EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING Job assignments have long been favored as a leadership development practice, especially those assignments that “stretch” the thinking or other capabilities of the target leader. This makes sense in that it is widely believed that leaders view their most potent developmental activities to be experiential based, especially on-the- job experiences. Putting developing leaders into stretch job assignments is a valuable developmental tool; however, you do not want to put people in over their heads too much. There are two fundamental questions in using job assignments for leader development: (a) how prepared should someone be for a stretch assignment; and (b) what is the right assignment for this leader at this time? It requires an intimate knowledge of the career goals, career paths and developmental readiness of those leaders.