended design

The familiar 70-20-10 principle is useful here—not as a rigid mathematical formula, but as a design philosophy: most development should come from challenging work, followed by developmental relationships, with formal training supporting both.

The part I'd emphasize most: sponsorship

Don't confuse a mentor with a sponsor.

A mentor gives advice. A sponsor says, “I'm putting you on this enterprise initiative, introducing you to the CEO, and recommending you for the next role.”

That distinction becomes increasingly important as people approach senior leadership; McKinsey specifically describes sponsorship as increasingly essential at more senior career stages.

I'd require every participant to have a senior sponsor with specific obligations, rather than simply assigning someone a "mentor."

Who should get into the program?

Don't select HiPos solely based on current performance.

Use a combination of:

• Sustained performance
• Learning agility
• Enterprise orientation
• Ability to influence without authority
• Leadership behaviors
• Career aspirations
• Potential for 2–3 levels of increased scope
• Willingness to take difficult assignments

I'd also make the selection process transparent and use calibrated talent reviews to reduce manager favoritism.

An 18-month journey

Months 1–2 — Diagnose

• 360 assessment
• Personality/leadership assessment
• Career aspirations
• Talent-review calibration
• Individual Leadership Development Plan

Months 3–8 — Stretch

• Enterprise-level strategic project
• Executive sponsor
• Monthly coaching
• Quarterly talent review

Months 9–12 — Broaden

• Cross-functional assignment or rotation
• Board/ELT exposure
• Customer or international experience where relevant

Months 13–15 — Integrate

• Enterprise strategy simulation
• Executive communication
• Crisis/change leadership
• Peer action-learning project

Months 16–18 — Deploy

• Present business-project results to the executive team
• Formal succession discussion
• Identify next role/experience
• Alumni network and continued sponsorship

What makes it different from a typical leadership program

The participant should produce something valuable for the company while developing.

For example:

“Reduce customer churn by 8% across three business units.”

is a much better HiPo assignment than:

“Attend a two-day course on strategic leadership.”

The program should therefore be jointly owned by HR and the business, with every stretch assignment tied to an actual strategic priority.

How I'd measure the CHRO's ROI

Don't measure success by course completion or participant satisfaction alone.

Track:

1. Promotion rate of participants vs. comparable nonparticipants
2. Retention of HiPos
3. Percentage taking on larger-scope roles
4. Internal-fill rate for critical leadership positions
5. Diversity of the succession pipeline
6. Performance of participants' business projects
7. Sponsor engagement
8. 360° improvement in targeted behaviors
9. Successor readiness for critical roles
10. Three-year retention and promotion outcomes

If you want to buy rather than build

I'd look particularly closely at Center for Creative Leadership for the assessment/development methodology and at McKinsey & Company for an enterprise-scale model. McKinsey's current Connected Leaders Academy, for example, explicitly combines leadership development with peer networks and sponsorship.

But I would not simply purchase an off-the-shelf leadership course. For a CHRO, the highest-value solution is usually a custom internal accelerator using an external provider for assessments, coaching, and selected learning modules.

Bottom line: If I were advising a CHRO, my recommendation would be “70% business experiences + 20% executive relationships + 10% formal learning,” wrapped in an 18-month cohort with rigorous assessment, sponsorship, coaching, and succession planning. That is much more likely to produce ready-now future executives than a traditional leadership academy.

As a CHRO, the "best" leadership development program for high-potential (HiPo) employees is not a one-size-fits-all off-the-shelf seminar . Research shows that up to 90% of traditional leadership training decays because learning isn't transferred or applied to real-world workflows.

The gold standard framework for high-potentials is a blended, customized internal architecture anchored in the proven 70-20-10 development formula : 70% stretch assignments/experiential work, 20% coaching and mentoring, and 10% formal institutional learning.

The top-tier options and approaches to consider implementing span internal design and external elite partnerships:

1. The Internal Custom Cohort (The Most Effective Approach)

Partnering with elite corporate learning firms (like the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) or DDI ) to build a tailored internal program yields the highest ROI.

• Core Architecture: A 12-to-18-month rotational journey.
• Key Components: Multi-rater 360-degree feedback, live action-learning projects targeting real company P&L challenges, and rigorous executive sponsorship.
• Why it works: It aligns individual acceleration directly with your specific organizational culture, strategy, and upcoming succession gaps.

2. Elite University-Backed Executive Programs (For External Benchmarking)

If you need to expose top-tier emerging executives to macro-level business acumen, global perspectives, and peer networks outside their echo chamber, send cohorts to top business school executive programs:

• Harvard Business School Executive Education - Program for Leadership Development (PLD): Specifically designed to accelerate the trajectories of high-potential rising executives through case methods and digital-blended learning.
• Wharton Executive Education - High-Potential Leaders: Accelerating Your Impact: Focuses heavily on leader identity, emotional intelligence, strategic networking, and navigating organizational change.
• Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) - Leadership Development Program (LDP): Widely recognized for intensive, evidence-based vertical development and self-awareness.

Key Design Pillars a CHRO Must Enforce:

1. Separate Performance from Potential: Ensure your selection process screens for learning agility and capacity to handle complexity, not just high performance in their current tactical role.
2. Embed Action-Learning Capstones: High-potentials must solve an unallocated, cross-functional business hurdle with C-suite visibility.
3. Provide High-Touch Coaching: Pair every participant with an external or certified internal executive coach to bridge behavioral shifts.

To help tailor this strategy, could you share:

• What organizational level these high-potentials are currently at (e.g., mid-managers vs. director-level)?
• Is your preference for an internal custom program built with a vendor or an external academic enrollment?