Deloitte Center for Collective Leadership Launched

NEW YORK, Jan. 18, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited ("Deloitte") today announces the launch of its Deloitte Center for Collective Leadership ("the Center"), a global research and learning Center that aims to understand, define, and advance knowledge in the field of collective leadership. Effective immediately, Stephen Langton will become Executive Director of the Deloitte Center for Collective Leadership. Langton is based in London.

Under Langton's leadership, the Center will spearhead the advancement of the emerging strategic discipline of collective leadership. The Center will serve as a resource for Deloitte member firms looking to assist leaders all around the world achieve success by inspiring their people to work together with a shared purpose.

"Creating an environment for large groups of people to work together toward a common purpose is a fundamental leadership challenge," says Jim Quigley, Global CEO of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited and co-chair of the Center's advisory board. "In the increasingly complex world that we operate in, the need for collective leadership and action has never been more critical. We founded the Deloitte Center for Collective Leadership to provide in-depth research, insight, and knowledge on how leaders can maximize the performance of their organizations."

According to Langton, the definition of leadership is fast changing, "Until now, leaders themselves have been seen as critical to their organization's success. Increasingly, leaders are realizing that their people's commitment to organizational goals is, in fact, the main underlying condition for success. The Deloitte Center for Collective Leadership will provide Deloitte member firms with insights and tools to increase their clients' potential for achieving collective commitment to shared goals."

The Center's dedicated specialists will provide Deloitte member firm professionals with the necessary training, ongoing education, and resources. This will help enable Deloitte member firm professionals to support multinational companies, world leaders, political authorities, and global markets on collective leadership matters.

"Many business and world leaders are already actively adopting insights from the Center," says Langton. "For some, the goal is to drive performance and higher levels of productivity from people. For others, the purpose is to unveil and address that last true harbor of risk to organizations: whether their people will choose to commit to achieving the strategies laid out by their leaders. In either case, the Center is strategically positioned to provide the resources to Deloitte member firms to assist leaders from all walks of life to achieve collective action within their organizations—as well as between organizations."

The Deloitte Center for Collective Leadership will be releasing its first publication, As One: Individual Action, Collective Power, co-authored by Quigley and Mehrdad Baghai, managing director of Alchemy Growth Partners and co-chair of the Center, on 3 February by Portfolio / Penguin.

John Connolly, Chairman of the Deloitte Board of Directors, comments, "Deloitte member firms are focused on the performance and success of their clients and the industries in which they operate. With the launch of the Center and Langton's depth of experience, we believe that Deloitte member firm professionals are well positioned to help leaders inspire, mobilize, and engage their people toward collective success."

Langton holds extensive experience in the field of leadership. Previously, he served as Global Managing Partner of the Leadership Advisory arm of Heidrick & Struggles, a NASDAQ-listed executive search and consulting firm serving boards, CEOs, and global leaders. An expert in complex human capital issues, as well as board succession programs for Global 500 and 1000 organizations, Langton is a regular contributor to major global forums and institutions on this topic.

For more information on the Deloitte Center for Collective Leadership, visit www.asone.org.

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SOURCE Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited