Leadership Circle, a company that offers leadership development services for business leaders and teams, today today announced $20 million in funding from RF Investment Partners.

A nearly 40-year-old company raising its first venture capital funding is rare and this is the case with Leadership Circle, which was founded in 1985. The funding will be used to further development of the company’s LeadTech platform and software-as-a-service capabilities, scale its executive offerings and support self-serve options for leadership assessment and development.

Leadership Circle’s solutions combine services and products designed to help leaders increase their leadership and team effectiveness and their organization’s ability to thrive in the midst of volatile and ever-changing conditions. Starting with a data-driven leadership assessment, users can deepen their self-awareness and identify areas for further development, according to the company. Participants can execute an actionable leadership development plan through on-demand coaching solutions and one-on-one coaching with world-class experts who use data to position leaders for success.

The company’s LeadTech platform is a major focus of why Leadership Circle has taken on funding. LeadTech is described as online, asynchronous coaching for individuals and teams. Reflecting its move into strengthening its online services, Leadership Circle mentions that the platform is supported by artificial intelligence and machine learning.

Leadership Circle claims that data shows 75% of leaders globally still operate from a reactive, nonscalable mindset — an issue exacerbated by pandemic market volatility. Between an increasingly puzzling labor market fueled by the Great Resignation and what the World Economic Forum is coining a “reskilling emergency,” the company says, leaders face a new host of challenges and must prioritize leadership development to be successful in the years ahead.

“Effective leadership is not just a competitive advantage anymore. It’s a critical ingredient in operating a business in the ‘next normal,’” Bill Adams, co-founder and chief executive of Leadership Circle, said in a statement. “Through working with executives at some of the top Fortune 500 companies in the world, we are already seeing improving business results when managers and executives make leadership a conscious practice.”

The company works with nearly 40% of the Fortune 50 to help meet growing leadership assessment and development demands. Notable clients include Salesforce Inc., Syngenta Crop Protection AG, Microsoft Corp. and Ernst & Young Global Ltd.

Leadership Circle has more than 10,000 Certified Practitioners across the globe and has supported more than 200,000 leaders spanning all types of industries.

Image: Leadership Circle