Companies today live under the relentless glare of metrics, but few measures directly answer a key question on the minds of the senior team: Do we have enough leaders, and the right leaders, to run our business both today and in the future?

For those learning to lead, experience trumps formal training. But some experiences matter more than others, as two unconventional but highly successful organizations — The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club — have recognized.

Many companies have developed strong leaders for business units but have overlooked developing people who act in the interest of the whole organization. Understanding three issues can help: What are the key elements of the enterprise leader‘s job? Why is learning to lead at the enterprise level so challenging? What can companies do to identify and develop enterprise leaders?

Leadership consists of opposing strengths, and most leaders have a natural tendency to overdevelop one at the expense of its counterpart. The resulting imbalance diminishes their effectiveness. But leaders who work to guard against such lopsidedness can increase their versatility and their impact.

Many corporate programs to develop next-generation leaders fall victim to three pathologies that render the investments of time and money worthless. But there are ways of fighting these diseases.

For the past two decades, business leaders have focused exclusively on shareholder value. In a time of terrorism and corporate scandal, a much broader vision is imperative, as Yale School of Management Dean Jeffrey E. Garten explains.

Executives know they need to develop their company’s next leaders, but many are disillusioned by all the once-promising fads that have come and gone. Some, however, have discovered how an approach that’s as old as Homer can be one of the most effective means of developing high-potential managers.

How do General Electric, Hewlett-Packard and Johnson & Johnson keep a steady stream of leaders moving up? By focusing on the five essentials of leadership development. “Best-practice partners reported that they tied leadership development closely to business strategy and that they invested financial resources in it,” write the authors. “CEOs did not support the programs out of a respect for education but from a conviction that such programs can assist in aligning functional areas with corporate strategy.”