There is a question I am exploring more often in my work with current and future leaders, and it feels especially relevant now.
Not simply, ‘What do I want to do next?’
But instead, ‘Who do I need to become to lead well in this next stage?’
That shift matters because the workplace is demanding leaders not only deliver more, move faster, and with less, it is asking them to lead confidently through uncertainty, cultural complexity, accelerated change and increasingly AI-shaped interactions.
The challenge is not just keeping up, it is developing the human capabilities that help you stay clear, connected and able to bring people with you, even when the context around you keeps changing.
This reflection sits behind my motivation to create a new bonus chapter for the audiobook edition of Become a Global Leader, containing my latest thinking on the human capabilities leaders need now, and in this blog I explore some of these.
Leadership growth is shifting from ‘what’ to ‘who’
Many high achievers are used to focusing on the next target, promotion, project or milestone, and that makes sense.
Progress often gets measured through visible achievement- What did you deliver? What result did you create? What step did you take next?
But in current, complex leadership environments, the ‘what’ is only part of the picture, your growth is also about your leadership identity, behaviour and range:
Who do you need to become when the answer is not obvious?
Who do you need to become when your team is looking to you for clarity, but you do not yet have certainty?
Who do you need to become when the work requires more of you than you have available?
These questions shape how you communicate under pressure, make decisions and build trust.
Ready to strengthen your human capabilities?
Confidence now means the willingness to experiment
Confidence, the first pillar in the book, is often misunderstood as having a sense of certainty. It can be interpreted as waiting to feel ready before speaking up, trying something new, taking an opportunity or stepping into a bigger role. But in today’s environment, waiting for certainty only leads you to standing still, because nobody can give you this.
The shift I am seeing now is that confidence needs to become about being more experimental, willing to test, learn, practise and adapt, even if you’re not sure what the result will be.
I talk about this approach as Experiment, Exercise, Learn and Adapt. You try a new approach (Experiment), put it into practice (Exercise), you notice what happens (Learn), and you adjust (Adapt).
I recommend this to my own clients, as well as using it for my own work, including the leadership breakfasts I have been running this year in London and Paris. Some parts worked brilliantly, and through trying different models we learned what needed adapting. The growth came through experimenting, not waiting until everything was lined up and guaranteed.
Create clarity in ambiguity
Another leadership capability that has taken on new significance is clarity, the second pillar of the book.
Historically, we might have thought about clarity as communication clarity, being clear in your message, structure, language and intended impact.
That still matters, but there is another form of clarity that leaders need now- the ability to create clarity in ambiguity, for themselves and the rest of the team.
This does not mean pretending to have all the answers. In fact, credible leaders may say, ‘I don’t know yet’ or ‘We still need to find out.’ The important part is exploring the questions to create that clarity:
- What do we know?
- What do we not know?
- What is the next best step?
- What do people need from us now?
- How do we communicate that?
Clarity helps people orient themselves when the situation is still moving.
What kind of leader do you need to become next?
Cultural Intelligence is about developing your range
Cultural awareness previously might have been seen as learning cultural etiquette, or absorbing a list of dos and don’ts, but for modern leadership, it needs to go much deeper.
It is about developing your range to respond with Cultural Intelligence, holding the space between ways of being, interacting and communicating that appear to be opposite, but are flexed to the situation and the person.
Can you be direct and kind? Can you communicate the top headline and still hold the detail? Can you challenge someone and listen carefully? Can you adapt without losing yourself?
This ability to hold more than one way of communicating and leading is becoming a real advantage.
How do you lead in uncertainty?
Overcoming perfectionism
Recording the audiobook edition of my book also taught me something very valuable about communication itself.
When you sit in a studio wearing professional headphones, hearing every breath, pause and stumble, it is very easy to become perfectionist about how you sound. I found myself wanting to re-record sections, smooth things out and make everything sound right.
But after a while, I had to let some of that go, because natural communication has pauses, and audible breath, and moments where there is space for you to navigate to the next thought and for your listener to absorb.
The learning here is that in uncertain times, leaders do not need to ‘perform perfection’. They need to respond with honesty, clarity and humanity, communicate like a human and create trust, rather than be over-polished communication which can create distance.
Questions to reflect on
Where may need to be more experimental?
How can you create more clarity for your team, even if you don’t have full clarity yet?
Where do you need greater range in the way you communicate and interact with others across cultures?
I explore these ideas further in this week’s podcast episode, The Human Capabilities Leaders Need Now. Listen here.
Listen to the bonus chapter in the new audiobook edition of Become a Global Leader. Access the audiobook.
And if asking who you are becoming in your leadership, book a clarity call with me to explore.
