A consistent pattern of ambiguity causes our people to doubt what we stand for, or to fret that we are trying to hide something, and that's damaging to our businesses and to our brands.

To return to the people we coach, I do believe that when it comes to promotion, reward and recognition, we would be far better served by managing the expectations of emerging leaders with greater transparency and truthfulness than seems to be the case.

When a number of people view themselves as being in line for a particular promotion, all but one of them are going to be disappointed, and too often the process leaves more casualties than it need.

Coaching is a key contributor to the development of the leadership talent pool. One of its many benefits is that it's a subliminal message to the person being coached that they are valued, and admired in their organisation, and that knowledge really helps them in the inevitable down times.

I also know that the people I coach really value straightforward truthful feedback from their leaders on their career prospects, even if they don't always like what they hear.

At a slightly more junior level, I am currently developing an enrichment programme for one of the companies I'm involved with, for the express purpose of retaining our bright young stars, acknowledging that our flatter management structures can't always keep pace with the rate of their ambition.

The program is designed to turn out a more well-rounded business person, who can take a broader, more strategic view beyond their line responsibilities. So the program will include elements of further education, exposure to our political and cultural institutions, work/life balance, values and ethics, involvement with non-government organisations in the not-for-profit sector, and so on. What we hope to accomplish is an enriched environment for these individuals, while managing their expectations on when and how their next career opportunity will come along.

This programme will also expose them to the ambiguity inherent in corporate life, and my great hope for the project is that it will assist in the development of the necessary coping skills, and that they emerge as strong, motivated, and ethical, with a contemporary take on what it means to be a leader.

What we now know, of course, is that the old command and control, army model of leadership is increasingly irrelevant in a business context. It's predicated on recruitment and promotion techniques that are demonstrably ineffective, it stifles innovation and risk-taking, its rigidity and inflexibility mean that the sort of people who rise to the top are often the antithesis of leaders - they jump to every bit of pressure from financial analysts and journalists, and seem incapable of taking a long-term view.

As a model it is inefficient and expensive, and as a mechanism for encouraging ideas and innovation it's a dead loss.

Contemporary leadership thought values diversity as a source of ideas and innovation, with the role of the leader increasingly seen as the person who identifies, recruits and nurtures ideas leaders for the organisation, because they recognise that ideas leaders are the real wealth generators. Contemporary leadership also recognises that the public sector, the private sector and the not-for-profit sector are inextricably linked, and all three sectors are accountable to the communities who sustain them.

That realization of the inter-connectedness of things is an important insight for business leaders - we don't operate in a moral vacuum - the notion that business is somehow only responsible to its shareholders is a fallacy.

Sure-footed business leaders have a moral compass that guides them through the maze of ethical dilemmas they face on a daily basis, and like a literal compass, true north never changes. All the things your mother told you are true. Truth, honesty, decency, courage, fairness, honour and generosity are all the hallmarks of the trust that good leaders engender in their teams.

And to return to where we started, I'm willing to bet that when your mother articulated all those things she wanted you to be when you grew up, she never said, "I particularly want you to be ambiguous". What was meant as an occasional tool, has exploded into a noxious weed, obscuring our way, blocking out the light, and hemming us in.

And finally, by lessening our reliance on ambiguity, and strengthening the clarity and purpose of our communications with our emerging leaders, we provide them with the right settings for the successful careers we all wish for them.