In this episode we take a look at the effectiveness of leadership development programs and question if they are truly worth the time and money organisations spend on them.  David reviews his possibly wasted career in leadership development and defends against Randal’s accusations that the dominant individualistic approach emphasising self reflection and self actualisation, is just indulging the narcissism of our clients and has no evidence to support its efficacy. David presents a somewhat defensive argument that there actually is evidence in the literature that approaches focused on competencies and behaviours, such as transformational leadership, do seem to make a positive impact.  Randal presents the argument that leadership development may be effective but “it depends”.  Sounding like every psychologist and consultant ever.   Context, group attributes and tailoring our interventions to these variables are presented as the way forward.  In Part B we will follow through on these arguments with our own ideas of what is required for effective leadership development rather than the same old rubbish that everyone else has been doing.  Being good evidence based practitioners, we are seeking feedback from our audience on our podcasts. So please tell us all the things we are doing well as well as pandering to your innate drive to criticise the work of others. We may listen and adjust or we may just continue to be ourselves and do things our own way, dammit.