Summary
The leadership archetype of the future is evolving to meet the challenges of a high-velocity environment and adapt to new generations. This new proposed archetype has five interconnected components: ambiguity surfer, communities’ creator, agile strategist, sustainability enthusiast, and digital humanist. Leaders aiming to mirror the proposed archetype are advised to maintain authenticity, demonstrate professional competence, continue to learn, build meaningful relationships, be courageous, and enjoy the journey.
By understanding that future leadership combines traditional and new abilities and behaviors, executives can cultivate these qualities within themselves and their teams. This article is based on a qualitative phenomenological study conducted with seventeen experienced leaders ranging from multinational companies to accomplished entrepreneurs.
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Introduction
The current landscape for leaders is filled with uncertainty and speculation about the future. Organizations navigating through simultaneous high-impact events often struggle to commit resources and cultivate the necessary skills when the immediate benefits are unclear. Many leaders must adapt and grow at an unprecedented pace, but evolving demands often leave them overwhelmed and fatigued. The question then would be, how do we empower leaders and future leaders to thrive in such a fast-paced environment?
To answer the question, the author asked seventeen accomplished leaders from multinational companies and entrepreneurs experienced in a rapidly changing environment throughout Central and Eastern Europe about their views on leadership development needs for the future and three key capabilities that future leaders will require to excel. The responses highlighted recurring themes that flowed into a coherent archetype for future leaders aligned with evolving societal, technological, and workplace changes. The article further examines the multi-faceted abilities that aspiring leaders must cultivate to align with the proposed archetype.
The archetype of a future leader
Leadership has evolved through many phases and styles, with leaders consistently adjusting their approach. While recognizing the importance of caution when forecasting the future, the respondents visualized and proposed an archetype of a future leader that incorporates both new and traditional elements of leadership. Successful leaders of the future, they suggested, should be skilled ambiguity surfers and agile strategists. Aspiring leaders should also be catalysts in their communities, digital humanists, and supporters of sustainable business practices. The five components of the proposed archetype are interconnected and mutually reinforce one another.
The archetype of a future leader
Ambiguity surfer
Just as skilled surfers can navigate waves of all sizes and directions, aware that any wave could knock them down, future leaders should be prepared for any situation, always looking for opportunities and enjoying the experience. Riding the waves of change requires robust critical thinking to challenge conventional norms and interpret, analyze, and react to a constant flow of contradictory information. As Alexandra, the former CEO of an energy company, explains, an unpredictable and ambiguous world often left her without a clear handbook, uncertain of the best course of action. However, not having a clear path enhanced her experience, making it more fulfilling and thrilling. The more challenging the circumstances, the more she had to expand her critical thinking abilities to deal with the uncertainties.
Yet, leadership is not a solitary task, at least not in the future. Future leaders rely on their robust social intelligence to connect with and learn from other “surfers,” creating a collective leadership flow. By balancing logic and emotions, leaders can predict future scenarios more accurately. By embodying courage and curiosity, they overcome fears of the unknown and adapt to rapid changes.
As organizations evolve and adapt, they need flexible yet resilient leaders. A veteran insurance executive, Melissa anticipated major changes to how businesses and people work. She argued that future leaders must also actively anticipate and influence their environment beyond adapting to circumstances. As new risks emerged, she developed innovative strategies to mitigate them, manage crises, and ensure business continuity while turning potential risks into opportunities.
Historical changes also provide lessons for future leaders. One prevalent example is Central and Eastern European countries’ tumultuous transition from communism to market-based economies throughout the 1990s and early 2000s. The respondents who successfully emerged as leaders during that time developed skills in adapting, multitasking, navigating ambiguity, and maintaining momentum. Future leaders can assimilate these lessons to equip themselves better to face future challenges.
Communities’ creator
Several respondents believed future leaders should go beyond leading others. These leaders should cultivate deeper, authentic relationships and nurture communities within and outside their organizations. Sophia, a leader from the education industry, explicitly related future leaders to the role of “community creators.”
She elaborated on how her Millennial successor as CEO exemplified a modern leadership style. The successor valued individual insights, united community members with her vision, and inspired other aspiring leaders. Unlike Sophia, who relied on authority, the successor focused on facilitating harmonious and strategic relationships among all her stakeholders’ communities.
The respondents identified two trends contributing to the increased expectations for community: technology, particularly social media, and a move towards a more distributed leadership style. Technology enables the younger generation to become influencers and mobilize others effectively. However, this may also lead to the potential risk of prioritizing popularity over substance.
Future leaders should leverage their influence on social media for constructive change but must avoid misusing it in ways similar to the situations of past leaders who exploited their charisma. In addition, forward-thinking organizations acknowledge the vulnerability of hierarchical structures and the resilience of more decentralized, non-hierarchical systems that focus on problem solving. In flatter structures, most employees, regardless of their position, would contribute toward problem solving through a community-centered approach. By constructing inspiring narratives, future leaders should shift from traditional authoritarian roles and focus instead on empathy and creating value for the wider community.
However, implementing changes to the organizational structure can be difficult, and new attempts to establish flat hierarchies have had varying degrees of success. Understanding organizational and people dynamics would enable future leaders to handle imperfections and nurture motivation in their communities. They should navigate bureaucracy and technocracy, retain positive strategies and practices of the preceding structure while eliminating barriers to innovation and growth.
Agile strategist
Navigating through disruptive changes requires a clear strategic purpose and aligning the team toward that purpose. Several respondents emphasized that strategic thinking involves anticipating change, embracing flexibility, enhancing team performance, adapting to technological advancements, and addressing global challenges. They proposed that leaders should drive growth and create opportunities, even amidst disruptive changes. For instance, Natalia, CEO of a telecom company, stressed the importance of a clear purpose and her role in rallying the team around it. Combining purpose with ethics indicated that her leadership was essentially more strategic.
Managing stakeholders’ interests should also be a top priority for future leaders. Stakeholders’ interests may become unclear or diverge, and leaders need social intelligence to understand and address various stakeholders’ different and sometimes conflicting interests. Paving a clear direction and creating effective support systems within organizations can be facilitated through effective communication of vision and technology to enhance transparency.
Melissa added that future leaders must adapt their organizational culture and processes to accommodate remote teams. This requires thinking strategically about maintaining team unity and effective communication across geographical distances. She further recognized that although leaders are not the sole bearers of a vision, they play a vital role in facilitating collaboration and incorporating others’ feedback, ideas, suggestions, and desires.
Sustainability enthusiast
Sustainability is increasingly critical in organizational strategies, primarily driven by a younger generation enthusiastically embracing sustainable practices. Future leaders are expected to integrate sustainability into their strategic plans and personal goals. Achieving this complex objective requires a deep understanding of the behaviors, motivations, and values associated with sustainability among employees, customers, shareholders, and other stakeholders.
Several respondents envisioned a shift in the importance of sustainable practices, such as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives that were previously seen as optional. Despite occasional setbacks, sustainable practices will gain prominence on leaders’ agendas and evolve from a peripheral concern to a core element of corporate strategies. As awareness and understanding of sustainability continue to grow, future leaders must go beyond CSR. Increased pressure from regulators, investors, individuals, and society will drive future leaders to integrate sustainability into the very core of their purpose.
Scott, an experienced bank CEO, discussed how he gradually shifted his focus from solely prioritizing shareholder value to generating value for communities. In his view, leaders should understand the broader impact of the business and create value for all stakeholders rather than shifting resources from one stakeholder to another or exploiting the environment for profit. Leaders must also better understand an organization’s social responsibilities, provide fair compensation for employees, and lead with transparency.
Digital humanist
The future of leadership will be heavily influenced by the digital era, with leaders anticipated to spearhead the digital and AI revolution. While leaders in the past were also required to understand and adopt technology, the leaders of tomorrow, who are digital natives, are expected to lead the way in embracing the next wave of technological progress. Their role extends beyond adopting emerging tools such as AI or virtual leadership. They must learn to harness the power of these tools to transform organizations, products, and services while thoughtfully considering the technology’s ethical and unintended consequences.
Alexandra aimed to understand the broader consequences of technology and be aware of potential disruptions caused by advancements, such as digital labor and AI. She also urged future leaders to extend their knowledge and embrace these innovations while ensuring the transition keeps people at the center. Jaron, a bank CEO, shared how the significant disruptions made him understand the need to contribute to shaping an education system that promotes equal access to knowledge and encourages broader critical thinking.
In brief, leaders must ensure that the human aspect of leadership remains central despite embracing advanced technologies. They should treat technology as an enabler that enhances human capabilities rather than a substitute. Moreover, leaders must take it upon themselves to foster unity and cohesion among team members, adopt a strong organizational culture and processes, such as recruitment, compensation and feedback systems, while considering reskilling or augmenting programs to accommodate the evolving working environment.
Ultimately, despite the tide of change introduced by digitalization, leaders must remember humans’ remarkable capability to adjust to evolving conditions, embrace the inevitability of progress, and grow with that progress. Harnessing the power of support networks and artificial intelligence could significantly enhance human capabilities and leadership performance while amplifying their impact. The key is to find a balance between leveraging technology for progress and ensuring it does not undermine the core human qualities that make a great leader.
Decoding the leadership archetype: multi-faceted abilities
While transitioning to the proposed archetype requires cultivating numerous abilities, the respondents focused on the multi-faceted abilities that can be applied across multiple archetype components. Respondents encouraged future leaders to maintain authenticity and demonstrate professional competence. Themes of empathy, continuous learning, building meaningful relationships, embracing courage, and encouraging self-reflection are woven through the individual narratives.
Maintaining authenticity
Although traditional leadership roles have often been associated with ego and dominance, the participants recognized that such patterns must change. Removing the proverbial leadership mask would help aspiring leaders connect with themselves and others through a social purpose and ethical responsibility rather than solely pursuing personal motives. Meaningful interactions and a “human- centered” approach entail engaging in meaningful communication, prioritizing the well-being of followers, and embracing humility. Therefore, future leaders should not be afraid to show vulnerability in the appropriate cultural and contextual situations while also ensuring that this is not perceived as a weakness.
Silvia, a telecom industry leader, stressed the importance of understanding leaders’ roles and responsibilities within the organization and towards its stakeholders, which requires transparency about their emotions and limitations. She shared a personal example of expressing vulnerability. While bidding farewell to the staff in one country, she openly shed tears in front of everyone, a testament to her emotional state. However, she also recognized the need for balance and acknowledged that publicly displaying every emotion is not always appropriate.
Greg, an experienced leader from professional services, highlighted the importance of meaningful connections and empathizing with the team’s personal struggles. In a digital era, where relationships often appear superficial, authenticity requires leaders to acknowledge their limitations, demonstrate appropriate humility, and not take themselves too seriously. They should internalize that authentic leadership is hard-earned and can easily be lost each day. Lastly, the respondents noted that younger leaders increasingly embrace authenticity and expect the same from each of their team members.
Demonstrating professional competence
Without adequate professional competence, leaders may struggle or even fail. Developing professional competence takes time and perseverance, and the respondents expressed concerns about the commitment of younger generations toward acquiring expertise. Therefore, future leaders should continue acquiring and demonstrating professional competence and an adequate understanding of their business operations.
Daniel, a hospitality industry leader, argued that leaders must possess professional competence and emphasized the need for a comprehensive understanding of the business and job-specific tasks. He also recognized the importance of having a holistic understanding of the business ecosystem. Melissa argued that striving for excellence in her field helped her acquire solid professional judgment and earned respect from others.
The respondents recommended combining on-the-job training, learning from others, formal education, and personal development to enhance individual professional competence. At the very least, future leaders should have a general understanding of their business and a constant desire to learn and improve. They should also show a natural interest in their roles and industry and demonstrate intellectual curiosity. Leaders may struggle to display authenticity and passion without such knowledge and interest, ultimately impacting their performance.
Continuing to learn
Continuous learning requires a mindset infused with determination, ambition, and tenacity, together with a curiosity towards others rather than just self-focus. A broad education and an in-depth knowledge of individual and group psychology can help leaders optimize their personal and professional relationships. Finding inspiration in unexpected corners and embracing unforeseen opportunities requires leaders’ intentionality and ownership of professional growth.
Greg reinforced the importance of lifelong learning, stating that despite the easy access to information in today’s digital age, intentional learning should be a priority. Ben, an entrepreneur, advised emerging leaders to become better listeners, keep an open and curious mindset, and learn to filter through abundant information. He also emphasized the importance of seeking challenging situations to grow and learn from mistakes.
Ben further highlighted the importance of a fundamental understanding of psychology and encouraged aspiring leaders to study human needs and motivations. Regarding the need for broad- mindedness in an increasingly specialized world, he asserted, “Being a generalist is critical. Expand your knowledge beyond a specific field of expertise and invest in a well-rounded education.”
Building meaningful relationships
Several respondents believed upcoming leaders should build trust and create an environment that promotes accessibility rather than hiding behind screens in an era dominated by virtual meetings. Greg thought that future leaders should maintain a balance between virtual and in-person interactions. Social interactions could provide clarity, thoughtful responses, and emotional support. “While digital communication may be prevalent, the significance of direct connections with team members cannot be understated,” he advised.
Silvia also believed that successful leadership in the future would stem from building meaningful relationships with team members. She stated that leaders need to show support to create a conducive environment that promotes growth and avoid being too judgmental or demanding. Building meaningful relationships requires active listening, which is neither intrusive nor aggressive, and empathy toward others. Aspiring leaders were urged to cultivate compassion and curiosity, push personal boundaries, and engage in uncomfortable situations for personal and professional growth.
Being courageous
Several respondents proposed that future leaders must embody courage, not hesitate to take calculated risks, and manage them effectively. They felt leaders should expose themselves to various experiences and be the catalysts for business opportunities. Emphasizing the importance of practice and experimentation, they suggested that leaders should not shy away from trying new things, learning from failures, and being unafraid to venture into unfamiliar territories.
Melissa emphasized the importance of courage for future leaders. As she articulated: “Being courageous is a non-negotiable competency for future leaders. The leaders’ role is to inspire and act as a role model for others.” Further underscoring the virtue of risk-taking, Ben suggested: “As new leaders, start by experimenting in a safe space, gradually take on more responsibilities, and become a proactive decision maker. Understanding that setbacks will not result in long-lasting harm is paramount.”
With a focus on mentoring the younger generation, Lucas, another entrepreneur, underlined the indispensable role of courage and curiosity. “Courage acts as the fuel propelling the organization forward and making progress possible,” he explained. “Conversely, curiosity becomes even more crucial as it cuts new paths for growth as an organization evolves.” Therefore, courage, curiosity, and willingness to learn from failure are cornerstones of effective leadership in the future. Challenging conventional norms and fostering a culture of innovation and adaptability could ultimately drive an organization’s success.
Balancing the challenges and enjoying the journey
Drawing from their leadership experiences, the respondents cautioned future leaders against making similar mistakes that may have hindered or delayed their progress. They advised prospective leaders to relish their leadership journey, acknowledging they had sometimes become too consumed by ambitions and meeting short-term objectives. Olivia, CEO of an FMCG company, stressed the importance of enjoying the present: “Time goes fast when you are at the top. I should have enjoyed the journey more.” Jaron echoed Olivia’s sentiment, emphasizing that leaders should not take themselves too seriously. Conversely, Olivia warned future leaders not to focus too much on job titles and prestige.
The respondents also underscored the importance of patience with oneself and others. They encouraged celebrating individual and team success, including acknowledging intermediary achievements and milestones. Furthermore, the respondents confessed that self-reflection and inner peace helped mitigate burnout and fatigue. Additionally, the aspiring leaders were advised to appreciate the company of mentors, peers, and significant others along their journey.
Managerial implications
C-suite executives and HR departments can use the article to reevaluate their leadership development programs to incorporate the components of the proposed archetype. These programs should provide opportunities for leaders to enhance their critical and strategic thinking, social intelligence, authenticity, resilience, adaptability, and other essential abilities. They should include a blend of training, workshops, coaching, and mentoring to ensure leaders are prepared to meet upcoming expectations.
Furthermore, HR departments must regularly assess how well their leadership development initiatives are working and make any necessary changes. They should actively solicit feedback from leaders, track their progress, and evaluate the impact of the implemented programs. Implementing recognition systems to reinforce desired behaviors and celebrate leaders who embody the proposed archetype will foster a positive feedback loop and drive continued development.
In a context where much of the counsel is centered on the so-called “soft skills” development, it can be easy to overlook the significance of hard skills. However, our research respondents believe aspiring leaders should sharpen their technical expertise, for example. Moreover, they should profoundly understand their business ecosystems and the “job” they and their organizations perform. Altogether, technical competence is critical to informed decision-making, gaining credibility as a leader, and achieving personal and company goals.
Building a culture of continuous learning was a logical follow-up recommendation. The respondents recommended that new leaders take risks, experiment, and learn from existing leaders. They also highlighted the need for leaders to be proactive in decision making and to develop the ability to select relevant information. Additionally, the respondents recommended that future leaders set personal goals such as broadening knowledge beyond individual expertise, prioritizing personal development over job titles, taking responsibility for personal growth, and establishing a consistent career plan.
Furthermore, the respondents emphasized the need for aspiring leaders to prioritize establishing meaningful connections with others as part of their personal growth. Organizations should foster a culture that encourages human connections and building trust. Therefore, aspiring leaders should engage in genuine interactions with others and be willing to step outside their comfort zones. The respondents cautioned against superficial relationships, particularly in virtual meetings, and emphasized the significance of maintaining authenticity and direct human connections.
Implementing the proposed archetype, therefore, requires a long-term commitment and a holistic approach. It involves aligning leadership development initiatives with the organization’s overall strategy and culture. Investing in the development of future leaders and cultivating the abilities required by the archetype can position organizations for success in a high-velocity environment.
Conclusion
As aspiring leaders encounter meaningful and unexpected experiences, they will gradually move away from the leadership of today and the past. The future leader archetype is not a distant or abstract idea but a concept that can be applied and developed today. Current and prospective leaders must embrace change and develop their unique leadership skills and behaviors by seeking appropriate resources, training programs, and networking opportunities.
One key takeaway from the collective respondents is that while leadership comes with many responsibilities and high expectations, it should also offer personal satisfaction. Aspiring leaders should aim to relish their leadership journey, which can improve their quality of life, resilience, and performance. Encouraging leaders to enjoy their role should be incorporated into organizational cultures and leadership development programs.
