New research from DDI and The Conference Board, titled The Global Leadership Forecast (GLF) 2014 | 2015, Ready-Now Leaders: Meeting Tomorrow’s Business Challenges, directly connects the percentage of Millennials in leadership roles with impacting overall business success.

The report consists of responses from a participant pool of 13,124 global leaders and 1,528 human resource executives within 2,031 participating organizations. Forty-eight countries and 32 major industries are represented, as well as multinationals and local corporations.

The study shows that an organization’s pace of growth is directly related to the percentage of Millennials in leadership roles. Aggressive growth companies, such as those in high-tech industries claim a higher proportion of Millennials in leadership positions (30%) than organizations with cautious growth (25%) or no to low growth (21%). Companies that were more financially successful were also more likely to have a higher percentage of Millennial leaders.

Of all the generational groups, Millennial leaders report being less engaged and more likely to leave in the next 12 months. The research also reveals that Millennials receive a higher percentage of promotions which can be attributed to lower management entry points. Surprisingly, their preferences for using other methods of development such as formal workshops, training courses, online learning and developmental assignments mirrored those of other generations. Not surprisingly, Millennials tend to use social learning and mobile development for leadership skill improvement more than other generations. Learning from others using newly-available methods happens more frequently for this generation.