Forget the Fads! This Is What Really Makes a Great Leader in 2025

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WHY ARE FADS SO ATTRACTIVE?

Many leaders find it difficult to keep up with the pace of change, and you may be feeling as though the world is changing faster than it ever has.

If you pay attention to mainstream leadership theory, you'll often hear that if you want to have any hope of keeping up in our rapidly evolving world, you need to change the way you lead.

But, do you?

The more I see, the more convinced I am that the fundamental principles of leadership are timeless. Sometimes, though, it's hard not to get distracted by the latest leadership and business fads. They draw your attention away from the tried and tested principles with the promise of showing you an easier way.

I find the psychology behind this absolutely intriguing. As long as the goalposts are moving, you can justify searching for yet another silver bullet, which might make leadership easier or more comfortable for you.

But there are no silver bullets. There are no magic potions. And there is no easier path.

In this newsletter, I look at one of the more recent articles on the changing nature of leadership, from one of the more credible sources. I'll start by reviewing the McKinsey article, The Art Of 21st-Century

Leadership. And then I simply ask the question, “Is there anything you need to do differently to lead successfully in the 21st century?”.

CUTTING THROUGH TO PERFORMANCE

When I developed the No Bullsh!t Leadership framework, I had a single-minded focus: to isolate and describe the critical foundations of leadership.

I wanted to take all of the rich complexity of human interaction and professional performance, and break it down into its simplest form – but no simpler.

I was answering what I believed to be the most critical question about leadership: “What do great leaders do – in practical terms – to deliver exceptional performance?”

The challenge I faced was distilling the complexity of leadership down to a series of relatively simple steps that could be followed by any leader, in any context, to rapidly improve their performance. Be careful though. I said it was simple. I didn't say it was easy!

It is objectively true that leadership is hard. And if you don't think it is, you're probably not doing it right.

I had a fairly inauspicious start to my leadership career. But after dropping out of my undergraduate law degree as a 20-year-old, I eventually became a CEO who was able to turn around the fortunes of a multi-billion dollar energy company.

In order to get there, I had to acquire a first-class business education, of course. But more importantly, I threw myself into the hard work of leadership until my fear and discomfort vanished.

I read voraciously, building upon the leadership principles that I'd learned in the 1990s from luminaries like John Maxwell and Tom Peters and Jim Collins. And, I suspect that if I were to reread any of those works today, they would stand the test of time. They're as relevant to leadership today as they were 30 or 40 years ago.

This is why one of the core tenets of No Bullsh!t Leadership is that, despite all the noise and hype to the contrary, leadership is about results. Performance is the goal, and that's one thing that I'm pretty sure won't change in the 21st century.

WHAT’S NEW UNDER THE SUN?

If we're going to take any source of leadership research seriously, we should probably pay attention to McKinsey – if for no other reason than the quality of their data sources. McKinsey has an elite client list, which gives them access to the top leaders, in the top companies, across 65 countries.

If nothing else, this gives us a window into what the world's top leaders are currently thinking. That's why I keenly anticipated reading the McKinsey report titled The art of 21st-century leadership: From succession planning to building a leadership factory.

The article starts by pointing out the number of disruptive trends that leaders have had to deal with in the last few years, and some of these are clearly set to accelerate:

1. The sudden emergence of upending technologies, such as generative AI;
2. The energy transition; and
3. A global workforce that’s now seeking more autonomy, empowerment, flexibility, and mobility than ever before.

They say that in the past, senior leaders needed to focus on maybe four or five issues at any one time – now it's double that. Quoting from the report, "As the world grows more complicated, so must our perceptions of and our approaches to leadership development. The biggest obstacle to creating resilient and high-performing teams is having a deep bench of leaders who can excel in this uncertain 21st century business environment."

Okay, that sounds pretty reasonable… no argument from me.

The report identifies six leadership trends that are prerequisites for success in today's fast-moving world.

1. Positive energy, personal balance, and inspiration. With the workforce looking for greater connection and inspiration, leaders are going to need to be more resilient, in order to support their people.
2. Servant and selfless leadership. Leaders need to make a positive impact and focus on the purpose and vision of the organization, not just their executive bonuses (my words, not McKinsey's).
3. Continuous learning and a humble mindset. Leaders need to be curious and learn from their mistakes. They should enable others, rather than just striving to be the smartest person in the room.
4. Grit and resilience. Leaders need to assimilate the best ideas around them, but never waver from making the tough decisions when they're called for.
5. Levity. This surprised me a little, coming from McKinsey. The report says that moments of humor can help teams bond, defuse high-stress situations, and unlock the creativity of the group. Who knew?!
6. Stewardship. Taking the long view, and an intentional approach to developing leadership capabilities right across the organization.

Okie dokie… six years ago to the day we produced Ep.25: The Roadmap to Exceptional Leadership. In that episode, I referenced the core leadership competencies that we'd explored when I was at Harvard Business School in 2007 – so those principles are at least 20 years old.

If you've been listening to this podcast from day one, as I know many of you have, these leadership competencies won't come as any surprise.

The premise of the McKinsey article, though, is that unless we find new ways to build our talent pool, we won't be able to adapt to the changing environment.

I just don't think that's true.

The core competencies of leadership are the same today as they've always been. And, to highlight the urgent need for change, the McKinsey article offers us mind-altering advice like this: "Rather than simply command and control, leaders must collaborate and coach."

Hmmmmm…

WHAT DO THE WORLD’S TOP CEOs THINK?

Okay, I was being a little cheeky taking that quote out of context, but I wanted to make a point. And, besides, the McKinsey article did say that levity is important.

The new look leadership approaches that the article suggests gave me a sense of déjà vu:

1. Engage with all key stakeholders;
2. Enroll the team in the vision and strategy;
3. Build an operating model that's wired for speed; and
4. Emphasize a culture of trust.

Nothing earth-shattering there. I have to say, though, in terms of how to improve the leadership development efforts, the authors hit on some excellent points:

First, you need to set leadership attributes for the company. Most companies struggle to agree, even amongst their top leaders, which attributes are the most important. And, even when they do manage to agree, interpretation of what those attributes mean can vary wildly from person to person.

Just think about the concept of servant leadership. Some leaders rightly? interpret this to mean that they have to act in the interests of their people and, at times, this means they have to give them difficult feedback to help them to improve and thrive.

Other leaders will interpret servant leadership as letting their teams do whatever they want, including allowing them to set their own bar for performance and behavior – and they never hold them accountable for their individual choices.

This is born from the misguided notion that they have to serve their people's wishes, rather than serving their people's interests. Obviously, these two approaches to the same concept are radically different.

Second, you need to assign your best leaders to the toughest challenges. Okay, this one's really got legs. It's a talent management technique that isn't often spoken about.

It reminded me of another McKinsey report that I referenced not so long ago in Ep. 315: How to Find and Keep the Rare Talent That Drives 800% More Value. Once you understand – really understand – how impactful your top performers can be, you'll become almost frantic about making sure they're assigned to the most critical, highest value work.

Then, we should rethink how to build capabilities at scale. This is excellent guidance. The authors talk about changing how leadership is seen inside the organization. Instead of making it an HR or training issue, leadership development should be treated as the accountability of line leaders.

I've seen this a lot with the companies that we work with. If the CEO is driving the leadership reform from the top down, the company can truly build a leadership factory that unlocks extraordinary performance. If not, it becomes a training exercise that leaves most of the potential value on the table: the performance capability is never institutionalized.

Thinking about leadership development as a critical performance driver is very different from seeing it as an annual training exercise.

Next, CEOs need to think of themselves as chief talent officers. Anyone who's worked for me in the past, especially in my days as CEO of CS Energy, will attest to the fact that I was incredibly focused on talent, capability and team performance.

As McKinsey says, "CEOs must be role models within the leadership factory. They should hold everyone to the highest standards for performance and productivity."

And finally, Systems need to be designed for accountability, empowerment, and speed.

So, all-in-all, there's some really good stuff there. But, unfortunately the final word in the article falls back on the same tired old leadership platitudes (and I quote, this time completely in context): "The only certainty for today's global leader is that things will remain uncertain. 2025 will likely be just as challenging as [last] year. So will 2026. It's incumbent on leaders then to stop falling back on what's worked for them in the past, adhering to business practices and rituals that have long since expired. Instead, they can collaborate with their teams, employees and other key stakeholders to create the new rules of leadership."

Hmmmmm…

ADDRESSING 21ST CENTURY CHALLENGES

This is all well and good, but what should you do differently, if anything?

I'm a simple man. I like nothing more than stripping away the noise and distraction, and getting to the essence of the problem. So, you can believe me when I tell you that 90% of the value that you're going to create during your working life will come from executing the basic tools of high performance leadership, really well.

It's all about getting the fundamentals right, not shadow-boxing at every new trend that emerges.

I believe that when it comes to leadership, there is truly nothing new under the sun. But the world does shift, and you can't ignore that completely. It's about adapting your existing skill set to new problems. That's what the best leaders and business people have always done.

I know that many of you aren't CEOs of global organizations, so you're not going to have to deal with massive global instability or macroeconomic shifts.

So, what can you do to prepare for leading well in a changing world? I'm going to look at two key trends and give you an approach to handling each simply by deploying the practical leadership tools that have always worked, and they're going to continue to work well into the 21st century..

LEADING A HYBRID WORKFORCE

Do you need new or different leadership skills to handle a remote workforce? Not at all. However, if your leadership has been weak in the past, the chinks in your armor are going to be more exposed. What do you need to do in order to deal with remote work?

1. You've got to lead based on outcomes, not inputs. You can't manage people by watching what they do anymore – time in the office has become less relevant. If control and micromanagement is your go-to style, then you may feel really insecure and exposed when you can't see your people every day.

But if you were always a leader who could inspect outputs, without dipping down, and guide your people to deliver, you're going to be fine.

The reliable tools of working at the right level, holding people individually accountable for their results, and using the Challenge / Coach / Confront framework to guide them, will be the most effective way to succeed.

2. Make your expectations really clear. Your people may not want to return to the office. Hell, you may not want to return to the office. So, you'll need to be comfortable in this potential conflict.

You need to understand and articulate the value of having people together in the same location when it makes sense to do so. If there's a blanket company policy on remote work, you have to adopt it, drive it, and be firm with your people about the “why”.

Then, you have to make it worth people's while to come back to work. When they're there, focus them on the high-value outcomes that are difficult to achieve when they're working remotely. Be direct, and be honest about why it's important to have the team together.

And don't take any dog-ate-my-homework excuses for the passive-aggressive resistance that you are likely to encounter.

3. Get really good at giving one-on-one feedback. We ran a webinar last week on how to give one-on-one feedback. It attracted several hundred leaders from all over the world. Why? Because one-on-ones are a critical leadership tool, and no one really shows you how to do it.

Quality one-on-one interactions with your direct reports are the number one driver of team performance.

So:

• If you can work out how to work at your level;
• If you can learn how to challenge coach and confront your people;
• If you become comfortable in conflict situations;
• If you can pursue value delivery above all else; and
• If you can learn how to expertly empower your people, and then hold them to account?

… then you're going to be okay leading a hybrid workforce. No new 21st century skills required..

LEADING A MULTI-GENERATIONAL WORKFORCE

Do you need different leadership skills to manage a Gen Z or Gen Alpha workforce? Not at all. However, if your leadership has been weak in the past, the chinks in your armor will be more exposed. What do you need to do in order to deal with a new generation of workers?

1. Forget about the sweeping generalizations. We've been told that the younger generations are impatient, lazy, and focused solely on their work-life balance. Well, maybe? But I've also come across countless baby boomers in the workforce that I could say exactly the same thing about.

A great leader puts generalizations aside, and treats each case on its merits. To do this takes confidence and strength as a leader. It takes empathy and compassion for the individual. But no quarter can be given in setting and maintaining high standards for performance.

Once again, your ability to have connected meaningful conversations is key.

2. You need to seek to unlock the value of different perspectives. Quite feasibly, you could have four generations represented in your team. I'm a huge fan of harnessing the value of diversity – and I don't just mean gender or cultural diversity.

The questions that come to my mind are things like:

• “Are you a good enough leader to extract the value from your digitally native Gen Zs, and blend it with the experience and wisdom in your Gen Xs?”
• “Can you liberate the potential value that lies in the diverse industry backgrounds and educational experiences of your team?”

Creating a culture of robust challenge is a timeless leadership tool. Constructive tension in decision-making inputs is critical to unlocking value. But, if you lack resilience, you are not going to be able to stay calm enough under pressure to let those tensions play out.

So:

• If you treat each person based on their individual merits;
• If you become comfortable in conflict situations;
• If you can pursue value delivery above all else; and
• If you can build your resilience to the point where you exhibit grace under pressure?

… then you're going to be okay leading a multi-generational workforce. No new 21st century skills required.

BUILDING THE TALENT FACTORY

That's just two key work trends to demonstrate that if you were a great leader in 2015, you'll probably be a great leader in 2035.

Having said that, there's one message in the McKinsey report that really stands out to me, and it's about shifting organizational capability.

This is a call to arms for CEOs everywhere. Stop sticking your head in the sand. You need to get serious about developing talent and capability. And when I say “serious”, I don't mean go and spend an obscene amount of money on the latest and greatest program. The training won't work unless you drive real change from the top.

This is just as true for our flagship program, Leadership Beyond the Theory, as it is for any other leadership offering.

If you want to build a McKinsey-style leadership talent factory, it's how the top team leads in the heat of battle that counts: it's the standard you set… it's the value you create… it's the culture you build… it's the people you promote… it's the behaviors you tolerate.

Leadership hasn't changed. Developing true excellence in the leadership basics is going to help you to navigate whatever the 21st century throws up at you. But it may be time to stop pretending that we've already got it right.

This is from Episode 338 of the No Bullsh!t Leadership podcast. Each week, I share the secrets of high performance leadership; the career accelerators that you can’t learn in business school, and your boss is unlikely to share with you. Listen now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or on your favorite podcast player.