Happy Independence Day, United States of America! It was on the 4th of July, 1776 that the Continental Congress adopted our Declaration of Independence from Great Britain. The men who signed that document would be embarrassed by our leadership. The creation of that document, it’s adoption, and the freedom of our nation would not have been possible without great leadership.

The 56 leaders who signed The Declaration of Independence knew great leadership. They practiced the same 7 principles all great leadership advocates teach today.

In those days, leadership was appreciated. It was taught. It was sought. It was valued. And, it was practiced. What have we done with the great examples of leadership provided by our founding fathers?

U.S. Businesses lose $1 Trillion annually, to voluntary employee turnover

63% of millennials lack the leadership development they need to succeed

84% of workers say poorly trained managers create unnecessary stress

Nearly 80% of companies report a leadership development gap

Only 11% of HR leaders feel they have a strong bench of leadership talent

The average college graduate, possessing a bachelor’s degree, invested 4,000 hours honing their professional skills. When promoted to a people leadership role, which requires an entirely different skillset, that same person may get a 3-day course.

Yes, our nation’s founders would be embarrassed by our workplace leadership. So, this Independence Day, maybe we should celebrate those leaders by committing to invest in our organizational leadership.

This post also appeared on our LinkedIn Newsletter at: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/our-nations-founders-would-embarrassed-leadership-lichtenwalner-mba/

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