Organization 21C: Someday All Organizations Will Lead This Way

The Royal Dutch/Shell Story

Royal Dutch/Shell, the Anglo-Dutch energy and chemical company headquartered in London and The Hague, demonstrates how leaders who play a role as leader/teachers, who lead change and develop human capital, can transform a business at its core. The company engaged key leaders at all hierarchical levels as teachers to drive a global transformation of its business and workforce. In the process, an internal OD team called LEAP (Leadership and Performance), made up initially of less than a dozen high-potential line managers, was developed and later helped to drive the transformation effort. This group and the Royal Dutch/Shell case offer a compelling benchmark for OD practitioners everywhere for they have demonstrated solutions ...