Trained to lead: Evidence from industrial research

Research Summary This study investigates the importance of early life training for people's leadership roles later in the workplace. We focus on team leaders in industrial research and analyze changes in team leadership after the abandonment of the military draft by the United States in 1973. This policy produced a twofold effect on leadership training opportunities: it eliminated the training provided during the draft and reduced the incentives to pursue long‐term education to defer conscription. Our results show a decrease in the probability of team leadership for men subject to the policy change. This effect, which is likely explained by the education channel, reduces over time. We discuss the implications of our findings for the formation of human capital to fulfill strategic leadership roles. Managerial Summary The progressive shift toward team‐based innovation practices puts organizations in need of new leaders. Whether leaders can be trained as such is, however, a controversial topic. We argue that one can learn to become a leader through life‐changing experiences. Our results show that people who undergo pervasive leadership‐enhancing opportunities early in life have higher chances of fulfilling leadership positions later in the workplace. Therefore, our study calls for the provision of early life, inclusive leadership enhancing opportunities to shape leadership attitudes and capabilities. These include formal education, corporate internships, and on‐the‐job training but could also span to other domains, such as political activism, associationism, and sporting activities.