Leadership IQ

Leadership development, hiring and employee engagement are the three strands of a training firm that builds its courses out of its own survey work. Leadership IQ was started by a bestselling author who is also a keynote speaker and executive coach, and it describes itself as one of the top ten leadership training companies in the world. It says its clients have ranged from Merck, MasterCard, IBM and Microsoft to Harvard Business School and the United Nations, among thousands of others.

Training for managers and executives

The core product is a catalog of online masterclasses, sold as a library of 25 leadership training masterclasses, and a high-impact employee masterclass library. Certificate programs run for set periods: a six-week course on the science and practice of managing people, a six-week course on the leader as coach, a six-week course on what great communicators do differently, a four-week course on hiring for attitude, and a four-week course on how great managers drive employee engagement. For organizations that want something built around their own people, it designs custom training delivered online or on site, and can supply keynote speeches or help plan a development strategy for every level of leader.

Hiring for attitude

The firm's hiring work starts from a simple question: how much stronger would a company be if every employee performed like its best people? It offers a Hiring For Attitude service and a turnkey system that an organization can adopt. The approach rests on a study of more than 20,000 new hires and 1,400 HR executives that looked at why new hires fail.

Engagement surveys

Leadership IQ says its employee engagement survey is built so that every question points to a specific action, and that clients see their scores rise year after year. Related material covers hidden culture problems that engagement surveys tend to miss, and an emotional wellness training library.

Research behind the courses

The site publishes a run of studies. One surveyed 21,008 employees on how well leaders perform in seven areas. Another examined whether SMART goal setting helps, using data from more than 16,000 people, and concluded that it can lower performance and inspiration. Others looked at engagement among low performers, the five factors behind resistance to change, the experience of 3,706 people working from home, and the future of virtual training among 1,809 leaders. A 2025 study on AI readiness is also listed. The firm says its findings have been reported by the Wall Street Journal, Fortune, Forbes, Bloomberg BusinessWeek, U.S. News and World Report and the Washington Post.

Quizzes and books

Visitors can take free quizzes on team player type, leadership style, communication style, motivation at work, organizational culture and personal response to change. The founder's books are sold through the same site.

Leadership IQ is a training firm set up by Mark Murphy, a New York Times bestselling author, keynote speaker and executive coach. It turns its own research into courses and tools that help organisations hire for attitude, train their managers and coach their executives. Its studies have been covered by outlets such as the Wall Street Journal and Forbes.

What Leadership IQ offers

• Leadership training: a library of online masterclasses plus multi-week certificate courses on managing people, coaching and communication.
• Custom training: tailored programmes delivered online or on site.
• Hiring for attitude: a service and turnkey system for selecting staff on attitude as well as skills.
• Employee engagement surveys: surveys designed to surface culture problems.
• Keynotes and coaching: talks and executive coaching by Mark Murphy.
• Quizzes and books: free quizzes on leadership, communication and team styles, plus books by the founder.

Who it serves

It has worked with the United Nations, Harvard Business School, Microsoft, IBM, MasterCard and Merck, among thousands of other organisations.

Key facts

• Founder: Mark Murphy
• Focus: leadership training, hiring and employee engagement