Leadership Development Series – The Secret to Building Great Leaders: More Than Theory – Practice, Habits, Beliefs – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #1142

Leadership Development Series – The Secret to Building Great Leaders: More Than Theory – Practice, Habits, Beliefs – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #1142

Dear Colleagues! This is Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #1142 for Pharma Veterans. Pharma Veterans Blogs are published by Asrar Qureshi on its dedicated site https://pharmaveterans.com. Please email to pharmaveterans2017@gmail.com  for publishing your contributions here.

Credit: Esteban Zapata Paèz

Credit: Muhammad Abdelghaffar

Credit: Wolf Art

Preamble

This blog post takes insights from Boston Consulting Group’s “The Secret to Building Great Leaders.” It explores how leadership transformation happens not through theory, but through sustained practice, explaining the three pillars of reframing, practicing deliberately, and hardwiring new behaviors.

What truly defines exceptional leadership is not workshop wisdom, strategic frameworks, or inspirational speeches alone, it’s how these translate into daily habits, beliefs, and behaviors. According to Boston Consulting Group, the gap between knowing what great leadership looks like and actually doing it is enormous and closing that gap is the real challenge.

Effective leaders don’t just learn, they reframe, practice, and hardwire new behaviors over time. This blog explores how and why this approach works, and how organizations can build it into their leadership culture.

Why Leadership Fails Without Doing

BCG notes that most leadership development programs, even those that include simulations, case studies, or coaching—fail to produce lasting impact. The reason is simple: leaders revert to behaviors reinforced by daily life, not the ones introduced in training. As former J&J HR chief Kaye Foster puts it: “We train leaders in theory, but then they fall back into routines when under pressure.”

Leadership development isn’t academic—it’s athletic. Like elite athletes, leaders grow through repetition, feedback, and daily exercise of their muscles, not just conceptual models.

The Reframe–Practice–Hardwire Model

BCG outlines a three-pronged approach to bridge this gap:

1. Reframe Beliefs

2. Practice Deliberately

3. Hardwire Behaviors

Together, these form a powerful engine for ongoing leadership growth.

1. Reframe Beliefs: Update Your Inner Script

Before behaviors can change, a leader’s foundational beliefs—about success, leadership, sacrifice, and identity must be challenged. Leaders often cling to beliefs forged by prior successes, treating them as infallible truths.

These beliefs become barriers when conditions change, what worked in the past may hold them back today. Like Marshall Goldsmith aptly takes up in his book titled ‘What brought you here won’t take you there’. 

BCG argues that real transformation begins when leaders deliberately disrupt their own thinking: Are outdated models standing in the way of new impact?

Example: A detail-oriented exec is known as the person who “gets things done.” But when promoted, that approach turns into micromanagement. The belief (“I’m reliable when I control the details”) needs to shift to trust delegation, curiosity, and shared ownership.

This shift often requires both introspection and emotional spark. As Coca-Cola’s Francisco Crespo notes: leaders must balance pride in past wins with hunger to grow.

2. Practice Deliberately: From Intention to Action

After reframing comes practice; structured, specific, and feedback-rich.

BCG compares leadership development to sports training: elite training focuses on high-leverage skills, repeated practice, feedback, and accountability.

Coaching works best when embedded daily, not isolated to occasional trainings.

Well-designed development programs align with real-world tasks: difficult team meetings, high-stakes decisions, feedback discussions, and conflict resolution.

What it looks like in practice:

A leader preparing to deliver negative feedback does a role-play beforehand.

They frame the feedback, anticipate reactions, practice tone.

They receive peer or coach feedback on how they handled it, and then apply that same task in a real setting.

Over time, these deliberate practices build new behavioral muscle and confidence.

3. Hardwire Rituals and Systems: Make Change Stick

Practice doesn’t stick unless it’s reinforced by organizational systems; governance, rituals, metrics, and routines. Leadership needs the right systems to survive stress, emerging pressure, or operational volatility. BCG recommends aligning culture and incentives with chosen leadership behaviors. This may include structured mentoring, operational rituals (like project retros), leadership scorecards, or peer sparring groups.

Example: Weekly team retros that include coaching on how inclusive feedback is delivered; leadership forums where bias indicators are discussed; and formal performance metrics that measure how teams are developed—not just business KPIs.

Hardwiring ensures leadership development becomes part of the organization's operating model, not just an add-on.

Building Leaders from the Ground Up: BCG’s Philosophy in Practice

BCG’s approach centers on design-for-adoption, a methodology rooted in behavioral science:

1. Pinpoint the highest-leverage capabilities needed for each leadership level.

2. Embed them into leaders' daily routines through tools and coaching.

3. Shape the environment,structures, language, metrics, to reinforce desired behaviors.

This isn’t just theory; it’s designed to become part of daily workflows, reinforcing what gets done, celebrated, and rewarded.

Maureen Mitchell, former GE coach, emphasizes that teams that bake leadership practice into daily work outperform those depending solely on individual development programs.

Why This Works, and Why It’s Better Than Traditional Leadership Training

Conventional leadership programs teach knowledge, but rarely change behavior long-term. In contrast:

 Reframing ensures awareness of outdated mindsets.

 Deliberate practice builds skills systemically.

 Hardwiring embeds change into the culture.

Together, they elevate leadership from occasional gestures to daily excellence.

How You Can Build This in Your Organization

1. Conduct a Leadership Audit

Identify two or three high-impact leadership behaviors your organization needs.

Assess current gaps and how leaders behave under stress.

2. Align Belief-Shifting Workshops

Design sessions that openly challenge prevailing assumptions.

Use peer dialogue, reflection, and real feedback to externalize faulty belief systems.

3. Integrate Practice into Daily Routines

Role-play scenarios linked to actual tasks (e.g., performance feedback, strategic negotiation).

Create peer coaching groups to review recent leadership moments and practice what’s next.

4. Build Infrastructure to Reinforce Change

Leadership rituals: peer learning clubs, after-action reviews, reciprocal feedback forums.

Governance: performance reviews that include behavioral metrics.

Incentives: emphasize team learning, staff development, and emotional intelligence in promotion criteria.

5. Monitor and Iterate

Regularly review progress: what mindsets shifted, what habits formed, what cultural cues support or challenge change.

Be willing to double down on what works and iterate where it doesn’t.

Sum Up

Leadership isn't developed by passive learning; it’s built through belief transformation, repeated practice, and organizational reinforcement. As BCG argues, embedding leadership in daily routines, not just training, produces true, lasting impact.

Elite organizations treat leadership like elite sport: practice every day, coach intensely, and build systems that support mastery. If your leadership development doesn’t feel like muscle building, it probably isn’t leadership development, it’s just education.

Concluded.

Disclaimers: Pictures in these blogs are taken from free resources at Pexels, Pixabay, Unsplash, and Google. Credit is given where available. If a copyright claim is lodged, we shall remove the picture with appropriate regrets.

For most blogs, I research from several sources which are open to public. Their links are mentioned under references. There is no intent to infringe upon anyone’s copyrights. If, any claim is lodged, it will be acknowledged and recognized duly.

Reference:

https://www.bcg.com/publications/2025/secret-to-building-great-leaders?utm_campaign=none&utm_content=202507_cta-bottomsection&utm_description=top10&utm_geo=global&utm_medium=email&utm_source=esp&utm_topic=none&utm_usertoken=CRM_ec8a706ddd1afd128c0d41808e57173ddaa23495&mkt_tok=Nzk5LUlPQi04ODMAAAGbqAksR8RXfds9B_Dd_rvv3Q9s8PcCd6SJo-KugzT3bTdJlLsl5R1BDVirFQiuq5au3sZZrrsIJSm2EOgWXdkLYFw7wBZMg0kW0lGYZxrF0lBSOOs