Openess to others, opportunities and challeneges are the core characteristic of a successful leader, according to leading business psychologist professor Binna Kandola.

Other characteristics include the way you treat others, self-awareness, taking opportunities, and experience and values.

According to Kandola, a strict adherence to formal talent management procedures may not be the best way to ensure that organisations develop their leaders of the future.

He said that the vast majority of the business leaders he has interviewed did not plan to be a leader in their current organisations. "They took opportunities and challenges which came their way, rather than work to a pre-determined career path," he says.

To-date professor Kandola has carried out 25 in-depth interviews with managing directors, chief executives and board members some of the leading public, private and voluntary sector organisations in the UK.