Leadership development in overdrive. (CoverStory: Winning the Talent War).(Hovnanian Enterprises...

Creating strong, skilled leaders internally is an overriding passion at Giant K. Hovnanian Companies--because it has to be.

To hear Mark Hodges, K. Hovnanian Companies' senior vice president of corporate operations, talk about the home building firm's intensive efforts to identify and train new leaders for senior management positions, you can't miss his sense of urgency.

"We recognize that there is simply nothing more important for us to do than to devote energy to the development of our future leaders," says Hodges. "The business unit that does well, does w