The Emergence of Business Analysts as Leaders

At a recent conference of the Association for Operations Management (APICS), where I was a presenter, I attended a provocative talk by Alan G. Dunn, president and founder of GDI Consulting and Training Company. He questioned if leaders are born or can be grown. It is the classic “nature versus nurture” debate. It got me to thinking about whether analysts can be more than a support to others. Can they be leaders? I share some of Alan’s thoughts.