One day, a son asked his mother for the family's traditional holiday ham recipe. She detailed each step explaining at one point that she cuts off about an inch from each side before putting it in the oven to bake. Her son, eager to learn, asked why. His mother replied, “That's how my mother always did it; I think because it improves the flavor.” After the conversation, the mother called her mother and asked, “Mom, why do you always trim the honey ham before baking it?” The grandmother said, “I have to trim the ham to fit it in my pan.”

Too often, leaders assume the formula for successful leadership lies in doing what has worked well in the past, and they invest time and resources to build skills accordingly. Are they right? Can the next generation of leaders be effective when they focus on legacy behaviors versus skills that deliver value today and tomorrow?

While many leadership attributes are timeless, our recent research has found that there are some new leadership skills that have emerged in the last three–four years. These new leadership skills represent important areas where today's leaders need to shift from their traditional behaviors to more fully embrace leaders need to develop the right skills  according to evidence-based research that identifies what leaders need to do to be effective today and in the future.

The Leadership Code® Research Initiative

The RBL Group (RBL) has a longitudinal Leadership Code® database with over 2.3 million leadership behavior ratings from over fifteen years. This database empirically defines effective leadership. We isolated more than 1.4 million ratings from over 19,500 respondents from the periods of 2015–2019 (pre–COVID-19) and 2021–2023 (post–COVID-19). 

High-performing leaders invest personal time to develop, coach, and mentor others based on what is uniquely meaningful to those individuals. 

Using the RBL Leadership Code® research-based domains (Strategist, Executor, Human Capital Developer, Talent Manager, and Personal Proficiency), we analyzed which leadership behavior items correlate most strongly with organizational outcome variables. These five Leadership Code domains have remained timeless, but the specific behaviors driving effectiveness in each of the five domains evolve and are timely.

What's New?

We report the following nine evidence-based leadership skills (with data-driven tips) that have emerged as increasingly important in today's world. See figure 1 as an overview. 

STRATEGIST

• Inspire hope about the future: Hope comes from a belief in the organization's future success. To create hope, leaders anticipate trends in the external environment that will impact what current and future customers and employees will need and want. They create a clear connection between what the organization can do (now or in the future) and the needs of customers, investors, and their communities. They articulate that vision in ways that generate enthusiasm and energy in their employees and offers new and sustainable solutions. And they never stop seeking out the business / customer / employee insights that helps the organization stay agile and responsive.

Tip: The highest performing leaders inspire hope and enthusiasm inside and outside the organization as they (a) shape a vision that succeeds in the marketplace, (b) clearly and consistently communicate that vision, and (c) provide clear, aligned goals that deliver the vision.

• Prioritize opportunities: Effective leaders build and execute a good strategy that evolves over time. In today's world of rapid global change and increasing complexity, successful leaders use external sensing to help them adjust priorities quickly to take advantage of emerging market opportunities and avoid emerging threats. They are deliberate and intentional, not reactionary and impulsive. They are based on an evolving understanding of how the organization's strengths can most effectively be used to create value for customers in a changing world.

Tip: The highest performing leaders tune in to business intelligence with data from the market context, key customers, and employees to adjust their own and their teams'/organization's goals in real-time.

EXECUTOR

• Deliver on strategic priorities: Today's competing demands and heightened information flow requires leaders who can identify and deliver on key priorities. Today's most effective leaders communicate regularly with their teams to keep them aligned with and delivering towards the most important outcomes. They have open, regular communication channels and they are as clear about what we are no longer doing as they are about what we are now doing.

Tip: Delivering on priorities separates base leaders from top performers. They make sure the most important outcomes are delivered by having the discipline to make priority actions happen. 

• Work through others: Leaders increasingly execute via influence, collaboration, and integration. Working through others means setting clear accountabilities, providing clear and consistent feedback, and clearly defining and distributing decision-making. They understand that their deliverable to the organization is no longer their own work, but their ability to harness the power of their people and channel it towards work that creates value.

Tip: Top performers engage others to make change happen and give and receive actionable feedback to enable others to respond to the speed of business. 

TALENT MANAGER

• Personalize engagement: Today's leaders help employees build their skills and experience to advance both the goals of the organization and their own goals. They are curious about their employees and seek to understand what motivates and inspires each team member. They are creative and resourceful in shaping the work experience to inspire high engagement and performance and in helping their teams see how the work they do contributes to outcomes that matter—for the employee, for the organization, and for the world.

Tip: High-performing leaders invest personal time to develop, coach, and mentor others based on what is uniquely meaningful to those individuals.

• Ensure resources to enable success: Effective leaders provide the resources and support teams and individuals need to deliver on priorities. Leaders recognize rapidly changing market conditions, identify critical emerging skills, and allocate the resources to develop those skills. They lean in on their organization's talent processes and actively participate in experiments to improve them. They invest in building the skills of the people on their teams. They create a workplace culture that gives people the flexibility and support they need to deliver and are effective advocates for the resources their teams need. Even in tight labor (or skill) markets, they are good at attracting high-performing talent to their teams.

Tip: High performers attract and retain the talent their teams need to win and provide teams the resources (money, technology, and information) needed to do the work. 

HUMAN CAPITAL DEVELOPER

• Empower future talent needs: They empower employees to grow on their own by clearly articulating what good looks like, emphasizing the behaviors and skills needed to deliver the customer and employee experience of the future and how those expectations shift as you grow in the organization. As skill requirements shift, they anticipate and proactively prepare for future talent needs with targeted development and hires. They make sure they are building robust and diverse talent pipelines, actively mentoring talent from across the organization and engaging top talent in solving today's most complex problems.

Tip: High-performing leaders have on-going, personalized career conversations with all employees to show how the organization helps them achieve their goals. And leaders ensure that future leaders get the right development experiences. 

PERSONAL PROFICIENCY

• Navigate complexity: Today's leaders think in more complex, more integrative ways. They manage uncertainty to problem solve under greater pressures with greater speed and increased agility. They excel at knowing which problems they need to solve and which they can delegate. They cultivate the ability to think both creatively and critically and know when to do each. They actively seek to expand their understanding of the organization, their industry, and the larger environment by staying curious and informed about social, technical, economic, political, environmental, and demographic trends. They are good at making tough decisions.

Tip: Effective leaders think clearly, critically, and systemically. They find certainty in uncertainty. They see the big picture, then derive organizational and individual implications. Navigating complexity allows them to provide better direction and make better decisions.

• Take care of self to care for others: Leaders need to have sufficient emotional resilience and stress tolerance to remain personally positive and energized for the future and help others care for themselves.They know how to set boundaries, how to build their own reserves, and prioritize their own personal well-being. They help others navigate their work demands in a sustainable way and they cultivate a positive and energizing work environment that supports well-being. They communicate with authenticity, candor, and care.

Tip: High-performing leaders balance work and personal demands (well-being), treat others with humanity regardless of the circumstances, demonstrate compassion, and build trust. Leaders ensure that those they meet with feel better about themselves after each interaction.

SUMMARY

Today's world is complex and likely to become more so. As global political unrest and economic uncertainty continue, organizations of all sizes will continue to face uncertainty and ambiguity in defining how to best create value for investors, customers, and communities. But we are optimistic. We have seen leaders around the world rise to challenges before them and make the world better for their customers, employees, and communities. Our Leadership Code Research Initiative identifies what leaders need to do to be even more deliberate and successful in continuing to do this. These nine evidence-based actions are the most significant shifts in what is needed to succeed as a leader in today's world. Our research highlights a positive, evidence-based argument for hope: the best leaders articulate an inspiring and informed strategy. They empower the organization to align to this  strategy, and they gain feedback and insights from across and outside the organization to inform priorities. They are open and adjust. They personally invest in mentoring, coaching, and building talent. They help their organizations identify and build the skills needed to be successful for the future. They model well-being, balance, and inclusion. They inspire confidence and hope.

How prepared are you to successfully lead for the future? Refer figure 2

While there are other behaviors that continue to be important, if you invest in building these key behaviors, we are confident you will be positioned to drive strong organizational value – not just for today, but for tomorrow as well.