What is human leadership?

We’re at a turning point in history. Old styles of leadership no longer fit.

Needing to win, pursuing profit at all costs, having a game face, never admitting vulnerability… these are the behaviours that have led us to where we are today.?

Leaders who spend virtually no time learning, regularly put their wellbeing on hold and find it hard to challenge the system are not what we need for our organisations today – or the ones that will emerge over the next few decades.

Authenticity, creativity, collaboration, agile learning, and flexibility are already becoming far more valuable than the ability to shout the loudest.

Old-style leadership makes us miserable on a personal level, too. A 2021 study showed that 85% of the global workforce feel disengaged with work, which is estimated by Gallup to cost the global economy $7,000 billion every year in lost productivity.

Another discovered that in the year before Covid, 74% of people in the UK felt so stressed and overwhelmed they were unable to cope, leading to 17.8m workdays lost to stress.

The good news is that there is a different way. A more purposeful, meaningful, and human way. It’s time to build a new sort of leadership, fit for our world and fit for the extraordinary lives we want to live.

What is it? Human Leadership is the practice of leading oneself and others in a way that empowers everyone to reach their full potential. No matter who, what, or where you choose to lead, it’s about creating environments of meaning, growth, belonging and ownership – enabling people, organisations, and societies to thrive.

You don’t have to choose between financial security, pleasure and meaning. Human Leadership is in fact the only way to deliver them all.

Why is it important? As Industry 4.0 spreads through our organisations and affects every part of our professional and personal lives, the more ‘human’ our leaders must become. They must do the jobs that only humans can do – developing other people, solving new problems, reading social situations, inspiring teams, challenging the status quo, and collaborating creatively.

We need leaders who can effectively draw the humanness out of those around them, whether face to face, online, across time zones, cultures, or social hierarchies. Leaders who reject the idea that the workplace is where you check your real self in at the door and instead approach their colleagues as living, breathing individuals – not as resources.?

Leaders who don’t see their role as squeezing every ounce of profit out of the system, but instead create environments where people thrive and ensure success. Success for the individual, organisation, and society.?

These are the kind of leaders we develop at Ivy House.