Your Next Great Leader Might Already Work for You and be Hiding in Plain Sight (TPL Insights #329)
By Rob Andrews with paraphrased content from Roberta Matuson’s LinkedIn article, March 26, 2025
Roberta Matuson is a top-notch strategic talent advisor I follow regularly. Roberta said it well: the so-called “war for talent” is a losing battle—and companies are getting pummeled. In her no-holds-barred piece, she calls out the insanity of chasing unicorn candidates while overlooking the thoroughbreds already in the barn. This might sound odd coming from someone who has made a nice living as a retained search consultant, but we often find hidden, unrecognized, and underdeveloped talent in our client organizations.
Roberta is right. And it’s not just about cost, it’s about culture, loyalty, and performance. Matuson’s message is a perfect on-ramp to what follows here: a deeper dive into why your existing workforce might just be your best (and most overlooked) source of high-potential senior leaders. This post picks up where Roberta leaves off: not just making the case for looking inward but showing how to build the mechanisms that will surface your hidden stars, develop them, and ultimately put them in positions to lead. Let’s stop losing the wrong war—and start winning the right one.
Many companies are sitting on a goldmine of leadership talent, but can’t seem to recognize it. Why? Because they’re looking for the wrong things in the wrong places. They’re still chasing polish over potential, charisma over character, and self-promotion over substance. The truth? The best future leaders are often already on the payroll, quietly crushing it in roles that don’t typically come with corner office trajectories. Let’s talk about why your current workforce might be your richest source of high-potential senior leaders (HPSLs), and what it takes to actually find them.
Through my own two-year field study, involving over 100 senior executives, I’ve discovered that often the problem isn’t a lack of talent, it’s a lack of visibility and bias-busting systems designed to uncover it. One of my primary reasons for returning to The University of Texas at Austin to complete a master’s program in Human Dimensions of Organizations in December 2024—and to immediately enroll in UT’s Executive Ed.D. in Higher Education Leadership and Change—was to conduct serious research into a pressing question: Why do only 3–5% of organizations worldwide excel at the people side of the business? Gallup, Mercer, Accenture, and many others point to this staggering statistic, and I’ve made it my mission to understand and help close that gap.
While my master’s capstone research is intentionally narrow in scope, it reveals why so much high-potential talent remains hidden within organizations. My doctoral research will expand on this foundation and explore a broader question: How can partnerships between senior leaders in the private sector and higher education better prepare graduates of universities and graduate schools to succeed in a workforce still riddled with bias?
The Myth of the Mold
Most leaders are still stuck in a dangerous fantasy: that great leaders fit a certain mold. Tailored suits. Perfect pedigrees. Commanding presence. That stuff might look great in a glossy brochure, but it doesn’t move the needle on performance.
Your next game-changing leader might be wearing steel-toe boots or an old fleece vest. Think Don Gates—a produce manager who became one of Safeway’s most effective division presidents, not because he fit the mold, but because someone recognized his potential. Gates didn’t self-promote or climb a fast track. He got tapped because a leader saw the optics past and into the substance. While lacking the standard presence and polish that often gets noticed, Gates smashed records as president of five consecutive divisions, never missing a beat.
Self-Promotion ≠ Leadership Readiness
Here’s a hard truth from the frontlines: 70% of companies admit that self-promotion plays a major role in who gets promoted. And it shows. While the loudest voices often get the spotlight, many quietly competent leaders stay invisible.
The problem? Self-promotion and sustainable leadership aren’t the same thing. Just ask Home Depot, Chrysler, or Sunbeam. Charismatic, high-profile leaders like Bob Nardelli, Lee Iacocca, and Al Dunlap were promoted for their presence—and left chaos in their wake. Meanwhile, real high-potential leaders go unnoticed because they don’t play the game. That has to change.
Bias is a $10 Trillion Problem
Accenture pegs the cost of poor leadership identification at over $10 trillion annually. That’s not a typo. It’s 11.3% of global GDP. And it all comes down to bias. My research uncovered 11 types of bias that tank leadership pipelines: affinity, confirmation, gender, race, age, visual, cultural, and the big one—visibility. If a leader doesn’t look the part or isn’t in the right room at the right time, they’re passed over.
And yet, 90% of companies in my study said they’ve seen high-potential leaders overlooked. It’s not just a shame. It’s a strategic failure.
There’s Gold in Your Workforce
The data says it all:
Only 3 of 25 interviewees had a comprehensive system to identify HPSLs.
90% said their companies had witnessed quiet leaders being passed over.
And 100% agreed that the consequences of ignoring hidden talent are real: turnover, disengagement, toxic leadership, and missed opportunities.
The call is coming from inside the building. And if you’re not looking inward for leadership potential, you’re wasting your best asset.
Mechanisms Matter More Than Magic
Great companies don’t wait for lightning to strike. They build lightning rods. I’ve presented several organizations that created simple but powerful enabling mechanisms:
CEOs addressing new hires personally to plant leadership ambition early
Open-access leadership programs that reward grit over resume
Shadowing and mentorship opportunities that break down perceived walls
These aren’t magic tricks. They’re cultural cues—signals that leadership isn’t just for the chosen few, it’s for the committed many.
Performance ≠ Potential
Just because someone’s a rockstar individual contributor doesn’t mean they’ll thrive in leadership. And just because someone’s quiet doesn’t mean they lack the muscle for senior roles.
HPSLs are marked by things like adaptability, emotional intelligence, grit, and strategic curiosity. Traits that don’t always show up on performance reviews, but matter immensely in the C-suite.
Organizations that get this build deeper pipelines and avoid the whiplash of mis-hires.
The Cost of Getting It Wrong
Fail to identify hidden leaders, and the ripple effects are brutal:
Leadership vacuums and succession failures
Toxic, narcissistic leadership cultures
Talent drain and engagement drops
Strategic misalignment and risk exposure
My capstone laid it out clearly: this isn’t a soft issue. It’s a board-level concern.
So, What Should Companies Actually Do?
Here’s the new blueprint:
Start with clarity: Align HPSL identification with purpose, mission, values, and strategy.
Attack bias head-on: Build systems that counter the 11 key forms of bias.
Democratize opportunity: Make leadership development accessible to all, not just the chosen few.
Go beyond gut feel: Use behavioral assessments, psychometrics, and 360s.
Stretch, observe, develop: Offer stretch assignments and shadowing to test and teach.
Promote transparency: Make the process visible and fair. Let people see the path.
Leadership potential isn’t rare, it’s just rarely recognized. The problem isn’t a shortage of talent. It is a shortage of systems designed to see it. Your best future leaders may already work for you. The question is: will you find them before someone else does? Let’s talk about how we can help you discover your hidden talent.
Warmest,
Rob
Rob Andrews
Chairman & Chief Executive Officer
Celebrating 30 years of Executive Search, Executive Coaching & Culture Shaping Excellence
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