The active involvement of CEOs (chief executive officers) is a critical factor in building leadership, according to a new study released by Hewitt Associates, a global human resources outsourcing and consulting firm.

Hewitt's "Top Companies for Leaders in Asia-Pacific -- 2003'' reveals that the CEO is actively involved in developing leadership talent at all Top 10 companies identified, but in only 77 per cent of other companies studied.

In line with these findings, the study also reveals support for leadership development from the board of directors is considerably higher at the Top 10 companies.

Some 80 per cent of the Top 10 Companies agreed their board is actively involved in building leadership talent, while 80 per cent also believe their board commits the necessary resources to develop leaders.

Corresponding figures for the other study companies were 39 per cent and 41 per cent respectively.

"This is a very positive sign because when senior management takes accountability for developing their best leaders and its means this process is most effective,'' said Marc Effron, Hewitt's global practice leader for leadership consulting.

"Our final analysis of this data shows that CEO involvement is much higher in financially successful firms. The best CEOs spend 25 per cent or more of their time building leadership.''

Wipro Limited was named the top company for leaders in Asia-Pacific -- one of five companies from India in the Top 10. Ranked second, and also from India, was Tata Steel, followed by the Australian Gas Light Company.

Mic Bennett, Hewitt's managing director for Asia-Pacific, said: "Wipro is an excellent company for leaders. It is competing for people in an industry in which it is difficult to retain best talent and groom leadership, yet it has built great leaders and has also exported many leaders into the high-tech industry in recent years.''

In Asia-Pacific, the study also found that, in all, 70 per cent of the Top 10 companies identify high-potential leaders from their performance management process, while 65 per cent of the others follow that practice.

Yet, while 90 per cent of the Top 10 companies' CEOs are sourced internally, that figure is only 63 per cent for the others.

Similarly, the Top 10 companies effectively implement a side variety of leadership practices to develop high-potential leaders.

Some 80 per cent of the Top 10 companies use rotational assignments at least two-thirds of the time to develop their high potential, while only 31 per cent of the other companies regularly use rotational assignments.

And 70 per cent of the Top 10 companies regularly nurture high potential through development assignments, while only 35 per cent do so at the other companies.

Hewitt studied 203 companies in seven markets in Asia-Pacific.

The study was initiated by Hewitt in the United States in 2002 with the objective of identifying the combination of factors that allow financially successful companies to consistently produce good leaders.

The study went global in 2003, and Hewitt this year studied 320 companies in the United States, 111 in Europe and 203 in Asia-Pacific.

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