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The leadership kaleidoscope:

How organizations can help
leaders meet their new mandate
To meet the growing demands
of—and from—leaders, corporations
need to rethink how they develop
and manage their executives.
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The concept of corporate leadership is fundamentally different—and more

complex—than it was two years ago. It’s not news that corporate leaders face
growing expectations. Stakeholders evaluate leaders against a triple bottom
line: people (employees, customers, suppliers, and communities), planet
(sustainability and net-zero emissions), and profit. And those expectations are
coinciding, and sometimes colliding, with what leaders themselves now want
for their lives and from their organizations as they reassess their own purpose.
Stakeholders evaluate leaders
All this requires companies to redefine what it means to be an effective
against a triple bottom line … and
leader—and how to find and develop those people within the organization.
those expectations are coinciding,
and sometimes colliding, with what We know that four capabilities are particularly tied to successful leadership over
leaders themselves now want. time: leading through influence, driving execution, creating possibilities from
new thinking, and having an ownership mindset (see, “Capabilities for future-
ready leaders”). Now, though, leaders need to apply those capabilities in a new
context, one that can become a personal crucible. Leading with purpose and
empathy is more critical than ever. Corporate leaders must credibly demonstrate
their commitments to sustainability and diversity, equity, and inclusion. Personal
elements of leadership and connectivity have risen to the fore, and digital
fluency has become a table stake. Leaders must manage trust, collaboration,
and interdependencies among leaders, teams, and business units. And they
must do so while considering the individual interests and strengths of their team
members and, of course, while delivering on traditional business imperatives.
These fundamental changes mean that companies need to reassess the
foundations of how they develop and retain leaders. Success requires rethinking
how leaders build trust with internal and external stakeholders; personalizing
career development and team building; and supporting and rewarding much
broader collaborative networks than ever before. This goes deeper than a
redesign of formal organizational structures or processes. It takes a deep dive
into interpersonal dynamics and applying mindsets that have not always been
at the core of traditional leadership styles: being aware of one’s strengths
and capability gaps, ecosystem thinking (that is, the understanding that any
action can have broad, and unexpected, ripple effects), and a willingness to
learn from the present and challenge the solutions that worked in the past.

Companies that help leaders build their Instead of following a steady path, leaders now need to pull into focus an array
own unique leadership kaleidoscopes of distinct and individualized components, both in their own leadership styles
and dynamically refocus them over and their management and development of others. Much like a kaleidoscope,
time will be most ready to face these personal and interpersonal elements interact in many different ways
the future, whatever it brings. and constantly shift in relation to one another. Companies that help leaders
build their own unique leadership kaleidoscopes and dynamically refocus
them over time will be most ready to face the future, whatever it brings.

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Capabilities for future-ready leaders

We have identified four capabilities that are particularly critical
for leaders to meet the expectations of stakeholders inside
Taken together, these four and outside the organization and deliver on its purpose:
capabilities allow leaders to build • Leading through influence. Leaders who exhibit this capability
strong, trusting, inclusive
collaborate well and are able to rely on influence rather than
relationships across their firms,
authority to get things done. This helps them work well both with
which helps everyone’s new
more senior executives and with their teams, as well as within
ideas get heard and supports
resilience on their teams. the wider ecosystem in which their companies operate.
• Driving execution. Leaders with this capability deliver results
efficiently and effectively. Leaders who are good at execution are
able to make tough decisions that benefit the whole system as well
as progress on pressing topics and in the face of complex
and novel challenges.
• Creating possibilities from new thinking. Leaders who demonstrate
this capability are personally curious and identify novel angles
and hidden possibilities. This helps them solve problems and
spot opportunities for innovation and positive impact more
widely than just within their organization. The most curious and
creative leaders bring others into their thinking as well, gathering
together complementary people and ideas to problem solve.
• Having an ownership mindset. Leaders with this capability
take personal responsibility not only for results but also for
the environment around them and its success or failure. This
mindset is central to resilience, one of the key elements of agility.
These leaders understand that they have the ability to make a
difference, rather than feeling at the whim of a bureaucracy.
Taken together, these four capabilities allow leaders to build strong,
trusting, inclusive relationships across their firms, which helps everyone’s
new ideas get heard and supports resilience on their teams. We call
these leaders future-ready because they are ready for anything.1
1 For more on the capabilities of future-ready leaders, see TA Mitchell and Sharon Sands, “Future-ready leaders:
Finding effective leaders who can grow with your company,” Heidrick & Struggles, on heidrick.com.

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Building trust Trust is the foundation of successful leadership, and the pandemic only
increased the importance of leader trustworthiness to organizational
resilience. Now, amid geopolitical upheaval, the ongoing uncertainty of
the pandemic, the growing urgency of addressing climate change, and
the resurgence of demands for social justice, stakeholders are demanding
trustworthy leadership on many more fronts than just business results.
Business leaders as a group are trusted: the 2022 Edelman Trust Barometer found
that while overall trust in institutions around the world is low, business is the most
trusted (ahead of non-governmental organizations, government, and media),
with 77% of respondents reporting that they trust their employers.1 However,
leaders cannot take this trust for granted. We all know that trust can be shattered
in a moment, and the work of building and maintaining trust is never finished.
Indeed, we know of a recent conversation among members of the executive team
of a large public company during which the team realized that several of them
had been asked by the CEO to address the same issue. The CEO thought he was
getting different ideas of how to address the problem, but the executives felt that
he didn’t trust any one of them to own it and was instead fostering competition
among them—so, completely inadvertently, the CEO lost his team’s trust. The
executives brought this to the attention of the CEO, who explained his intention.
But his initial lack of clarity about why he acted as he had meant wasted time for his
top team and disengagement rather than the greater engagement he’d hoped for.
This kind of experience is far too common. Many leaders we know of still tend
Many leaders we know of still tend to just tell others what to do, rather than ask their thoughts or preferences or
to just tell others what to do, rather even be transparent about context. In a time when empathy and humanity
than ask their thoughts or preferences are moving to the fore in corporations, these ways of leading will create
or even be transparent about context. disengagement, at best, and cause good people to leave, at worst.
In a time when empathy and humanity
On the other hand, leaders who have a strong ownership mindset, and encourage
are moving to the fore in corporations,
that in their teams, tend to be very good at understanding what actions are
these ways of leading will create
aligned with the organizational purpose and how to put those in context for
disengagement, at best, and cause
their teams. They connect with each person where they are and seek dialogue,
good people to leave, at worst.
rather than relying solely on broadcast communications. Leaders who lead with
influence are also typically successful in building and maintaining trust over time
because they tend to focus on meeting individual needs and empathizing with
individual perspectives. For example, one leader built a team with specialist
capabilities necessary to the organization but outside its main lines of business.
As part of a broader reorganization, she allowed the team to decide where
it made the most sense for them to sit in the organization, and gave them
the latitude to establish the mandate to make their solution work. The team
is succeeding in delivering better work more efficiently than ever before.

1 2022 Edelman Trust Barometer, Edelman, January 2022, edelman.com.

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GLES Diversity and inclusion policy and practice in Asia Pacific

That said, even with the best of intentions, what it takes to exemplify
trustworthiness—for example, through leading on ESG reporting standards,
meeting DE&I commitments, or, in healthcare, contributing to global vaccine
equity—is constantly changing. Most glaringly, perhaps, at the beginning
of 2022, few if any corporate leaders considered that doing business with
Russia would become a flashpoint for trust and require them to make tough,
fast decisions about businesses that may have taken years to develop.
It is crucial for leaders to be curious One positive for leaders is that the same behaviors that can build trust in
and willing to learn—core elements the first place can also rebuild it when it’s been damaged—when leaders are
of agility and capabilities that are authentic in and committed to remedial actions. For example, in early March
particularly central to understanding 2022, after Shell bought Russian crude oil at a huge discount, legally but after
how to rebuild trust when a leader has most international companies had stopped doing so, the company came under
lost it from their team, their board, their heavy criticism. Four days later, the CEO personally apologized, explained the
organization, or other stakeholders. company’s thinking, and committed profits from the oil to humanitarian aid for
Ukraine.2 The company’s stock price fell on the day of the purchase, and then
rose on the day of the apology. The co-founder of BrewDog, a Scottish brewery,
publicly apologized and put in place an independent review of the culture
after public complaints of bullying and misogyny.3 Among the outcomes of
the review were a company-wide pay raise, the appointment of “mental health
ambassadors,” and a new review structure including a focus on well-being.
In these contexts, it is crucial for leaders to be curious and willing to learn—
core elements of agility and capabilities that are particularly central to
understanding how to rebuild trust when a leader has lost it from their
team, their board, their organization, or other stakeholders. In this case,
learning helps leaders refocus their kaleidoscope on a new set of actions
to take and people with whom to build influence-based relationships.

? Questions leaders can ask:

What new areas do our stakeholders want to trust us in?
How do those expectations align with our purpose?
What actions can we take to build trust broadly?
How focused are we on building trust among our developing leaders?
Do we need to be more focused?
Are we, as individual leaders, aware of how our actions affect
trust on our teams? Do we ask more often than we tell?
Do we listen to our teams and our stakeholders?

2 Matt Clinch, “Shell to stop all Russian oil and gas purchases, apologizes for buying shipment after Ukraine invasion,”
CNBC, March 8, 2022, cnbc.com.
3 Former BrewDog staff accuse craft beer firm of culture of fear,” The Guardian, June 10, 2021, theguardian.com.

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Personalizing career Leaders individually are becoming more self-aware and willing to seek career

paths with agile teaming

paths that work for them rather than sticking to a plan laid out in a central
headquarters. Organizations that don’t meet expectations for development,
personalization, and flexibility are struggling to retain strong talent. At the
same time, organizational structures and teams need to flex with agility and
speed to meet fast-changing business needs. This combination of trends
has significant implications for all aspects of professional development,
from capability building to mentorship and succession planning.
It’s well known by now that employees at all levels are reassessing what they
want from work and life. Greater self-awareness has many seeking more
meaning from their careers and to make contributions to society broadly,
which affects what they expect from their employers. But other factors are
also contributing to a need for more personalized career paths. One of the
less noticed of these is that the retirement age in many countries is going up,
meaning that people will work longer but more often want to take time out
at different stages of their career in order to recharge and reenergize. Given
the increased competition for talent, companies will no longer be able to view
The leaders who rise to the top, as we with suspicion and dismiss people who take such career breaks. In addition,
are already seeing, are not the ones more and more professionals are choosing to work on demand, rather than
who tick all the traditional boxes. build a career in a company, often because they are seeking more control.4
They are those who understand their
At the organizational level, companies will need to consistently innovate in
strengths and play to them, are
unforeseen ways to solve both business and societal problems that we can’t yet
authentic and coherent in their
even define. This will take agility at all levels.5 It will drive organizational structure
purpose, and collaborate with other
leaders to solve new problems. change as well as changes in which roles are needed and how people work together.
As these changes happen, the leaders who rise to the top, as we are already seeing,
are not the ones who tick all the traditional boxes. They are those who understand
their strengths and play to them, are authentic and coherent in their purpose,
and collaborate with other complementary leaders to solve new problems.6
Their success builds energy and broad engagement with continuous change.

4 For example, in 2022, the number of senior executives joining the on-demand network of Business Talent Group (BTG) doubled
from 2021. See 2022 Talent Lens: Insights from the Rapidly Growing High-End Independent Talent Economy, Business Talent
Group, March 2022, resourcesbusinesstalentgroup.com.
5 For more, see Steven Krupp and Becky Hogan, “Agility for the long term,” Heidrick & Struggles, on heidrick.com.
6 For insight on how multinational consumer companies are moving toward a more flexible talent development model,
see Nancie Nataille, Catherine Lepard, and Kate Rankine, “Consumer focus: An emerging model for developing global leaders
in a hybrid world,” Heidrick & Struggles, on heidrick.com.

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S T R U Gworkforces:
GLES Diversity and inclusion policy and practice in Asia Pacific

Job design and leader development One CEO we know, for example, had left his organization when he was a director
are shifting from the traditional because he found the culture toxic. Although the company had a meaningful
model in which companies identify purpose—getting medicines to patients—the top team culture pitted the leaders
high-potential leaders and shape of various functions and business units against each other. This not only made
them over many years for a role, to the company an unpleasant place to work, but the competition was hindering the
one in which companies realize that company in reallocating resources to growth areas. When the company hired
the leader who can solve the next a new CEO, this person was intrigued by the opportunity of being able to reshape
problem—and the role that person the culture. He started with his top team, which saw several people leave amid the
will be in—may not yet exist.
changes. The CEO put new leaders in place who were committed to creating a new
culture. The CEO was able to reenergize the top team, and then the rest
of the company, around the organization’s purpose—which had become even
more important during the pandemic. By refocusing his kaleidoscope, and the
company’s, on meeting that societal need, the CEO was able to build alignment
on changes to funding and resourcing, to bolster parts of the company most
important to meeting that need, and to reduce funding in areas that were less
important but where influential leaders had blocked change in the past. The CEO
also got buy-in on a broader set of metrics, which now start from the foundation of
meeting the societal need for medicines and then flow into business metrics across
the business as a whole rather than in silos. This renewed focus on growth and
purpose has built morale across the company and improved business performance.
All this means that job design and leader development are shifting from the
traditional model in which companies identify high-potential leaders and shape
them over many years for a role, to one in which companies realize that the leader
who can solve the next problem—and the role that person will be in—may not yet
exist. At the front end of the talent pipeline, while many corporations still hire large
groups of new graduates at the same time, these cohorts are not as important as
they were before the pandemic. As companies identify high-potential and emerging
leaders, they should continue to focus on developing the four core leadership
capabilities of future-ready leaders and then have the courage to support young
By focusing broadly on the leaders in finding their own strengths and development areas and in developing
complementary nature of the best their own expectations of the company. At some companies, these personalized
teams, leaders should bring together considerations are already taking the place of general metrics such as time from hire
enough different perspectives, or number of expatriate placements. Even companies with an up-or-out corporate
backgrounds, and ways of thinking culture are offering more flexibility around defining strengths and success.
to also improve diversity.
Leading companies are also supporting more senior executives in building teams
(potentially with members from outside the organization as well as inside) designed
to complement their strengths and capability gaps, rather than meeting the needs
of a corporate plan, and that can change composition from goal to goal. By focusing
broadly on the complementary nature of the best teams, leaders should bring
together enough different perspectives, backgrounds, and ways of thinking to also
improve diversity. One CEO described his choices for his top team as “people
I’d like to go on a long-haul flight with”—not because they are entertaining but
because they are interesting and have a point of view they are willing to express.

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It’s notable that the hybrid work environment offers new ways for companies to build
an agile, talent-first career development model. Companies are reconsidering the
need for mobility in succession planning and job opportunities broadly; building
agile, borderless learning and support systems, including cross-regional mentoring;
and upskilling people at all levels so they can thrive in digital and virtual settings.
Some are creating new thinking to address specific problems the organization is
Companies are reconsidering the need
for mobility in succession planning facing by taking advantage of the ability to pull together teams of people from
and job opportunities broadly; different functions, regions, and levels. These efforts often yield innovative solutions
building agile, borderless learning to a given problem;7 now they also often create new opportunities and relationships
and support systems, including for participants. Each of these levers requires leaders to pay close attention to
cross-regional mentoring; and upskilling the needs of individual employees and meet employees where they are.8
people at all levels so they can thrive Making these diverse, agile teams work, though, takes active effort at inclusive
in digital and virtual settings.
leadership. According to our analysis of more than 2,200 proprietary surveys of
leaders and their teams, the most inclusive team leaders build deep purpose
and engagement, value individuality, and create a deep sense of belonging.
And their teams are far more often than others disciplined in their decision
making, full of people with an ownership mindset, and comfortable with a
robustly challenging environment.9 Leading with influence and creating new
ideas are among the capabilities that help many leaders do all this well.
Finally, as companies experiment with new roles and drive innovation, they
may also benefit from hiring on-demand executives. These executives have
personalized their own career paths, working when they want to and for whom
they want to, and they can help companies understand which roles they need
in the long term and what kinds of leaders will thrive—or fail—in these roles.

In today’s flexible and rapidly changing However, there is one way in which personalization is decreasing in importance.
environment, this one-on-one Sponsorship—where a more senior person commits to putting themselves on
sponsorship model is being displaced the line to support a promising junior employee—has long been crucial to help
by a model in which broader networks employees rise through the ranks. However, in today’s flexible and rapidly changing
of professionals, facilitated by environment, this one-on-one sponsorship model is being displaced by a model
a hybrid or remote work environment, in which broader networks of professionals, facilitated by a hybrid or remote work
play a larger role in identifying and environment, play a larger role in identifying and growing the leaders of tomorrow.
growing the leaders of tomorrow. Each leader has more perspectives on developing leaders than ever before.

? Questions leaders can ask:

How much have our expectations of our leaders changed over the past
two years, and how well do our current expectations match what leaders
expect from us?
How are we helping our leaders become aware of their strengths and
weaknesses? Are we doing enough to support them with individualized
leadership development plans? How well connected are those efforts
to our strategic planning and succession planning initiatives?
Are we agile enough at helping leaders build more agile,
inclusive teams to execute our strategy and solve problems?

7 For more, see Alice Breeden and Brian Klapper, “Successfully shifting mindsets to accelerate performance,”
Heidrick & Struggles, on heidrick.com
8 For more, see Lisa Baird, Steven Krupp, Cheryl Stokes, and Dorothy Badie, “The overlooked weapon in the war for talent,”
Heidrick & Struggles, on heidrick.com.
9 Alice Breeden and TA Mitchell, “Six ways inclusive leaders shape better teams,” Heidrick & Struggles, forthcoming
on heidrick.com.

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H E I D R region,
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GLES Diversity and inclusion policy and practice in Asia Pacific

Expanding leadership As a broader range of stakeholder expectations matter, executives are engaging
with larger groups of people than ever before. This is partly the result of simply
networks being able to connect more easily with more people when connecting virtually—
and, at this point, almost everyone’s comfort with those connections. It’s also
partly executives’ recognition that getting most things done takes collaboration,
input from all the affected stakeholders, and transparent communication
across whatever ecosystem will be affected by a given corporate action.
The core of any leader’s network is still the people who might be part of his or her
360-degree feedback loop, including the leader’s direct reports, those to whom
the leader reports, and peers with similar functions. But now, around that core
are relationships built with other teams and through affinity groups or employee
resource groups and also those outside the company—for example, community
members, customers, and experts in subjects relevant to the leader’s work.
For example, a Dutch company, Tony’s Chocolonely, has made slavery-free chocolate
its core purpose, to help address child slavery on cocoa plantations. Its longtime
CEO built a wide network with other executives and activists to work toward that
goal.10 The fashion brand Gucci has focused on building connections between
senior leaders and its most junior employees, most notably through a shadow
board of talented young employees from across the company who meet regularly
with the senior team and whose views have “served as a wake-up call,” as the CEO
put it.11 More broadly, companies of many kinds are making moves like those of
the medicine company CEO described earlier, shifting from metrics that track the
performance of individual leaders or business units to those that track the success of
the organization as a whole across a range of financial, cultural, and societal goals.
Companies will find that many of the ways they support individual
leaders’ development and agile teaming will also help them
understand where networks matter most and help leaders build,
maintain, and shift these individual connections over time. At the
core is leaders’ understanding of the ecosystem in which they are
working—at whatever level they are working—and organizational
trust in, and support for, individuals to build the teams they need
to develop the creative thinking they will need to thrive.

? Questions leaders can ask:

Are we doing enough to support our leaders in developing robust
networks across our ecosystem, internally and externally?
Do our performance and development metrics reflect
the role of networks in getting things done?
Are we, as individual leaders, doing enough to support
our teams in building effective networks?

Companies and leaders have had to become far more agile over the past two
years. Now, as some changes seem to sticking, companies and leaders need
to challenge themselves to make their leadership development programs
reflect our more human, more individual, and more flexible reality.

10 Oliver Balch, “Tony’s Chocolonely CEO on values-based leadership,” Raconteur, March 26, 2021, raconteur.net.
11 J ennifer Jordan and Michael Sorell, “Why you should create a ‘shadow board’ of younger employees,”
Harvard Business Review, June 4, 2019, hbr.org.

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About the authors TA Mitchell Sharon Sands

is a principal in Heidrick & Struggles’ is the leader of Leadership Assessment,
London office and head of Client Solutions Development, and Coaching for Heidrick
for Heidrick Consulting. Consulting and a member of the CEO & Board
Practice; she is based in the London office.
[email protected]
[email protected]

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Heidrick
We partner with our clients around the world to
develop future-ready leaders and organizations,

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bringing together our expertise in:

· Leadership assessment, development, and coaching

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The result: great leaders, effective teams, and thriving,

future-focused cultures—and organizations that can
accelerate performance, effect transformative change,
and boldly create the future they envision.

Managing Partners of Heidrick Consulting

Global Andrew LeSueur

New York
[email protected]

Europe and Africa Dustin Seale

London
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Asia Pacific, Middle East, Markus Wiesner

Dubai
and Emerging Markets [email protected]

CEO & Board and Alice Breeden

Team Acceleration London
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Organization Acceleration, Rose Gailey

Costa Mesa
Culture Shaping, and [email protected]
Diversity & Inclusion

Leadership Assessment, Sharon Sands

London
Development, and Coaching [email protected]

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