In Aesop’s fable about the race between the tortoise and hare, that rascally rabbit could’ve used more humility and less hubris. I believe that same thing can be said of many businesses.

Fully 85 percent of executives responding to one survey deemed maximizing talent as “very important” and 37 percent believed their employees could become top performers. Yet, less than 50 percent of executives said they’d actually invest in leadership development.

Um, what?

Some companies don’t invest in leadership development because they claim it’s too difficult to measure results or return on investment. Others believe leadership development programs don’t work, so why invest time and money on them.

Um, what?

I doubt the vast majority of companies even bother to consider the true cost implications because, well, those executives simply “know better.”

That’s hubris. Writ large.

To the Greeks, hubris referred to extreme pride — pride and ambition so great it offended the gods and led to one’s downfall. Hubris was a character flaw often seen in the heroes of classical Greek tragedies, including Oedipus and Achilles. The biblical proverb “pride goeth before destruction” is basically talking about hubris.

Executives might not have run the numbers. But I have. And it’s a little frightening what companies typically leave behind.

A typical U.S. company employs around 100 employees, earns about $750,000 in annual profits and pays employees $50,000 a year each. A company paying little to no attention to leadership development also will pay little to no attention to employee empowerment and engagement.

In the four key employee metrics of absenteeism, turnover, engagement and disgruntlement, employers paying little to no attention to empowerment and engagement are potentially bleeding $5 million a year.

Can you expect to capture all $5 million? Probably not. But what is 10 percent worth to your bottom line? How about 20 percent? What would 30 percent of $5 million do to the bottom line of an organization pulling in $750,000 a year in profit?

I’m not a math whiz, but I’m guessing a 200 percent increase in profits might be something to brag about. Or could it be as simple as pride obscuring the obvious conclusion?

Marcus Aurelius, the Roman emperor and philosopher, once said: “Nothing happens to anyone that he is not fitted by nature to bear. The same things happen to another and either because he fails to realize that they have happened to him or because he wants to display his strength of mind, he stands firm and remains unaffected. Is it not extraordinary that ignorance and self-conceit should prove more powerful than wisdom?”

John C. Maxwell, the author, coach and speaker, said: “The better leader you are, the better leaders you will attract. Like attracts like is a basic principle of life. Others also say that birds of a feather flock together. If you want to play with [or attract] leaders at a certain level, you need to raise your game to match theirs. A leader who’s a seven on a scale of one to 10 will not be attracted to a leader who’s a five.”

I contend employees who exceed five on a scale of one to 10 won’t follow a leader who’s only a five.

Do you want to attract and retain great employees? Give them great leaders.

Leaving leadership development to chance will result in a slow erosion of empowerment and engagement. Left unchecked, this leads to the decline of any organization.