Leadership Trends for the Second Half of 2022

Yes, the world continues to spin however, that is about the only thing that is the same.  People are living in an era of FUD (Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt). Continued uncertainty around the pandemic. New viruses that keep popping up. Global warming is real (in case you haven’t noticed). Continued instability when it comes to conflict amongst different nations, cultures and religions. How do we lead in and through the FUD? What are the things that are keeping leaders up at night?

Well, it should be no surprise, the list too has changed.

Leader’s Focus Then vs Now

A few short years ago, the things that occupied the minds of leaders were:

1. Employee Engagement
2. Customers
3. Making Use of Technology
4. Accountability
5. Strategy

Today, in 2022, the list of leadership trends that are occupying our attention are:

1. Investing in diversity and inclusion
2. Fostering emotionally agile leadership
3. Learning to lead several different generations
4. Developing more female leaders
5. Building responsiveness and adaptability

How to Tackle 2022 Leader Challenges

Breaking that down, here are my thoughts:

1. Investing in diversity and inclusion. You would have to be living under a rock not to know that virtually everywhere on the planet, people have access to information, communication, education, and transportation. This has made the world a mosaic of cultures, races, religions, and nationalities. Trying to hold onto to a view of a single ‘type’ of people in your world will only result in the business or team failing. If a person in a leadership role thinks that they do not have to foster diversity and inclusion, they probably think Trump won the election too.
2. Fostering emotionally agile leadership. Daniel Goleman wrote the first edition of Emotional Intelligence in 1995.  Only now are leaders waking up to the fact that EQ matters. In fact, Goleman suggested back in 1995 that EQ matters twice as much as IQ. I have seen it countless times in the leaders and managers I have worked with. Highly educated people with Mensa (genius level) IQ’s being outperformed by high school or less educated leaders. EQ is not innate. We are not born with it. It must be nurtured. Organizations with leaders that have nurtured high levels of EQ are able to deal with higher levels of FUD.
3. Learning to lead several different generations. Yes, learning to lead different generations vs making individuals from different generations adapt to your style of leadership.  \There are potentially four different generations in the workplace (Baby Boomers, Gen X, Y and Z). They have all been born into different economic times, parented, and educated different and exposed to different types of technology. They are not going to change. Leaders need to adapt to each generation and what they need from leadership to be their best.
4. Developing more female leaders. Over 60% of enrolment into North American business schools are female.  Female leaders are breaking new ground every day. Embrace the fact that women leaders are smart and bring high levels of emotional intelligence and natural inclusion to the workplace. Ignore it, and be left behind.
5. Building responsiveness and adaptability. The graveyard is full of companies that didn’t, wouldn’t or couldn’t adapt and respond to the changing world. Leaders at Blockbuster, Kodak, Sears were all asleep thinking and dreaming about what to spend their bonuses on while the world passed them by.

The world will keep changing and the things that keep leaders awake at night will continue to change as well. Those that embrace it and teach their teams to change with the times are the ones that thrive.

Robert Murray is a Vancouver, BC based Business Strategy Consultant, #1 Best Selling Author, International Keynote Speaker, and TEC Top Speaker of the Year for 2018. For further advice, insight and inspiration on how to unlock your inner leader, connect with Robert on LinkedIn.

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