"No matter the industry or level of seniority, the next 10 years will be the most disorienting in a leader’s career. They could also become the most impactful.”
Associate Professor Sandra Peter, co-director of Sydney Executive Plus
If you are feeling like the ask of leaders has never been bigger, that the complexity of leading teams has never been higher, and the cost of getting it wrong has never been greater… no, you are not imagining it…
Welcome to the most disruptive chapter of your leadership career. Everything we have come to rely on, everything we thought we knew, and everything we have been rewarded for as leaders is about to undertake a serious upgrade.
The new leadership landscape is not for everyone. Not all those who have succeeded to this point will make it through this next transition. It is a new world, and it is the brave new players who will flourish in it. It is time to get energised around what might be possible when we fundamentally redefine what it means to hold the privilege and responsibility of leadership. What are we capable of creating for others when we look hard in the mirror and take radical responsibility for our impact? How can we shape the way we work together when we are deliberate and intentional in crafting and creating cultures where people can out-perform their own expectations?
Here we have outlined what you need to be holding front of mind, the questions you need to be asking and the conversations you need to be having to ensure your leadership impact is deliberate, authentic and high impact.
Leadership Challenge #1
The Scope Creep of Leadership Responsibility
You know you need to be strategic. That you need to be a deep expert in your industry and customer markets. That you need to set clear vision and expectations for what we are here to achieve and deliver on. That you need to build capability and manage performance.
Do you also know that you need to be informed and literate in well-being and mental health? Do you know that you need to be a master relationship builder and communicator? Are you clear on your purpose and values, because your people expect you to lead from them, and to support them to lead from their own?
Leadership Challenge #3
We are Done with 'Resilience'
The way we are talking about resilience and high performance is evolving. The pathway to true and sustainable high performance is not in asking people to give more and more of themselves under the dated ‘badge’ of resilience. The well only runs so deep before we leave ourselves and our teams dry.
True high performance exists at the intersection of ‘excellence’ and wellbeing. This is about artfully navigating waves of peak stress followed by deliberate and active periods of recovery. It is about how we are leveraging our connections and relationships to generate energy and support. It is about understanding how we maximise (and not destroy) what we are capable of individually and together.
There is no ‘later’… these are the things that leaders need to navigate and master now in order to stay relevant over the next 5 years. We are well past the days of leaving work at work. As a leader, your impact now finds itself at the dinner table, at the kids’ sport on Saturday, at family lunch on Sunday… are you choosing that impact on purpose?
Are you ready to give what it is going to take? Or perhaps you need a little guidance –please reach out to us if you would like to learn more about how you can get yourself equipped to navigate the changing landscape that is Leadership, and all of the challenges that come with it.
1 Peter, S., Riemer, K., Norman, P. (2024). The 2025 Skills Horizon. Sydney Executive Plus, The University of Sydney, https://doi.org/10.25910/57M8-SQ33
