The Kodak paradox – A $28 billion lesson in standing still

In 1975, a 24 year old engineer named Steven Sasson invented the first digital camera while working at Eastman Kodak. When he presented it to executives, their response was telling: “That’s cute – but don’t tell anyone about it.”

This moment foreshadowed Kodak’s eventual bankruptcy in 2012. The company that invented digital photography failed to capitalise on it because its leadership stopped growing. As Harvard Business School professor Rebecca Henderson notes in Reimagining Capitalism: “Kodak’s managers weren’t incompetent – they were trapped in obsolete mental models.”

This cautionary tale reveals an uncomfortable truth: leadership skills depreciate faster than ever before. Research from Gartner shows that the half-life of business skills has shrunk from 10 years in 2010 to just 4 years today. What made you an effective leader last year might already be outdated.

The neuroscience of growing leaders

Continuous development isn’t just beneficial – it’s biologically necessary. Neuroplasticity research from Dr. Michael Merzenich at UCSF demonstrates that adult brains remain malleable, but require deliberate challenges to avoid cognitive rigidity.

a 10-year MIT Sloan study tracking 5,000 executives found that leaders who engaged in ongoing learning:

• Made decisions 27% faster with better outcomes (measured by ROI).
• Adapted to market shifts 40% more effectively.
• Retained top talent 3.2x longer than peers.

As psychologist Carol Dweck’s seminal work on growth mindsets reveals: “The view you adopt of yourself profoundly affects how you lead. Leaders who believe talents can be developed outperform those who believe talents are fixed/”

The four pillars of leadership development

1. Cognitive flexibility

A University of London study found that CEOs who regularly learned completely new skills (like languages or musical instruments) showed 19% greater innovation in strategic thinking. Microsoft’s Satya Nadella credits his leadership transformation to studying mindfulness and neuroscience.

2. Emotional resonance

Yale’s Marc Bracket found that leaders who continuously develop emotional intelligence skills create teams with:

• 37% higher productivity.
• 31% lower turnover.
• 300% fewer burnout cases.

3. Technological fluency

MIT’s research on digital transformation reveals that leaders who spend just 5 hours per week learning about emerging technologies are:

• 2.4x more likely to lead successful digital initiatives.
• 50% faster at identifying viable innovations.

4. Ethical foresight

Stanford’s Behavioural Lab studies show that leaders who regularly engage with philosophy and ethics training make decisions with:

• Longer time horizons (+2.3 years average).
• Better crisis response (42% fewer ethical violations).

The development disruptors – companies getting it right

Amazon’s “Pivot or Perish” mandate

Jeff Bezos instituted a policy requiring all senior leaders to spend 30 days per year working in completely different departments. This cross-pollination led to innovations like AWS and Prime Now.

Unilever’s “Future Leaders” program

A 5-year study published in Harvard Business Review showed participants:

• Delivered 28% higher growth in their divisions.
• Were 89% more likely to be promoted.
• Drove 64% more successful innovations.

Building your development engine

An impressive tool modelled after Bill Gates and Elon Musk is the 5-hour rule:

• 1 hour reading.
• 1 hour practising new skills.
• 1 hour reflecting.
• 1 hour experimenting.
• 1 hour teaching others.

Pioneered by GE, the reverse mentoring approch talks about pairing with younger employees to learn about digital trends, social movements, and emerging technologies.

Additionally, McKinsey research shows leaders who quarterly take on projects 30% beyond their current capabilities develop fastest, otherwise known as “deliberate discomfort.”

The stakes of standing still

The Corporate Executive Board’s analysis of 500 failed companies revealed that 87% showed declining leadership development investment in the 3 years before collapse. Contrast this with companies in PwC’s “Top 100” study that averaged 62 hours per year of leadership development per executive.

As leadership expert John Maxwell observes: ” You can’t become what you need to be by remaining what you are.” The World Economic Forum estimates that 50% of all employees will need reskilling by 2025 – which means continuous development isn’t optional – it’s existential.

The most dangerous phrase in any leader’s vocabulary isn’t “I don’t know” – it’s “I already know.” The leaders who will thrive in tomorrow’s business landscape aren’t those with the most experience, but those with the greatest capacity to learn, unlearn, and relearn.