Summary

Faced with global challenges, organizations have invested heavily in leadership development, but the impact of such a large investment has been of continual concern. Studies have suggested that effective leadership development relies on the interconnection of the top leader, senior managerial team, line managers, and human resource specialists; however, the perspective of learning and learners has received relatively limited examination. Leadership development must also look at the education, adult, and human resource development (HRD) paradigms. The three key components that comprise the intersection between adult education and HRD are experience, social context, and transformation. Learning directions in leadership development have both external and internal aspects, including using invisible force to accomplish work, managing paradoxical social dynamics, extending self-identity, and integrating multiple factors. For learning approaches, the ACT model, where A stands for acquire and apply, C stands for clean and calibrate, and T stands for transform and transcend, can assist in achieving these.