Human-Centric Leadership in a World in Flux
Disruption is the watchword of this whole era of working culture. Leaders in this time of change-as-usual need, more than ever, to prioritise bringing and keeping the workforce together. The economic impact of the lost productivity that comes from a disengaged and anxious employee population is enormous – and so too is the opportunity to reverse it. Effective leaders today must rally everyone together, and in so doing, build the resilience that we all need as individuals and organisations.
Introduction
Adaptability is undoubtedly a critical attribute of great leaders. For those leading organisations today, external events that can completely shatter the status quo are expected: we have become used to change-as-usual. But in the last decade, the pace and scale of disruption has been on a sharp upward trajectory. As we progress through 2025 and face off against generative AI disrupting operating models and competition, and geopolitical disturbance warping the global business landscape, a sharp refocusing of leadership is called for.
“Leaders can no longer rely on what has worked for them in the past.”
Leaders can no longer rely on what has worked for them in the past. In addition to the traditional role and recognised traits of a leader (being able to guide and galvanise), leadership in the 21st century requires an ability to not only cope, but actually thrive in an ever-changing environment. And this applies not just to their personal resilience, but to how they are able to spread and build up that resilience throughout the whole workforce.
From chaos comes order
Forget VUCA, we’re now in a world characterised by BANI: brittle, anxious, nonlinear, and incomprehensible. Coined by futurist Jamais Cascio, this concept aims to contextualise the ‘polycrisis’ our world is facing – not just economic uncertainty and technological change, but (among others) the climate emergency, grave and deepening inequalities, and the worldwide mental health crisis.
In brief, the things we used to accept (or perceive) as true have been thrown up in the air. We believed certain systems or institutions were unbreakable. We believed the news could be trusted. We believed that effect directly followed cause. We believed we could understand things if we had enough information. The BANI acronym, in Cascio’s own words, explains it like this:
“Systems that are brittle can appear strong, even work well, until they suddenly collapse. Brittle does not bend, it breaks. The ‘supply chain crisis’ was brittle chaos.”
“Anxious systems make trust difficult, sometimes even impossible. Things that had been well-understood suddenly seem false. [The] usual example is misinformation …the last half-decade has been full of this.”
“Nonlinear systems are those where input and output are disproportionate. Cause and effect don’t match in scale or speed – like with climate change, where there’s a delay of at least a decade between changes to carbon levels in the atmosphere and changes to temperatures.”
“The decision-making of machine learning systems is one example, where it’s difficult at best to explain how a deep learning system reaches its conclusions. Incomprehensible can also mean behavior outside the realm of rational understanding. Incomprehensible chaos is ridiculous, senseless, even unthinkable.”
“The evolution of leadership would not happen without uncertainty and disarray. Now, leaders need to act as beacons of moral reassurance, reason and hope. They must unify, as much as guide.”
Some 140 years ago, Friedrich Nietzsche wrote “One must still have chaos… to be able to give birth to a dancing star,” meaning that out of moments of crisis, new – better – ways of being (his ‘dancing star’) can emerge. Commonly, this is referenced as “from chaos comes order.” And, just as Impact International aptly put it, “Where there is challenge there is always opportunity. Where there is complexity, there is the chance to think differently. And where there is chaos, there is a need for effective leadership action.”
The evolution of leadership would not happen without uncertainty and disarray. Now, leaders need to act as beacons of moral reassurance, reason and hope. They must unify, as much as guide.
Reversing lost productivity
If the global workforce was fully engaged, $9.6 trillion in productivity would be added to the economy, representing a 9% increase in global GDP. Last year, employee engagement fell to 21%, meaning in 2024 lost productivity cost the global economy $438 billion. The implication is clear: peak organisational performance needs engaged employees – and that requires a new form of leadership, one that is supportive and inclusive, one that sees human outcomes as analogous to business outcomes.
Human-centric leadership is the salve for the current decline – the current crisis – of employee engagement. In contrast to traditional styles of leadership, human-centricity focuses on collaboration, inclusivity and adaptability, as this recent article on empathetic leadership in a post-pandemic era explains. “This model prioritises people – acknowledging their aspirations, challenges and emotional wellbeing as integral to achieving organisational goals.”
The same article continues to set out how this approach “transcends industries, as it integrates emotional intelligence and strategic thinking,” by placing people (not just profits) at the heart of decision-making, to provide a way forward in combatting burnout, low morale and declining trust.
“Today’s workforce needs to adapt and upskill with more velocity and breadth than ever before, to deal with change within and outwith the organisation – but at the same time they need to feel anchored.”
One key aspect of human-centric leadership is continuous learning and development, to both nurture emotional intelligence in leaders and professional growth for employees. Today’s workforce needs to adapt and upskill with more velocity and breadth than ever before, to deal with change within and outwith the organisation – but at the same time they need to feel anchored, something which Deloitte calls ‘stagility’.
When leaders are able to provide a psychologically safe environment, they can make this happen. The World Economic Forum recognised the significance of uniting workforces to drive company performance at the outset of 2025: “When CEOs ensure their workplace is a refuge from the conflicts of the outside world – a place where values are upheld and where people listen to each other respectfully – it creates a truly inclusive environment.” The role of the leader today is as much about being a ‘unifier-in-chief’ as it is about achieving commercial goals.
Human ≥ Business
As we march towards the last quarter of 2025 and set aspirations for 2026 and beyond, leaders grapple with an ever-growing array of new challenges. But remembering that leadership is not a question of prioritising profits over people (or vice versa), but rather a balancing of both – they are inextricably linked after all – holds the key to enduring, and succeeding, in a time defined by disruption.
Research shows that leaders who empower their employees to “grow personally, use their imagination, and think deeply are 1.8 times more likely to report better financial results, 1.4 times more likely to say they are creating broad value for customers, community and society; and 1.6 times more likely to say they provide workers with meaningful work.” Better outcomes come from better leaders. Show up for your employees, and they’ll show up for you. Now more than ever, that’s the kind of leadership we need.
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