This article is dedicated to the memory of Robert Whiddon, an empathetic leader of character. Robert was more than just an editor, he was a friend. Most simply put, he was "one of the good guys." An important light in the world has gone out and will be missed.

A couple of months ago, I wrote about the business case for leadership and engagement in difficult times. Since then, this notion has taken even deeper meaning, as I have viewed first hand firms that were positively transformed by engaged leadership and firms that languished without it. There is not much in between. I am also observing a growing number of advisers who are leveraging the thirst for leadership in the marketplace. This is an interesting dichotomy, posing both peril and opportunity.

Stalemate

Advisers and firms with strong leadership and vision are best able to make the transition from a transactional sales focus to a true advisory focus. They are living the cliché of "turning an expense into an asset." As a group, these advisers are enjoying performance levels that are two, three, or more times the national average for new business production.

Conversely, there are also those advisers and firms that are not making the transition, and therefore they struggle with anemic or non-existent growth. In almost every case, this lack of success and performance is directly tied to a lack of commitment, resolve, and yes, leadership. As individuals, they resist change and responsibility for their attitudes and behaviors. As teams, they refuse to hold themselves or their peers accountable, and they refuse to collaborate for improved performance.

But most acutely, this missing leadership component is seen at the principal level. Some owners simply refuse to or deem themselves incapable of assuming the leadership role necessary in order to completely engage and inspire their teams to maximum performance. Looking for a silver bullet or an easy-fix formula, they ignore or try to outsource the leadership responsibilities that ultimately must rest on their shoulders. Their under-performing teams long for leadership and are inevitably frustrated when it doesn't come. Fortunately, this represents a small percentage of the overall group I have the privilege of working with.

One in the hand

On a brighter note, a very interesting phenomenon has developed. Connecting the dots on benefits, a number of advisers have made the following observations as employers communicate repeatedly that their primary purpose for offering benefits is to attract, retain and engage the best employees:

•  Many employers today may not be looking to attract new employees, but they recognize the need to retain the good ones they have.
•  Even if they've made cuts, employers know that their remaining employees have to do more with less.
•  When the economy rebounds, the question will be whether organizations have developed a culture of employees bonded together for success or burned out and heading for the exits.

These advisers believe that the key to this question lies in engagement - that discretionary effort where employees are emotionally invested and willing to give more than the minimum required to keep their jobs.

As it pertains to benefits or benefit-related projects, we have long known that if employees are not engaged, communication and wellness initiatives are doomed to failure. But how do we engage? Not surprisingly, extensive studies show that the answer to this question lies not in compensation or richer benefit plans, but in leadership. According to the Towers Perrin 2007-2008 Global Workforce Study, the No. 1 driver of engagement is "the extent to which employees feel that senior leadership cares about their well-being."

Bring in the CEOs

To explore this topic more deeply and drive new prospect opportunities, a number of firms are embarking on a program to engage those individuals with perhaps the greatest stake in productivity and performance - CEOs. Historically, advisers have not effectively engaged at this level. Reluctant to meet for a benefits-related conversation, CEOs routinely redirect advisers to the director of HR or the CFO. But, they seem to enthusiastically embrace the conversation of employee engagement.

The forum for this conversation is a roundtable discussion, bringing small groups of CEOs together for substantive conversations on this critical topic. Amazingly, where one would intuitively send out several hundred invitations to get several dozen attendees to a seminar, early indications are that these events, facilitated by qualified leadership trainers, can draw eight to 10 CEOs at a time with just word-of-mouth networking campaigns. No invitation blitz, no arm twisting

These advisers are effectively developing their pipelines and changing the rules of prospect engagement. Over the coming months, I will let you know what comes from these discussions and how advisers use this new platform to drive new client relationships.

Nielsen, president of the LeaderLabs, can be reached at rnielsen@theleaderlabs.com