Relevant in the workplace, our personal lives, and even politics, leadership statistics provide a clear look at why the life skill is so important.

In most circumstances, leadership is looked at as a business skill.

You can also find leadership important across many different facets of life.

However, for the most part, statistics focus on how leadership relates to business as a whole.

83% of organizations find it important to develop leaders within every level of the company.

On top of that, only 5% of organizations have done so, but 78% of company leaders actively engage with their employees.

The word leadership has a lot of weight, as it includes many different skill sets, personality traits, and more.

In this article, you’ll get the most current review of leadership statistics and how they correlate to the corporate world.

Post Contents

0.1 Key Statistics

1 Top Leadership Statistics in 2024: An All-encompassing View
2 The Reality of Leadership Training
3 Prevalent Challenges in Leadership Development
4 Final Thoughts
5 Sources

Key Statistics

Only 48% of surveyed employees consider their company’s leadership to be high quality
Businesses in the U.S. spend $166 billion on leadership development every year
79% of employees will end up quitting due to a lack of appreciation
69% of those in the millennial age group believe there is a lack of leadership development in the workforce
On a daily basis, over 10,000 baby boomers retire from the corporate world
Only 10% of people are natural leaders

Top Leadership Statistics in 2024: An All-encompassing View

Leadership Statistics: An All-encompassing View

You can look at the market for leadership development from many different angles.

Types of leadership can look pretty different based on the context.

It isn’t always utilized the same way, and some situations call for it more than others.

Nevertheless, reviewing statistics on this topic will help show what works and what doesn’t in an ever-evolving skillset and industry.

Leadership is necessary to bring others up and make way for new generations, and it’s a skill set that every person should have to some degree.

In some circumstances, leadership skills can make or break your progress in the corporate world.

As one might expect, you’ll find varying sentiments between industry leaders, employees, and everyone in between.

1. Employees Want to Feel Recognized

An area that is seeing the direct effects of poor leadership is how employees view their overall engagement.

69% of employees admit that they would happily work harder if their efforts were better recognized by their leaders.

This is a common problem in the corporate world and has been for years.

It becomes increasingly difficult in larger companies, as it can be more challenging to keep your eyes on every employee.

Regardless, a lot of employees feel like their work goes unseen, which can put a damper on morale over time. This definitely has a direct correlation to leadership.

Whereas some leaders feel employees just don’t want to work, in some cases, poor engagement could be due to improper leadership.

(Zippia)

2. Businesses Agree – Leadership Could be Better

It isn’t only the employees that are able to recognize bad leadership.

Business owners can see it too, and some of the most successful ones are able to see it within themselves.

Recent data shows that roughly 77% of surveyed businesses agree that leadership is lacking across the board.

This is based on both sides of the coin, as businesses see the havoc poor leadership causes on executive and employee levels.

It’s also a common issue among almost any size of company, large or small.

Leadership is something that has to make its way across every layer of a company. Without the right training, this is easier said than done.

Not everyone is a natural-born leader, and many people have to be guided to learn the right leadership skills.

This is in hopes of becoming a respected leader in their own right and passing on the skillset down the road.

(Zippia)

3. Leadership Development is a Primary Concern

Both business owners and employees see the issue with the lack of leadership development in today’s world.

At this time, among those who were surveyed, 55% of CEOs consider leadership development to be a top challenge.

Moreover, 63% of millennials mention that they aren’t receiving proper leadership training to help them move up in their careers.

Although both sides see the problem, this can make for a tricky dynamic between the two groups.

This issue also has a direct correlation with employee retention, employee recognition, and a variety of other internal factors.

Leaders in the HR space won’t deny the troubling dynamic either.

11% of HR experts have a strong roster of employees they feel are ready for leadership roles.

The other 89% can’t say the same, which causes many gaps in leadership at different levels within the organization.

(ApolloTechnical)

4. Finding the Right Leadership Talent

Part of what’s required to build a new generation of leaders is having enough people that are qualified to teach quality leadership skillsets.

Although a job title for this exists, many organizations simply put this task on someone with some executive power, like a manager.

In many cases, businesses rely on the one person with the most leadership skills to teach the rest, even without legitimate corporate leadership training.

This has proven to be successful in many circumstances, but it also leaves room for a lot of error.

Nevertheless, most organizations don’t have the right leadership talent on hand to get the job done.

More specifically, only 14% of CEOs have the talent they need to grow their business and create new generations of leaders underneath them.

Having the right leadership role model considers a handful of unique factors.

Some of these include managerial expertise, strong personalities, first-hand experience, and more.

(GoRemotely)

5. The Future of Leadership Will Include Change

There are many different facets to proper leadership in the corporate environment.

While some rules never change, many different leadership skills and techniques come with their own personal flair from the teacher.

Sometimes it works, other times it doesn’t, but there still has to be a general process that works for everyone involved.

Another aspect that people should focus on regarding leadership is how methods will drastically change over the coming years.

This is primarily due to a significant shift in the workforce as more baby boomers retire.

By 2025, it’s estimated that millennials will account for 75% of the total workforce.

Considering this group is an advocate for change, we can expect leadership development to look a little different in the near future.

With remote working and flexible hours becoming more common, managing and leading others in a corporate environment will come with some new tips and tricks.

(GoRemotely)

The Reality of Leadership Training

For new generations to receive proper leadership development, that means effective leadership training already needs to be in place.

Unfortunately, quality leadership training isn’t available in every corporate setting.

Some people are taught by the best, while others accrue leadership skills through time and hands-on experience.

Statistics on training will offer an unfiltered look at the state of leadership in the corporate world.

It isn’t always an organized topic, and there can be a lot of conflicting teachings depending on who you hear it from.

However, there are some numbers that offer a black-and-white perspective on the reality of leadership training in the workforce.

6. A Lack of Leadership Development Can Lead to Additional Costs

Sufficient leadership development can be a massive project regardless if you’re a small or large organization.

Nevertheless, this doesn’t undermine the importance of leadership development, no matter the current situation of any company.

This can easily be seen in the costs associated with the lack of leadership development.

Although many companies plan to integrate the proper development of leadership skills, many continue to postpone it for another time.

Statistics show that every year a company delays leadership development, it costs them 7% of their total annual sales.

For those who understand business, 7% can be a pretty significant number.

It’s not that companies don’t realize this; it’s that many of them don’t know where to start when it comes to leadership development.

This is something that can be challenging to implement, considering it takes a unique individual to get the job done.

(Zippia)

7. Not Many Companies are Up to Speed

You’d think that we’d be seeing a massive shift in leadership development with all of these stats being publicly available.

When in reality, only 5% of businesses have implemented leadership development within every level of their company.

There are numerous factors that play into this.

Some business owners simply don’t see the point, while others are trying to figure out the logistics of how to get this done the right way.

Overall, implementing proper development for leadership skills isn’t an easy process.

The task itself is bound to incur more costs, so many companies are wary about pursuing it.

In the worst-case scenario, some companies could be avoiding it as another measure to keep employees in their place.

Regardless of the reason, it’s evident that leadership development should be more of a core part of the corporate environment.

(Zippia)

8. Investing in the Future

Although it seems like a very small number of companies are looking into leadership training, this doesn’t mean there aren’t a lot of investment dollars behind it.

In the most recent data taken from 2020, investments in leadership training were somewhere around $357.7 billion for that year.

The United States accounts for $165.3 billion, which is less than the year before, more than likely due to the rise of Covid-19.

Plenty of companies have seen the benefits of leadership training.

Study results highlight that those who received leadership training saw a 20% increase in their performance and a 25% increase in their learning capacity.

On another interesting note, organizations that take a more inclusive direction with leadership training are 4.2 times more likely to outperform those who don’t.

The benefits are evident, and there’s plenty for both employees and business owners to take advantage of.

One tricky aspect of proper leadership is teaching the right leadership values while keeping company culture intact.

This can include a fine line that can easily be crossed, and it takes a little finesse to manage both sides effectively.

(ApolloTechnical)

9. The Tie Between Company Culture and Leadership

Employees won’t argue that leadership is important, but many of them will admit that company culture is equally, if not more, important to them.

Those who are leaders within a company are also looked at to maintain the company culture in many ways.

Sometimes, company culture is out of managerial hands due to executive decisions, but those who are the leaders tend to drive company culture.

This can be in either a positive or negative direction.

It’s so important to younger generations of employees that roughly one-third of workers would pass on a job if they feel like the corporate culture wasn’t a good fit.

Sure, some expectations can be extreme, but this shows that employees are considering more than just a paycheck.

Many people want to work for a company that has great leadership and maintains a company culture that promotes, supports, and works with employees like a team member.

(RobertHalf)

10. Essential Leadership Skills

When it comes to effective leadership training, it’s important to focus on the skills that matter most.

This considers skillsets that are seen as universal and can be applied in nearly any corporate environment throughout your life.

In many ways, leadership skills can be helpful in a professional and personal setting, no matter how old you get.

Based on industry data and discussions among experts, the following are the top five essential leadership skills.

Self-development
Team development
Strategic thinking and acting
Ethical practice and civic-mindedness
Innovation

There are plenty of other aspects of leadership that are helpful, but these are seen as excellent starting points.

You’ll find this is especially true pertaining to teaching these leadership skills to others.

All of them can be used by themselves or together to display sufficient leadership qualities you need in the corporate world.

You may or may not use everything you learn, but there’s a time and place where it’ll come in handy.

Many employees would be eager to learn such skills as they can be required to move up in their career path.

Regardless of why you learn them, these skills offer a level of benefit that’ll be relevant for the rest of your life.

With 77% of business owners seeing a lack of proper leadership, ample training is needed more than ever.

(NorthEastern.edu)

Prevalent Challenges in Leadership Development

One of the main reasons leadership development is going through such a shift is due to the various challenges that employees and business owners face.

As mentioned earlier, sufficient leadership development is hard to come by, and organizations are looking to adapt as fast as possible.

Unfortunately, there isn’t a rule book on how to get this done the best way possible.

Organizations and their employees function uniquely, sometimes calling for a specific set of leadership skills.

There are many factors that play into the challenges of developing a new generation of leaders in the workforce.

11. High-Stress Jobs Drive Up the Costs

In regard to health care costs among employees, high-stress jobs lead to surprising costs in the long run.

It should also be noted that many jobs are deemed high-stress due to poor leadership where it’s needed.

This lack of leadership in this particular case is a primary factor in high healthcare costs in the corporate environment.

Individuals eventually encounter health complications due to the high-stress environment at work.

Although some jobs are just inherently stressful, other industries can reduce stress levels by making sure leadership is properly administered at every level.

Companies that are known to be highly stressful spend about 50% more on healthcare than other organizations.

This is in comparison to companies that are not seen as high-stress or have a successful leadership model in place.

(Zippia)

12. Accidents and Stress

Although anyone can agree that stress in the workplace can derive from a long list of factors.

However, it can’t be ignored that the lack of leadership in the office can lead to increased stress across the entire workforce.

Around 60% to 80% of accidents in the workplace are directly correlated to stress levels.

Whether minor or severe, many of these accidents can be avoided with leadership in the right places.

This stress can lead to health complications that are bound to affect more than one employee.

Of course, many aspects of proper leadership can help with this, but we aren’t seeing a quick shift as companies aren’t quick to make this necessary change.

A lot of the leadership we see in any organization is pretty surface-level and easy to disrupt.

Effective and direct leadership training is a job title all on its own.

Some companies don’t want to spend the money, others don’t see the point, and those who do care are actively trying to make a change.

Employees have been vocal about poor leadership for years.

As more young people enter the workforce, we’re guaranteed to see more of a focus on better leadership and reduced stress in company culture.

(Zippia)

13. The Correlation Between Leadership and Burnout

It isn’t too uncommon to experience burnout at work, and it can happen at very different times for employees.

This is another topic that can find a correlation to proper leadership in the workplace.

Between business leaders and employees, 59% admit their organization has measures in place to work against burnout.

On the other hand, 29% hope that businesses will display more empathetic qualities.

60% of leaders in the business world report being burnt out at the end of their day.

A recent survey also highlights that 44% of leaders in the corporate world plan to move to a new company to advance their careers.

This sentiment also stems from the fact this group feels worn out in their current position.

(ApolloTechnical)

14. More Women in Leadership Roles

Throughout human history, men have been put into positions of power based on their gender alone.

Of course, regardless of the circumstance, this isn’t always the case, but it is still a factor in the leadership industry.

What this has led to are some men being in leadership positions when they simply shouldn’t be there at all.

In some cases, women with more experience have been declined a job opportunity simply because a company wanted a man in that position instead.

Regardless, this has caused a shortage of female leaders over time.

Although women account for roughly 50.8% of the population in the U.S., but still only make up a fraction of leadership roles.

This isn’t due to a lack of experience or education, as women account for 59% of master’s degrees, 48.5% of law degrees, and 47.5% of medical qualifications.

These numbers highlight that there are more than enough women to take on leadership roles, but many aspects of the corporate world hold them back.

Unfortunately, many powerful individuals in the corporate world don’t want to give women too much power and go out of their way to make sure they don’t progress.

Regardless of these personal issues, it has caused a worldwide shortage of female leaders that people rely on.

When in reality, they could make a substantially positive impact on lacking aspects of leadership development.

(GoRemotely)

15. What are Crisis Leadership Skills?

In regard to putting leaders at every level of a company, the same goes for the CEO.

Some CEOs delegate everything to those below them, but those with the right leadership skills will create a loyal workforce.

Crissi can look different based on the workplace and industry, but there are a few skills every CEO should have to help lead their team through a crisis situation.

These crisis leadership skills include: