Let’s interpret “study” as broad as we can: is there not anything that someone can do on their own initiative, and do it better if they have time, that increases their leadership capacity?
The best thing they can do is probably to lead a project, either through paid work or as a volunteer.
Another good thing would be to speak to a mentor about their leadership work.
When those two things are already happening, books or courses can be really useful. But without practicing leadership and getting regular feedback, I don’t expect very good returns from independent study.
(The exception would be someone who’s already working at an executive level and wants to take a secondment for personal study and then return to a similar role—the fact that they’ve already gotten a lot of leadership experience and feedback makes me more positive about the value of them taking time off to study and reflect.)
Let’s interpret “study” as broad as we can: is there not anything that someone can do on their own initiative, and do it better if they have time, that increases their leadership capacity?
The best thing they can do is probably to lead a project, either through paid work or as a volunteer.
Another good thing would be to speak to a mentor about their leadership work.
When those two things are already happening, books or courses can be really useful. But without practicing leadership and getting regular feedback, I don’t expect very good returns from independent study.
(The exception would be someone who’s already working at an executive level and wants to take a secondment for personal study and then return to a similar role—the fact that they’ve already gotten a lot of leadership experience and feedback makes me more positive about the value of them taking time off to study and reflect.)