Leadership Development
Excellence Doesn’t Sustain Itself. Leaders Do.
For three decades Sterling has shown organizations what excellence looks like. Leadership Development is the next chapter: growing the leaders who implement it, sustain it, and pass it on — before, during, and after a transformation.
From report to results
A report shows you the summit. Leaders do the climbing.
The gap after the report
An assessment names what to fix. Someone still has to lead the fix.
Organizations no longer want a partner who only measures performance. They want one who can develop the leaders responsible for implementing, sustaining, and accelerating the improvement. Excellence is only as durable as the leaders carrying it.
Those leaders are rarely in the C-suite yet. They’re one or two rungs below it — the managers and directors being groomed to run the place next. Sterling already holds the pieces to develop them: examiner development, coaching, conferences, the Summer Learning Series, Visionary Voices, the Book Club. Leadership Development connects them into one continuous journey instead of a shelf of separate programs.
What it consists of
Six Pillars, One Ecosystem
Every Sterling leadership experience lives inside one of six pillars — and each pillar feeds the next.
Leadership Development
Structured academies for leaders at every career stage.
Emerging Leaders · Frontline Supervisor · Mid-Level · Executive Leadership Academy
Leadership Experiences
Practical experiences that strengthen how leaders lead.
Executive coaching · Team development · Strategic facilitation · Retreats
Leadership Intelligence
Assessment tools that tell a leader where to grow.
Behavioral assessments · 360 feedback · Emotional intelligence · Development planning
Leadership Learning
Learning that keeps leaders engaged all year.
Sterling Leadership Conference · Visionary Voices · Summer Learning Series · Book Club
Leadership Resources
Tools that extend learning beyond the classroom.
Digital library · AI leadership companion · Toolkits · Microlearning
Leadership Community
The relationships that make Sterling unique.
Examiners · Fellows · Alumni · Mentors · Coaches · Communities of practice
No offering in isolation
One Leader’s Journey
A leader might start with a podcast and end up coaching the next cohort. Each step is built to lead to the next.
Listen
Visionary Voices — real conversations with visionary leaders
Read
Leadership Book Club — shared reading, deeper understanding
Learn
Summer Learning Series — seasonal, practical skill-building
Measure
Leadership assessment — insight that drives personal growth
Apply
Leadership Academy — structured practice that builds capability
Coach
Executive coaching — guidance that accelerates effectiveness
Connect
The Sterling community — a network for support and ideas
Who it’s for
Built for the People Who’ll Run It Next
Middle managers one or two steps below the C-suite — the people being groomed to run it
High-potential leaders their organization has already bet on
Directors and managers moving from running a function to shaping the whole system
The leader carrying an assessment forward, accountable for making the gains stick
Why Sterling
Not a New Business. A Deeper One.
Leadership Development isn’t Sterling starting over — it’s Sterling connecting assets it has spent decades building.
30+
years helping organizations achieve performance excellence
6
sectors of faculty — public, private, nonprofit, healthcare, education, manufacturing
1
connected journey — every experience builds on the last
Delivery runs on Sterling’s greatest asset — its people: a distributed network of examiners, coaches, facilitators, and subject matter experts, assembled to fit each organization rather than sold off a shelf.
Get started
Develop the Leaders Who Make It Last.
Tell us where your organization is headed. We’ll build the leadership path to get it there.