The Leadership Mindset: Driving Success in a Dynamic World

Successful Leaders do not fall into place; they plan, prospect, listen, collaborate, self-reflect and seek to improve continuously. They develop a leadership mindset, a set of attitudes, beliefs, and practices that shape how they will think, behave, and inspire others in alignment with organisational goals.

Some may make the mistake of believing a leadership mindset is a fixed set of traits, techniques, skills and a commanding authority. That mode of leadership is outdated and counterproductive in today’s fast-evolving, unpredictable and human-centred business landscape.

Different leadership styles are required for different circumstances and the most influential and impactful leaders will ask themselves not, what is my leadership mindset, but what is my leadership mindset today?

This should be a conscious thought process, where the senior leader behaves like the captain of a ship, continuously considering all of the prevailing challenges and opportunities before adjusting course and ensuring every member of the crew and every instrument at their disposal is set precisely to navigate with confidence while preparing for any unforeseen storms ahead.

The leader must first examine their own skillsets and abilities against the current and future needs of the organisation to set a personal professional development programme. This might need objective structured support from an executive coach.

Leadership mindsets directly influence organisational culture. A leader with an inclusive mindset can foster a diverse, high-performing workplace, while one with an agile mindset can instil a sense of confidence and experimentation during periods of transformation or trust and stability in more difficult times. Regular reflection ensures leaders remain effective role models.

There are four main types of leadership mindset: growth, inclusive, agile and enterprise. Depending on an individual’s position, some may be more relevant than others. Here we look at the four, why and when they might be important and share some of the tips and insights Rialto consultants use when supporting c-suite and senior leadership in professional development coaching.

Growth Mindset

Coined by psychologist Carol Dweck, a growth mindset is the belief that abilities, intelligence, and talents can be developed through dedication and hard work. Leaders with a growth mindset view failures as opportunities to learn, encourage innovation, and foster a culture where their teams are unafraid to take risks and grow. This is the mindset for CEOs taking the organisation to the next level and senior leadership taking their teams into new territories, whether they be geographical, new markets, new products and services or technology-led business transformation.

For senior leaders, adopting a growth mindset ensures adaptability in the face of technological advancements and market disruptions. By continuously learning and evolving, they model behaviour that encourages teams to innovate and excel.

Leaders with a growth mindset will avoid negatives, using words such as yet and not yet – as in, we have not yet reached our objective to penetrate the new market – and avoiding not as in can not, have not, will not.

They will build energy, drive and positivity into the workforce, celebrating wins and always showing appreciation for the efforts, persistence and attitude of employees rather than focusing on outcomes and failures. When things go wrong, leaders with a growth mindset take responsibility and invite collaboration to learn from the mistake and improve the next iteration.

One prominent example is Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft. Upon taking the helm in 2014, Nadella transformed Microsoft’s culture from one rooted in internal competition to one focused on collaboration, learning, and experimentation. Under his leadership, Microsoft embraced cloud computing, pivoted toward AI innovation, and regained its position as one of the most valuable companies globally. Nadella’s focus on “learn-it-all” instead of “know-it-all” is a hallmark of a growth mindset.

Inclusive Mindset

An inclusive mindset prioritises creating a workplace where diversity is celebrated and every individual feels valued and empowered. Leaders with this mindset proactively address biases, promote equity, and foster environments where diverse perspectives drive better decision-making.

Research consistently shows that inclusive organisations outperform their peers in innovation. Diverse viewpoints lead to richer ideas, better decision-making, and novel solutions. They also achieve better financial results. Teams that feel more valued and included collaborate better offering peer-to-peer support, reducing unproductive silos and encouraging team loyalty and investment in shared goals.

Leadership with an inclusive mindset understands the value of diversity and equality in promoting organisational reputation, attracting the best talent from the widest possible pool and making companies more competitive globally. They are committed to ensuring diverse voices are heard and incorporated, that individuals from any background, age, culture, gender, sexuality or race and those with physical and mental health issues are genuinely valued equally, not just in tick boxes. They will interrogate their own unconscious bias and ensure all staff are trained to do the same.

Arundhati Bhattacharya, the former Chair of the State Bank of India (SBI), exemplifies inclusivity. As the first woman to lead SBI, she implemented policies to support working mothers, including sabbaticals for childcare and championed diversity in leadership roles. Her efforts helped create a more equitable workplace, breaking barriers for women in the banking industry.

Leaders should always maintain an inclusive mindset but there are times when it should become the priority. For example, where a company works in an especially diverse market or territory or is expanding into a new culture or region. Also, where equality, diversity and inclusivity (EDI) have become an issue risking organisational and reputational damage. Of course maintaining a constant inclusive mindset – and ensuring you have the correct employment procedures and accountable leaders in place to oversee robust EDI framework – should prevent any such issues arising.

Airbnb’s CEO, Brian Chesky, had to prioritise an inclusive mindset to address racial bias during the company’s global  expansion. Research showed people with African-American names were less likely to be accepted as guests in some regions and received lower rent. It invited open collaboration from anyone in the Airbnb community to collaborate to find solutions. The property rental platform was transparent about the issue and what it was trying to do. It introduced new features to minimise the issue, enhancing its pro-diversity credentials in an incredibly diverse market.

Agile Mindset

This has become increasingly important in the wake of the economic shock of the pandemic and the rapid advances and economic transformation propelled by the AI revolution. This has left senior leadership in almost all roles and functions having to learn and adapt quickly. AI is changing the way all processes are done so it is imperative that every senior leader stays ahead of the curve on what is happening in their zone.

An agile mindset is characterised by flexibility, responsiveness, speed, learning, innovation and adaptability. Leaders with this mindset embrace change, experiment with new approaches and are comfortable pivoting strategies when faced with uncertainty or emerging customer needs. It emphasises iterative progress over rigid plans.

It allows leaders to respond quickly to emerging trends and disruptions, ensuring their organisations remain competitive, relevant and resilient. Companies looking to exploit new technologies need to prioritise an agile mindset but agility can also help buffer any unforeseen shocks and issues.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is renowned for his agile approach to leadership. He famously fostered a “Day 1” mindset, encouraging constant reinvention to avoid stagnation. Amazon’s willingness to experiment, such as moving from book sales to an ever-increasing online market, more recently launching the incredibly successful AWS (Amazon Web Services) and pivoting to prioritise Prime membership, reflects its agility in meeting customer needs and staying ahead of competitors.

Leaders with an agile mindset will also empower employees to respond and adapt to change and have confidence in their decision-making. Leaders will free their paths by minimising decision-by-committee, reducing time spent in unnecessary meetings and duplicating work. They will use data-driven processes to create real time feedback loops to help the workforce learn and improve continuously. Mistakes will be reframed as opportunities for learning.

Guardrails must be put in place to spot any outliers or actions likely to lead to serious issues, but that safety net will enable quick responses and the ability to repivot as an organisation when new opportunities or challenges arise, taking along the workforce.

Enterprise Mindset

An enterprise mindset involves thinking beyond individual roles, departments, or business units to focus on the bigger picture and organisation’s overall goals. Leaders with this mindset prioritise cross-functional collaboration, align resources to strategic priorities and maintain a holistic perspective  to spot and seize opportunities for business success and that of the whole ecosystem. They have a deep understanding of what makes a business work and can think laterally or horizontally as well as vertically.

Being an enterprise leader is like constantly balancing dozens or even hundreds of spinning plates. Recent research by Korn Ferry found that just 15 percent of executives have the quality and skills to do it. Organisations led by enterprise leaders grow 6.7% faster. So, this is an area that leaders should be focusing on developing, demonstrating and exploiting in their careers when looking at executive transition and promotion. It is an elusive skill so may require external support.

Senior leaders with an enterprise mindset can break down silos, foster collaboration and ensure that all parts of the organisation work together towards common objectives. This is particularly important in large organisations where misalignment can hinder progress.

They encourage and support collective decision-making, see the connectivity between different parts of the business and can look forward, like a chess player, at how different moves by different players can be made at the right time to achieve an objective. They can tweak and adjust the strategy effectively in response to incoming pressures and unforeseen issues.

They are, therefore, considerate as to how decisions they make will affect the whole organisation.

Enterprise leaders adopt technology to help stay on top of developments and issues across the organisation. AI-driven platforms are developing sophisticated tools that analyse huge amounts of data for specific prompted questions and uses. Predictive analytics identify issues before they arise or opportunities for new products or markets. They can help isolate areas of underperformance and suggest ways to improve.

They will also think carefully about talent acquisition and retention with an eye always on preparing for the future as well as protecting the brand through compassionate and ethical governance.

However, being an enterprise leader does not mean being an autocratic, micromanaging leader. Jack Ma, co-founder of Chinese retailer Alibaba, knows every inch of his business but empowers and inspires his people to make good decisions to drive growth. He guides and oversees every section, taking responsibility for outcomes. He can see what customers want now and will want in the future and how to deliver it. Unusually He incorporates all four mindsets.

As noted above, these mindsets can not be assumed, they must be developed and constantly adjusted and refined to reflect changing circumstances, organisational goals, stakeholder expectation and other market forces.

Leaders must build periods of self-reflection into their schedules and seek regular, honest feedback from trusted colleagues and mentors to identify blind spots, any personal behaviours or feelings which might be impacting judgement, and look at areas for professional growth. Humility is essential and the ability to take on constructive criticism and advice. A coach can help hold up a mirror and create structured learning opportunities

The leadership mindset is a powerful driver of organisational success, shaping how leaders inspire teams, navigate challenges, and pursue opportunities. From the growth mindset to inclusive, agile to enterprise thinking, each perspective brings unique strengths to the table. However, the true hallmark of effective leadership lies in adaptability—continuously reassessing and refining one’s mindset to align with the demands of an ever-changing world.

Senior leaders who embrace this philosophy not only position themselves for personal growth but also empower their organisations to thrive amidst uncertainty. By adopting the right mindset at the right time, they can lead with vision, innovation, and purpose, ensuring sustained success in a complex, dynamic environment.

If you would like support to develop your leadership mindset, our team of Coaches and Leadership Development specialists can customise a personalised programme, aligned with your personal and organisational goals.

As we move into year three of Generative AI, its potential for enhancing operations, driving innovation and building a competitive edge is becoming ever clearer, as are the challenges and risks.

The world’s most innovative companies have moved, or are moving, beyond experimentation to integrate AI-first models, adjusting spending and recalibrating business strategies to maximise ROI and stay ahead of the curve. PwC found almost half of the US’s Fortune 1000 companies now have AI fully embedded in their workflows, with a third using it in their products and services.

This year, priorities should include solidifying foundational structures, measuring outcomes and adjusting programmes to make Gen AI work effectively and safely and secure that advantage. Those late to the party or failing to understand the critical need to constantly evolve and manage Gen AI may struggle to ever catch up.

In a recent survey by Ernst & Young (EY), 97% of senior business leaders reported positive returns on their AI investments with a third planning to spend £8 million or more on AI initiatives this year while UK software buyers expect to increase spending by an average 5-15%. Organisations that commit 5% or more of their total budget toward AI are seeing more positive returns than more cautious investors with the biggest in operational efficiencies, (84%) and employee productivity (83%).

It is essential for c-suite executives to have a full and proper understanding of the AI landscape, both within their sector or industry and beyond. Trying to experiment or get to grips with Generative AI in a bubble or silo is like constantly trying to reinvent the wheel when budgets would be better spent targeting funding to improve its performance. Progressive organisations will research thoroughly the tools, programmes and platforms used by competitors and sector leaders to learn what has and has not worked for them and how they are prioritising their AI budgets in 2025 and beyond.

Chaotic implementation has led to lost ROI and confidence in some early iterations of Gen AI-powered programmes as over-eager organisations put the cart before the horse, buying the latest hyped-up tools or platforms through FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) without really understanding their value, testing them or building sound foundational infrastructure. Only 12% reported using sandboxes in one survey, for example, leaving too much to chance and increasing risks of damaging failures. Getting it right demands a disciplined approach with co-operation and collaboration from every department and at every level.

UK senior decision makers told Capterra’s 2025 Tech Trends that successful technological implementation was the greatest challenge they now faced as they moved onto the next phase of adoption, followed by training and upskilling employees, economic and geopolitical pressures, assessing value and risk of AI and identifying the right technologies to invest in.

The most innovative companies will be patient, appreciating that real returns on investment may take years to materialise in terms of profit, but that agile, future-focused and strategically aligned Gen AI-led programmes will ensure long term competitive growth.

(See our previous insight on the five stages of AI maturity)

Here we look at trends within the three main focuses for the AI spending priorities c-suite executives should be considering over the next 12 months: Tech, data and upskilling the workforce.

Spending on Tech:

Globally, spending on hardware and devices, including computers and smartphones, is likely to grow by £10 billion to £118.5 billion, with Covid lockdown working-from-home technology nearing the end of its useful life and new AI-powered devices offering far more possibilities.
Spending on software is expected to see an even greater increase, accelerating by 13.2% in 2025 to £230.5 billion.

Most software buyers in the UK expect to spend between 5-15% more on digital systems this year as they seek to increase ROI on their AI investments, according to the Capterra research. Six in 10 will dedicate one to four months choosing the right product and 38% see implementation as a key challenge.

The survey found security will be the highest priority, followed by AI, IT management, IT architecture and business intelligence and data analytics.

Automation: Justina Nixon-Saintil, vice president and chief impact officer at IBM, believes AI automation will be the story of 2025. “Any tasks or jobs in the company that could be automated by AI will happen within the next year,” she said.

Alicia Pittman, global people team chair at the Boston Consulting Group said a priority should be custom GPTs and mini-automations to build bottom-up power, enabling entire knowledge-based workforces to boost productivity and quality. She said: “It’s super quick, and it doesn’t require big investments or processes.”

CRMs: This year, more companies are expected to move away from in-house Gen AI solutions towards buying partner solutions. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platforms such as HubSpot, Salesforce and Amazon AWS are constantly improving their AI-powered offerings with broad options for customised integrated systems that can enhance almost all business objectives, from identifying new product or market opportunities and analysing big data to hyper-personalised marketing and sales which vastly improve customer experience, boost sales and build loyalty.

Fortune Business Insights predicts that the CRM market will more than double from the £50 billion spent in 2022 to £120 billion by 2029. Most platforms offer free, simplified versions of subscription models which can keep costs down, such as Microsoft Pilot and Salesforce Einstein, enabling smaller businesses and start-ups to capitalise on these fast-evolving Gen-AI powered technologies.

Spending on Data:

As the AI landscape matures, decision-makers at innovative organisations will look to upscale, standardise and refine AI use with connected, clean data across all functions and lines of their organisations to ensure it remains relevant, agile and that risks are understood and managed.

Two in five UK companies identified data quality as the greatest challenge to successful AI adoption in a survey by Hitachi Vantara. Nearly half reported significant challenges with data storage and 56% admitted to using less than half their data. Meanwhile 83% of senior business leaders say stronger data infrastructure would enable faster AI adoption.

Gen AI is only as good as the data on which it is trained and building scalable and flexible data architecture that can manage speed, variety and volume of data is critical to enable any organisation to scale up programmes and ensure maximum ROI, potentially accelerating adoption by 30%. The IBM Institute for Business Value found that poor data quality costs the US economy around $3.1 trillion a year.

Companies like Netflix and Tesco have shown the value of substantial investment in data and data infrastructure, able to process huge datasets to hyper-personalise their services, innovate, and get closer to their markets. Innovative enterprises are investing in tools including ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) processes, data lakes, or iPaaS (Integration Platform as a Service) solutions to optimise the value of their data.

Cloud storage: More than half of IT spending in key market segments is projected to shift to the cloud by the end of 2025, with global spending on cloud computing services expected to reach £1 trillion. Organisations are moving towards multicloud, open data storage to avoid vendor lock-in.

The UK government has welcomed news of £25 billion investment in data centres which will provide more computing power and data storage building infrastructure to boost AI development and innovation.

Businesses will need to manage 150% more data by 2026 and Gartner predicts that spending on data centres will climb by 15.5% in 2025 on top of a 35% rise in 2024.

Security: With this increasing reliance on data and cloud storage, security becomes ever more essential, especially in sensitive sectors such as finance, defence and healthcare. IBM reported the average cost of a data breach at more than £3.5 million in 2021. Gartner expects cybersecurity spending to increase 15% in 2025.

ESG: Organisations also need to think about the energy costs and impact on Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) credentials of increased use of Gen AI and other technologies, investing in renewable sources wherever possible. Two thirds of senior leaders fear the negative impact of increased AI use on their sustainability targets and energy supply.

Steve Wanner, EY head of Americas Industrials & Energy said: “Leaders are waking up to the energy challenges inherent in scaling AI. To create innovative solutions that enable energy efficient and sustainable AI growth, companies must collaborate across the value chain, connecting the dots from energy providers to the end-use AI customer.”

Technology could also be part of the answer. Deloitte found three quarters of public companies planned to invest in AI-powered reporting tools to help them evaluate, analyse and share ESG data to comply with tightening regulations worldwide.

However, the biggest rewards are likely to be found in the joining up and safe (anonymised) data-sharing of and between AI systems, which demands greater collaboration within and between organisations, sectors and industries.

Spending on upskilling:

This year, CEOs and other c-suite decision-makers will be more hands on and, hopefully, AI-literate, and therefore committed to restructuring operations so that departments have access to data scientists and AI leads as well as focusing on educating and upskilling all knowledge-based workers and ensuring investment is more disciplined, methodical and targeted.

The speed of Gen AI evolution has taken even tech experts by surprise since ChatGPT opened it up to the masses in November 2022, so it’s hardly surprising that most of the workforce, from CEOs to customer agents and even IT managers, often feel overwhelmed and even intimidated by it.

Almost half of companies admit to lacking the know-how to integrate AI while 90% of executives say they do not know their workforce’s AI skill and proficiency. Four in five IT professionals say they are confident they can adapt but just 12% have significant experience working with AI. Organisations should consider the users of the technology before they buy it and the current skills landscape to avoid workforce burnout and unsafe or under-use of the tools and platforms.

This skills gap threatens to seriously destabilise and restrict the opportunities offered by Gen AI while increasing risk. Babies born in 2025 will be the first of Generation Beta and will grow up with AI all around them. Until they mature, businesses need to retrain their own workforces and bring in data science and Gen-AI planning expertise where it is lacking.

Tech companies are ahead of the curve on this. Amazon developed a Machine Learning University, investing heavily in training and development programs to build its internal capabilities.

IBM has made a commitment to scale up two million of its workers in AI by 2026. Nixon-Saintil said. “There’s a sense of urgency in making sure we are not leaving people behind.”

The growing sophistication of Natural Language Processing (NLP) will continue to enable employees at all levels to leverage AI, so the workforce needs to undergo continuous learning to keep up with new and evolving tools, platforms and emerging risks. Staff who will be using Gen AI models such as Chat GPT, Microsoft CoPilot and Google’s Gemini need to learn to craft clear prompts, interrogate the responses and use them to augment their own productivity and quality of work while understanding the inherent risks and having a clear chain of supervision.

EY says 59% of organisation are planning to increase training for workers on the responsible use of AI in 2025, up from 49% six months ago.

Investment in AI is only expected to absorb around a fifth of IT spending next year. Much more, then, will go into infrastructure and the people required to make it work. Both programmes need to be organisation-wide to enable AI-first business models.

Senior leadership also need to prioritise investing in their own AI literacy to make rational, evidence-based decisions before spending on AI programmes. In the EY survey, 54% of respondents said they felt they were failing as a leader as they struggled to keep up with AI’s rapid growth.

The pressure to act decisively is intensifying. Yet many leaders find themselves navigating incremental changes, unsure of how to transform their business models or confidently prove GenAI’s ROI.

Responding to feedback from our c-suite and senior leadership clients, Rialto are facilitating a virtual strategic collaboration programme between leaders from across the globe, to share experiences, perspectives, and best practices on GenAI adoption. It is designed to support leaders with the critical insights, tools, and actionable strategies needed to broaden their understanding of the complexities & opportunities of GenAI.

All participants in the programme will receive a personalised and group alignment report, to support them to more confidently lead their organisation in the GenAI era

To find more details and register onto the Adoption of GenAI Global Virtual Dialogue click here.

Our Q1 2025 analysis of the executive market, reviews the UK and wider economies, recent performance, projections for the next few months and beyond, the market for c-suite and senior leadership positions and trends that executives need to be aware of to stay ahead of the curve and promote both organisational and personal professional growth.

Economic Outlook

It might feel as though storms have moved in permanently over the UK economy, casting a long shadow over prospects of growth in the near term but there are breaks in the cloud and some bright spots too.

Let’s start with the challenges, and then focus on the positives.

The October 2024 budget continues to weigh heavily with rising business costs stifling growth. Inflation, though nowhere near the double digit figures we saw in recent years, did not fall quickly enough in Q4 2024 to allow the hoped-for interest rate falls that might have triggered greater investment and lower operational costs. In April, companies may have to increase prices further to accommodate employer National Insurance contribution rises, risking further inflation hikes.

Latest data shows UK GDP flatlined at 0% in Q3, slower than the Eurozone, 0.4% in Q3 and the US, 0.8%.

UK government borrowing reached record highs, and all eyes are now on Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s next move: will she be forced to break her election promises and raise taxes, undermining consumer and business confidence further, or cut public services?

There was a shock drop in retail sales over Christmas and new export sales were down for the first time in more than 14 months at the end of 2024. The fact that this was felt hardest in trade with the EU is especially concerning when the second coming of US President Donald Trump threatens to bring in blanket international tariffs of up to 20%. Meanwhile, the Pound has been falling against the Dollar.

However, there are some green shoots, if you look hard enough. UK inflation did fall marginally, raising the prospect of an imminent interest rate cut, and economic output shifted upwards slightly.

A precarious truce (at the time of writing) in the Middle East could lift global markets and there is a chance Trump’s tariff threats will not come to anything. Most economists agree they would harm US economic interests in the long term, plus the UK’s service industry-based economy would be hit much less severely than manufacturing countries like Germany.

New IMF predictions published on January 17 projected UK growth at 1.6% for 2025, up marginally on previous forecasts, and higher than the Eurozone, but lower than the “steady” global growth it anticipates of 3.3%.

GfK’s Consumer Confidence Index, conducted on behalf of the European Commission, also rose a little in December.

Growth remains stronger than expected in the US and sentiment could pick up on this side of the Atlantic with some decent tailwinds, especially as more forward-looking organisations start to reap the returns on early and disciplined AI spending.

The government says its commitment to “mainlining” AI into the veins of the British economy, which includes seeking investment in datacentres and building a super-computer, will turbocharge the economy and cement the UK, already third behind the US and China, as a leading place to do AI-based business.

It is also seeking to fix the industrial bottlenecks that have impeded growth such as planning and infrastructure, which could attract more global investment and boost growth in the medium to longer term.

UK Job Market

That economic uncertainty and pessimism around the autumn budget translated into slow hiring in Q4 2024, with permanent jobs falling at the fastest rate in December since the Covid pandemic. Vacancies were down in all sectors, but the steepest decline was seen in executive and professional roles.

However, there is hope for those willing to reskill and repivot into new growth sectors, particularly AI and sustainability, as we shall see in our analysis of executive trends.

The pace of job cuts in December was higher than in 15 years (except for the pandemic) with a quarter of private sector businesses freezing hiring and cutting vacancies. January, traditionally a time for hiring to pick up, remains muted so far.  It is likely to remain so, as a general picture, until organisations have assessed the impact of those higher NI costs, inflationary trends and have a better idea of where interest rates and US trade are headed.

Two thirds of employers said the NI hike would make it harder to increase wages and offer bonuses, demonstrating the need for senior leaders and executives to upskill and increase their value proposition to stay relevant and competitively rewarded.

Candidates say securing the most senior positions is getting harder, competition is fiercer, and many are not sure exactly what companies are looking for and cannot understand why they are not getting responses from applications for jobs for which they believe they are qualified.

Those looking for new positions need to gain an understanding of how the job market has changed since they were last out there and look at areas of growth and key skills in demand.

However, the tension is exacerbated by the fact that 45% of HR professionals and employers admit they do not have a full grasp of what skills their organisations need to take them into an AI-first future.

It is, therefore, equally critical for HR and other team leaders doing the hiring to be literate in how AI is impacting roles so they can align talent acquisition and upskilling with technology-driven strategic objectives and budgetary considerations. To optimise and update workforce skills bases, they should be using the latest AI tools and platforms to gain data-driven insights.

Candidates who have thoroughly researched how they believe AI can support their target employers’ organisations will shine.

Salary inflation at the highest levels shows that while there may be fewer vacancies, especially in legacy c-suite and senior leadership roles, companies are willing to pay more to acquire and retain the right talent that are able to demonstrate in demand skills which include AI and digital literacy but also include complex problem solving and softer skills like social perspective and emotional intelligence.

Economic growth is forecast later into 2025, and organisations will need to boost hiring as it happens. Whether employer or potential candidate, constant awareness and analysis of, and adjustment to, emerging trends will be crucial to seizing opportunities that arise.

Executive Trends

The country is currently stuck in something of a hiring paradox. Two thirds of UK professionals plan to look for a new job this year, 61% say it is getting harder and 20% fear they lack the skills for the future. Meanwhile, HR professionals are finding it increasingly challenging to find qualified talent. So, the market is flooded with talent, just the wrong kind.

This can be largely attributed to the fast-changing landscape driven by the acceleration of Generative AI and its impact on all aspects of work, which is demanding entirely new approaches. In-demand skills that existed in 2016, when AI was first emerging as a realistic driver of business transformation, are expected to have changed by 65% in 2030, just five years away.

More than half of LinkedIn’s list of jobs on the rise for 2025 did not even exist 25 years ago. The top two, globally, are AI engineer and AI consultant. Sustainability credentials are also becoming more important and jobs that require these skills are more difficult to fill. The two sectors alone account for half the top 10 growing job roles in the LinkedIn UK list.

That does not mean candidates without hard technical skills are unwanted. Executives and senior leaders who can confidently and effectively oversee business transformation driven by emerging technologies are highly sought after. Keywords looked for include soft skills such as curiosity, agility, creativity and empathy.

Reskilling or upskilling to serve the green economy will also pay off in 2025. LinkedIn research showed global demand for talent in sustainability grew twice as quickly as supply in 2023 and 2024, with a 54% higher hiring rate than the average.

Janine Chamberlin, Head of LinkedIn UK, reflected what Rialto has been advising clients and followers: “Resilience, adaptability, and continuous learning will be key to navigating this rapidly changing landscape. And for businesses looking to make the most of the opportunities presented by new and emerging technologies, it’s clear that investing in upskilling initiatives, and AI tools to help their HR teams, will be vital.”

Employers are also struggling to negotiate the conflict between their wish to see staff fully back in the office while talent prioritises hybrid and flexible work. Another HR threat to organisational growth is rising levels of attrition and sickness. Executives need to implement data-driven predictive analytics to maintain productivity levels and keep workforce-associated costs down.

Rialto director Richard Chiumento said: “As we can see, AI and other emerging technologies, including those focussed on the green economy, are the areas seeing real growth as other sectors and legacy roles continue to struggle.

“It has been an especially difficult period for executives looking for their next role, but those who are open to upskilling and to repivot can exploit the increasing demand against limited supply in different growth areas.

“Meanwhile, all the evidence shows that executives and senior leaders wishing to improve their performance within their current organisation will accelerate their own positive career trajectories and organisational success by getting ahead and staying ahead in digital and AI adoption and scaling up. It’s the single most important area for leadership to be focusing on in 2025.”

See our last insight on AI spending strategies.

The pressure to act decisively is intensifying. Yet many leaders find themselves navigating incremental changes, unsure of how to transform their business models or confidently prove GenAI’s ROI.

Responding to feedback from our c-suite and senior leadership clients, Rialto are facilitating a virtual strategic collaboration programme between leaders from across the globe, to share experiences, perspectives, and best practices on GenAI adoption. It is designed to support leaders with the critical insights, tools, and actionable strategies needed to broaden their understanding of the complexities & opportunities of GenAI.

All participants in the programme will receive a personalised and group alignment report, to support them to lead their organisation more confidently in the GenAI era.

To find more details and register onto the Adoption of GenAI Global Virtual Dialogue click here.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year….to find inspiration in surprising places.

The festive season brings with it a host of traditions, both universal and personal to each household, friendship group and family. Among these traditions are the festive films enjoyed year after year. These movies don’t just warm our hearts and get us in the Christmas spirit, many also offer surprisingly astute lessons in leadership, strategy, and business acumen.

Watched through this lens, viewers can gain a whole new perspective and chance to reflect on their own leadership style – plus the perfect excuse to disconnect from work, switch off devices and settle down to spend quality time with loved ones. Here we look at a few of the classics and the insights we might glean from them.

Home Alone: Planning, Creativity, and Agility in Crisis

When eight-year-old Kevin McCallister is accidentally left behind as his family jet off on a Christmas holiday, he demonstrates remarkable ingenuity and courage defending his home against two bumbling burglars. The child gives a masterclass in quick thinking, resourcefulness, and resilience, qualities every executive needs in today’s unpredictable, volatile environment.

Kevin outthinks and outclasses his nemeses, innovatively deploying the resources at his disposal – including toy cars, an iron and paint cans – to stay one step ahead and protect himself and his home. Executives should adopt a similar mindset, making the most of existing assets and strategies to compete, even when rivals may appear to have the natural advantage. The themes of innovation and adaptability chime with business model transformation trends in today’s era of fast-moving Generative-AI driven developments.

Elf: The Power of Culture and Authenticity

Buddy the oversized Elf’s boundless optimism and commitment to spreading Christmas cheer might seem naive, but his authenticity and generosity of spirit transform those around him. For leaders, Elf offers a lesson in the power of staying true to your values, being prepared to show vulnerability and fostering an inclusive culture.

By creating a positive environment and being utterly genuine, Elf inspires a culture of collaboration and trust. Meanwhile, as an outsider, his unique perspective helps him bring fresh ideas to the table, illustrating the value of diverse viewpoints. His father, the buttoned up and authoritarian CEO played by James Caan, seems positively prehistoric next to Elf’s enthusiasm, openness and willingness to do things differently, a reflection of changing leadership styles today.

It’s a Wonderful Life: The Values of Community and Legacy

Many would call this the ultimate Christmas film. The 1946 Frank Capra-directed masterpiece sees James Stewart’s despairing banker, George Bailey, saved from the brink of suicide after giving his all to his business only to see it fail and potentially damage those he has sought to assist throughout his career. Two angels are sent to show him the positive impact he has had on his whole community and how different life would have been for so many had he never existed.

Bailey comes to understand that true wealth isn’t just financial or transactional, but also relational and communal. For executives, this underscores the importance of legacy and purpose in leadership and to maintain perspective and hope, even when things seem to have gone horribly wrong. It shows that honesty and transparency with stakeholders can help avert a reputational and financial crisis. The time, energy and thought Bailey has poured into his community is reciprocated when he is struggling. His customers, colleagues and friends remain loyal even through the most challenging times. The story teaches us to cultivate gratitude, take time to reflect on the sometimes-invisible positive ripples of our work, and build a strong corporate value based on trust and shared values, always considering the long-term impact of policies and actions. In business, nurturing strong relationships with employees, customers and the community can lead to enduring success. Recent trends indicate a shift towards work cultures that prioritise human well-being and organisational flexibility, recognising that strong relationships contribute to overall success.

The Muppet Christmas Carol: Embracing Change and Transformational Leadership

Last year, we presented the Rialto Executive Christmas Carol, exploring how senior leadership can learn from Dickens’ timeless story of redemption. This classic tale has inspired countless Christmas films, including many mentioned here..  Aside from the unsettling image of Kermit the frog and Miss Piggy having a brood of froglets and ringleted piglets, the Muppet version is as true to the original as any other, with Michael Caine as old Ebeneezer Scrooge going through a painful transition as he is confronted with the difficulties of his past and the impact it has had on his miserly behaviour in the present.

The story serves as a powerful reminder for leaders to embrace self-reflection and seek guidance from trusted mentors who can offer honest appraisals and actionable advice. Scrooge may be terrified of the realities revealed by his spectral visitors, but they give him the grace and humility to be able to rebuild sustaining relationships with those important to him in work and outside it. Scrooge also learns to value the people around him and show generosity, which will lead to strengthened business models and longevity and customer and employee loyalty and engagement.

Miracle on 34th Street: The Power of Trust and Reputation

When Kris Kringle is put on trial to prove he’s the real Santa Claus, he shows that belief and reputation can triumph over scepticism. Whether you watch the 1947 black and white original or the 1994 remake starring Richard Attenborough as the man in red and white, this sentimental staple reminds leaders to remain steadfast and believe in their mission and core values, even as they face multiple challenges.

Despairing the loss of the true seasonal messages of love and kindness amid the commercialism, greed and profit-making, Father Christmas comes to earth and gets a job as an in-store version of himself at a New York department store. In the more recent version, as he seeks to restore the spirit of Christmas, he gets caught up in a hostile takeover bid, a business rival’s campaign to twist the narrative in his favour through underhand means, and six-year-old Susan’s personal battle with her own faith.

Kringle unwaveringly insists that he is the real Father Christmas, despite facing a lawsuit and accusations of insanity. He is saved by the little girl’s demonstration of how people regularly place their trust in unprovable concepts, symbolised by the words In God We Trust on the back of a one dollar bill.. Between them, Kringle and Susan get the store owner, customers and community on board by staying true to their values of belief, hope, empathy, generosity, authenticity and understanding, all soft skills required increasingly by executives and senior leaders seeking to navigate through the complex business landscape where the practical and emotional needs of human stakeholders must be balanced with the demands of a fast-paced, high tech, competitive business landscape.

Die Hard: Strategic Thinking and Teamwork in High-Stakes Situations

The arguments can go on around whether Die Hard is truly a Christmas film (it is!), but what we can learn from Bruce Willis’s cynical cop, John McClane, are lessons in quick thinking, agility, strategy and the need to balance clear, independent thinking with trust and collaboration.

McClane gets caught up in a terrorist takeover of a company during its HQ Christmas Eve party and realises only he can save the day and the hostages, including his estranged wife who works there. It’s McClane versus a band of baddies, led by iconic high-cultured German Hans Gruber, played by a scene-stealing Alan Rickman.

Though he’s going solo vs the villains inside the gleaming high-tech skyscraper, he relies on the support and walkie-talkie guidance of an officer on the outside, Sergeant Al Powell, and must place his trust and his life in his hands. Nobody can do it all on their own.

Gruber’s men have planned their evil mission meticulously and know what they want and how they plan to get it – outnumbered McClane can only act by instinct, adapting to every move made by the tooled-up terrorists, showing how true leadership has the chance to shine when facing adversity and threat. McClane has to remain focused on his mission, alert to the changing risks and think on his feet. Of course, it all works out in the end and the shared experience reignites his relationship with his wife.

Executives will learn the most and develop fastest in highly charged, challenging situations and could learn from McClane by seeing potential catastrophes as opportunities for learning, change and building positive team dynamics. Through true collaboration and focus on a mission, organisations that are led by visionaries with courage, conviction and trust in their teams can get through almost anything.

How the Grinch Stole Christmas: Knowing It Is Never Too Late to Change.

Rubber-faced actor Jim Carey embodied the mean, green monstrous Scrooge in the film version of Dr Seuss’s Christmas classic. The Grinch chooses to live in isolation with his dog, Max, and hates the noisy, bright intrusion of Christmas from the nearby village of Whoville in the alley below, so decides to take it from them, removing every physical trace of the festival.

Of course, The Grinch has a backstory – he never had anyone special with whom to enjoy Christmas and therefore has been unable to understand its sentimental spirit or purpose.

But when the Whos rally together to salvage their celebration, even without the lost trappings of gifts, lights and general excess, the Grinch sees that it is so much more than indulgence and greed. So touched by the compassion, kindness and community he sees for the first time, his heart grows three sizes. He is big enough to admit he was wrong, return all the stolen gifts and join in.

As well as traditional Christmas messages which remind us every year to recognise what is truly important, family, friendship and sharing, the Grinch is a lesson for leadership in knowing when to admit you have been wrong or need to adjust or even abandon your strategy. No matter how far it has gone, how many resources you have devoted to a mission, executives must be open to change and really listening and responding to the views of the people it affects. Humility and compassion are keywords of modern-day leadership, not ivory towers and unilateral decision-making. Instead of looking down on those below, executives and senior leaders should be among the people upon which their organisations are built, truly understanding what makes them want to be part of their community, or they – employees, customers, partners – will move on and carry on.

It is all too easy to lose sight of our purpose, mission and even humanity amid all the commercial and organisational pressures and demands that rarely let up in today’s highly pressured and unpredictable business landscape.

Use the festive season to find inspiration in places you perhaps never thought to look. The very act of mindfully considering these lessons helps to ground us. Taking time to reflect on the weight of our responsibilities, the impact of our decisions on individuals and communities, and the reasons we do what we do—our motivations and rewards, both practical and personal—is not only restorative for the soul but ensures leaders stay relevant and focused on the purpose behind their work and their organisations.

As the year draws to a close, we at Rialto wish all our clients and partners a peaceful, reflective, and joyful festive season. May this time bring connection, renewal, and a fresh perspective for the year ahead. We also hope you find joy in watching your favourite seasonal films with a (post-ghosts) Scrooge-like sense of gratitude and inspiration.

We look forward to resuming our rewarding work with you in the New Year.

In the first part of this blog series Setting the Stage for Career and Organisational Success, we explored practical strategies for executives to establish a strong foundation for personal and organisational growth in the first half of the year. Goals were set, key relationships nurtured, and resources aligned with strategic objectives.

Here in part two, the focus is on building momentum. By evaluating progress, refining strategies, and embracing innovation, leaders can ensure they meet annual goals with a sense of achievement and readiness for further challenges ahead.

This blog outlines a framework for executives to consider in the second two quarters of an annual plan to consolidate achievements, enhance personal performance, and drive dynamic organisational growth.

Q3: Evaluate, Optimise, and Expand Leadership Impact

Opportunities come more quickly to those who stay ahead of the pack, adapt early and differentiate their approach.

Evaluate and Optimise Resources

The midpoint in any plan provides an ideal opportunity to step back and assess progress.  When evaluating your business priorities, review whether current resources are effectively aligned with strategic goals. Review the year-to-date performance against projections and identify areas that require rebalancing. Key considerations include:

• Resource Allocation: Are certain teams overburdened while others are underused? Can talent be redistributed to address shifting priorities?
• Talent Management: Have unforeseen departures created gaps? Are there rising stars who can take on greater responsibilities? Should hiring or upskilling plans be accelerated?
• Operational Efficiency: Examine supply chains, vendor contracts, and project workflows to address bottlenecks or inefficiencies.

By addressing these questions, executives can ensure resources are positioned for the greatest impact during the second half of the year.

Enhance Strategic Thinking with Data and AI

Strategic thinking is at the heart of effective leadership. Being able to think laterally, vertically and see the bigger picture is the hallmark of effective executives.  Focus on enhancing this skill by taking time to review and anticipate market trends, analyse data, and make informed decisions, leveraging data and analytics tools, particularly those powered by AI. These tools provide insights into market trends, customer behaviour, and internal performance metrics, offering a competitive edge.

However, the complexity of AI-generated insights requires careful interpretation. Engage in exercises to deepen your understanding, such as:

• Reverse-engineering AI insights to understand their rationale.
• Incorporating scenario planning and other strategic models to stress-test your decisions.
• Collaborating with teams of creative thinkers or mentors to explore innovative solutions to challenges.

Expand Leadership Impact: Mentoring and Board Roles

To stretch leadership skills and broaden influence, consider taking on roles outside your immediate organisation.

• Mentorship: Guiding emerging talent sharpens your own skills and can also add to your knowledge. It can provide fresh perspectives and bring to light additional strengths or areas to develop, particularly where mentees come from a different function or educational background or have specific skill sets and expertise.
• Non-Executive Directorships (NEDs): Serving as a non-executive director on a charity or start-up board can offer rich opportunities for networking and taking on a new role with different challenges. Anyone seeking a board position in their day job can gain valuable experience and boost their executive credentials. See our insight on how to get ahead as a NED.

These activities not only bolster your leadership credentials but also create a ripple effect of value within your professional network.

Q4: Review, Innovate, and Recharge

Review Performance and Refine Goals

As the year draws to a close, review progress against the objectives set earlier in the year. Think about team members and colleagues you have supported and the progress they have made. Equally, ensure core business imperatives are being met and evaluate.

• Are the original goals still relevant, or do they need refinement?
• Where have successes been achieved, and how can they be amplified?
• Which areas have fallen short, and what lessons can be used as opportunities to learn?

Encourage ongoing honest, blame-free evaluations within teams to foster a culture of learning and improvement. Recognise achievements and celebrate milestones to boost morale and maintain momentum into the final quarter.

This is where leaders earn their stripes and respect. How can a project or team be realigned with goals and get closer to desirable outcomes. What adjustments and corrections can reasonably be made at this time? Work with both stakeholders and teams to review and shift direction or create different collaborations to remain on course and deliver outcomes.

Drive Innovation and Prepare for the Future

With year-end within reach, hopefully the planning you have put in place all year is paying dividends, you have been able to negotiate any unforeseen challenges, you are on target to deliver year-end goals and you now have the resources and space to devote to more creative thinking before jumping ahead to plans for another year.

Q4 is the time to explore current and emerging trends in your sector and function. Actions include:

• Trend Analysis: Stay ahead by identifying emerging technologies and market shifts using free resources such as online magazines and expert professional think pieces and industry insights on LinkedIn and executive websites such as Rialto, BCG and Deloitte.
• Innovation Culture: Think about your ongoing approach to innovation and change: have you been risk averse or open to new ways of doing things? Foster an environment where teams and collaborations are designed to support experimenting with new ideas and approaches.
• AI Integration: In today’s fast-evolving Generative AI-led landscape, those who fear the new are most likely to be left behind. Evaluate how AI and other technologies can be further integrated to enhance efficiency and performance. What are your rivals doing? What is happening in your sector and comparable sectors? What are AI experts telling us about what may be possible in the near future? Are you ready for it?

Rest, Reflect, and Recharge:

Leadership requires resilience, and resilience requires rest. Use the end of the year and holiday period to step back and recharge. Reflect on the journey you set both for your business but also personally.  Look at what you have found most rewarding through the year and ask yourself these questions:

• Am I where I wanted to be when I started this 12-month plan?
• Am I satisfied with my professional growth and achievements?
• Have I maintained a healthy work-life balance?
• What adjustments can I make to ensure greater fulfilment and effectiveness next year?
• Is it time for a change? Or is there see scope for progress and fulfilment in your current organisation?

Consider feedback from trusted colleagues or family to gain additional perspectives on how you are navigating your responsibilities.

Preparing for the Next Stage of Leadership

The second half of the year offers a powerful opportunity to consolidate progress, address challenges, and set the stage for future success. Having a plan in place enables you to be more ready to evaluate and face new opportunities and challenges with clarity, confidence, and purpose.

Leadership, however, is a journey of constant evolution, and while careful planning is essential, adaptability, open-mindedness and reflection are equally critical. The higher one climbs, and the more responsibilities one takes on, the lonelier it can seem.  Working with a mentor or coach can encourage executives and senior leadership to step back and reflect, while providing invaluable guidance to navigate the day-to-day journey, offering perspective and accountability to help leaders reach their fullest potential.

“Planning without action is futile; action without planning is fatal.”

So said Cornelius Fichtner, a Swiss project management expert. Successful leaders understand that their careers and roles within organisations are ongoing projects that constantly needs to be consciously managed, adjusted, aligned with ever evolving strategic objectives, market forces, emerging trends and technological developments.

For executives looking to maintain their career on a positive, upward trajectory – whether pursuing a new role, growing within an organisation, or preparing for a significant step up – taking the time to reflect on personal goals and crystallising a structured vision of how to reach them by setting clear actions is key to success.

Breaking down that strategy into quarterly plans gives a practical framework to improve personal performance and retain a dynamic role in pushing for organisational growth and success.

The wind down to the end of the year and the run-in to Christmas can therefore provide the perfect opportunity for reflection and forward planning.  Executives who make this an annual practice gain clarity on what they aim to achieve, why those goals matter, how they intend to accomplish them, and what or who is needed to make them a reality. This intentional approach minimises wasted effort and maximises returns by focusing resources on meaningful priorities. Leaders who act with purpose and vision inspire confidence in their workforce and stakeholders alike.

In the first of this two-part blog series, we focus on practical steps that executives can consider to set the stage for personal and organisational success over the first two quarters.

Q1: Reflect, Assess, Set Goals.

Reflect: The start of the year often brings a renewed sense of energy and resolve. Teams return refreshed and focused from a break, making it an ideal time for leaders to refocus their efforts. The perfect time, then, to reignite and engage with key stakeholders to understand their expectations, challenges and opportunities and galvanise them into action and aligning objectives.

Asses: Reevaluate and carry out a SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats).  Define both short-term and long-term career goals. Tools such as 360-degree feedback, personality assessments, and executive coaching can help shape a 12-month personal development plan with clear, actionable goals.

• Benchmark Skills: Compare existing skills against emerging opportunities and challenges. Identify areas for improvement, particularly in soft skills such as emotional intelligence, agility, and creativity, which are increasingly crucial in the AI-driven era.
• Schedule Development: Make time for training, conferences, or coaching. Populate your calendar with key events, manage conflicts, and work your projects around them
• Prioritise: Once you have a view of the coming months, you can set priorities and deadlines, Write a list of the most pressing demands on your time: what needs doing now, what can be delegated, what can wait?

Set Goals

Once objectives are defined, executives can lead team discussions to review successes and challenges from the previous year. Honest and active listening fosters collaboration, allowing teams to collectively identify potential roadblocks and opportunities.

• Explore New Markets: Evaluate how emerging trends, like AI, can enhance operations or open new avenues.
• Communicate Vision: Share objectives and inspire the team with a clear vision of the year ahead, ensuring alignment with organisational goals.
• Plan Talent Needs: Identify skill gaps and strategise whether to upskill current employees or bring in new talent. Build workforce confidence by highlighting how new technologies will enhance their roles and benefit the organisation.

Q2: Build Your Personal Brand, Communication Skills & Strengthen Relationships.

Branding

A strong personal brand is crucial for executives aiming to stand out. This involves defining a unique value proposition and aligning it with communication style, online presence, and professional networks.  Think carefully about how you wish to present yourself and the purpose of your communication. Are you looking to attract the right talent or partners? Gain a promotion? Stand out in your field? Attract or assure investors? Adjust your language content and tone accordingly with the end goal in mind. You may wish to work with a mentor or coach for an objective view.

• Online Presence: Do optimise LinkedIn and other relevant platforms by sharing thought leadership content. See our previous insights on elevating LinkedIn profiles and networking effectively.
• Networking: Stay active in professional organisations and leverage opportunities to expand influence and connections.

Whether you are in the market for executive transition, executive outplacement or you are seeking to establish yourself in a new or current position, stakeholders, employees and employers, current and potential, need to understand who you are, what you represent and why they should place their faith in you.

Communicate:

Effective communication is a cornerstone of leadership success. Plans, no matter how robust, can falter without clear articulation. Executives must refine both their digital and interpersonal communication skills whether seeking a promotion or a new opportunity, or presenting an organisational strategy to the board or other stakeholders.  The way you present and express yourself could mean the difference between success and failure.

• Transparency and Updates: Develop a plan for regular, transparent communication using emails, videos, or meetings. Provide updates and implement channels for feedback.
• Public Speaking: Hone skills in presenting to diverse audiences, both in person and online. In today’s business landscape, personality and likeability are more important than ever. While some have a natural affinity for public speaking and presenting, others may need professional coaching help improve confidence and delivery.
• Non-Verbal Skills: With increasing proportions of meetings held online, mastering the art of creating engaging presentations and holding the attention of people who may all be sitting separately in front of laptops in different time zones around the world is an additional challenge. Focus on body language, not just tone, to build trust and engagement.

Strengthen relationships:

Strong relationships are the foundation of effective leadership. Executives should prioritise key connections—whether with team leaders, clients, or stakeholders.

• Review and Follow Up: Revisit unresolved issues or recent communications to ensure alignment on next steps or actions needed. Schedule meetings with key stakeholders to maintain momentum and address emerging concerns.
• Support Teams: Collaborate with HR and managers to identify and support struggling employees, celebrate high performers, and mitigate risks of losing top talent.
• Encourage Feedback: Maintain an open dialogue to foster trust and identify challenges at the earliest opportunity, sharing your vision, identifying challenges and explaining how you plan to overcome them, to foster trust and openness. Invite feedback and respond positively.

By weaving these practices into their routine, executives position themselves for success going into the final two quarters of the year. They will have enhanced personal performance, strengthened relationships, and ensured their teams are aligned with strategic objectives. With clear KPIs in place, they can adjust plans to navigate challenges and capitalise on new opportunities.

Among all the competing critical challenges faced by CEOs on a daily basis it can be all too easy to manage with myopia – to only see what, and equally importantly, who, is directly in view. But failure to look further into the future can be costly and that includes neglecting to build a pipeline of future leaders who will ensure seamless transitions and continuous, dynamic organisational transformation. Direct costs associated with unplanned succession have been estimated at over ten times the price of an executive’s salary.

In the UK, almost half of businesses lack a formal succession plan even though by 2030, nearly a million businesses are expected to change hands due to retirement.  A fascinating Harvard Business Review study estimated that poor succession planning costs the S&P 1500 companies an eye-watering $1 trillion per year while, conversely, good planning could increase valuations of the biggest companies by up to 25%.

Prepare for handover: If the preferred successors have been identified and invested from within the organisation, they should work alongside the incumbent in the months before the transition and undergo assessment alongside the executive and HR to identify any gaps in skills, training and experience which must be filled before they take up the new position.

They should have been introduced to key stakeholders to establish working relationships and trust to ensure partnerships and teams are aware of the coming transition and confident in and familiar with the incoming leader.

If the organisation is looking for continuity and stability, the anointed successor should be fully briefed and working with HR and the board to gain full sight of all projects and responsibilities.

If the new appointee is coming in from outside of the organisation, there should ideally be a well-timed crossover where the successor joins the organisation, shadows the outgoing leader who will introduce their successor to relevant staff and partners. This period should not go on too long, or it will diminish the new appointee’s capacity to assert their own personal style and culture.

Of course, the board may be looking for a change of direction, which may come as a shock to key stakeholders. In such cases, the groundwork must be laid to prepare the workforce, customers, partners and if relevant, regulators.

Hopefully, the handover will be cordial, however there may be times when the situation is more hostile, for example if the incumbent has been fired or is going to a direct competitor, in which case key members of the teams around the outgoing leader will be key in helping smooth the transition while the CEO, other senior executives and comms teams will need to communicate with stakeholders to minimise any potential reputational damage.

Monitor and support: Once the new appointee is in place, it is essential to continue to evaluate and measure progress against KPIs and work with them to tweak any teething problems. Support them to build a team with future leadership potential to maintain the continuous cycle of development of  talent.

By taking these steps and committing to a structured leadership pipeline, organisations can plan further into the future with confidence and build adaptability and agility into business models to allow dynamic transformation while preparing for any economic or organisational shocks. None of us could have predicted the global disruption and human loss of the Covid pandemic. How many organisations have learned from it and would be able to replace stricken leaders or respond with structural and operational change to adapt models to seismic shifts such as that one? Succession planning should be loosely based on the cycle of churn for different positions, but with a pool of talent from diverse backgrounds who can step in at any time to ensure continuity and growth even as organisational objectives develop and change.

Once natural succession planning has been built into a business model it can be self-sustaining, with increasingly measurable and visible benefits. At Rialto, we find that talent that has been nurtured from within by partnering with us through  coaching or attending a  leadership development programme tend to demonstrate increased commitment and engagement minimising attrition costs and disruption. Any company that manages to keep a loyal, happy and aspirational workforce that understands hard work and impressive performance will be rewarded with meaningful promotion, will see their global reputation enhanced, productivity increase and a virtuous cycle of talent and growth. This should be balanced, however, with the introduction of fresh talent from other backgrounds, companies, sectors, industries and countries to avoid stagnation and promote dynamic cultural evolution, creativity, energy and innovation.

It is difficult to believe that just two years ago, only data scientists had really heard of Generative AI, the form of artificial intelligence that can create content, images and code; summarise vast amounts of data and extract insights according to prompts; identify patterns and illuminate concepts, stimulating creativity and filling vast gaps in our knowledge.

Below is The Rialto guide to the five stages of AI maturity – and actionable steps to help executives guide their organisations safely and strategically to a place of seamless integration and augmentation delivering growth, efficiency, improved services and products and innovation.

The arrival of the first open source ChatGPT in November 2022 led to a more dramatic transformation of the business landscape than any previous innovation and continues to evolve at a dizzying pace, offering unprecedented opportunities for growth and development.

For executives and senior leaders this has presented a new set of challenges – how to guide your organisation through this revolution at the right time, at the right speed, with the right platforms and end uses. Too fast and you risk destabilising your business model and workforce, buying into the hype, overspending on under-developed products and creating an expensive mess. Too late and you risk falling too far behind to catch up, allowing competitors to gain a defining edge.

At Rialto, we support executives to understand the five stages of AI maturity, creating a personalised roadmap aligned to their organisation’s strategic objectives, budget and culture. Those stages go from scepticism/ nascent awareness – the tentative first steps – to maturity, where AI is integrated into all relevant parts of the business, staff are trained and on board, business development and growth are driven by data and insights and a robust governance and ethics framework ensures Gen AI and other emerging technologies are being used safely.

Here is a brief outline of that map, the percentage of organisations at each stage of maturity in 2024* and some of the actions the Rialto team encourage executive teams to take at each stage.

Stage 1: Nascent awareness/scepticism. 26% in 2024

Organisations at this stage may be eschewing AI altogether or understand its potentially profound impact on growth and operations but lack a clear plan or strategy to move forward. Perhaps AI champions are meeting scepticism or fear from key leadership and stakeholders. According to various surveys, the percentage of organisations at this stage was anything between 43% and 65% in 2023, compared to the 26% figure quoted above in 2024 showing the speed at which organisations are moving on. To avoid losing ground and potentially destabilising your business’s future, our team recommend the following steps are taken as a wait and see approach in 2025 will be considered a high risk strategy.

Leadership Action

Prioritise Education and Vision: Leadership must start by educating themselves and their teams about AI’s capabilities and potential. Rialto works with c-suite leaders to support them through this vital first stage with confidence and ensure no wrong turns are taken.  Time is now at a premium, the journey into an AI-driven future must be clearly mapped out with strategic objectives at the fore to catch up with the field without rushing into critical mistakes.

Prepare your workforce: Bring in AI experts and facilitate open, two-way discussions across departments to ensure a smooth, carefully choreographed entry. Invest in training to increase awareness and understanding among employees. Invite feedback and act on it – only 17% of companies do so at this stage. Ensure your biggest asset, your people, are at the forefront of this journey throughout. Collaboration, confidence and co-operation are essential.

Evaluate the Market and Competition: Leaders should analyse competitors to identify how AI is shaping their industry landscape and assess their own position.  Rialto has partnered with a number of executive teams to build their business case for AI investment by highlighting both risks and opportunities to help ensure buy-in from all stakeholders.

Formulate a High-Level AI Vision: Leadership should articulate a clear vision of what AI could potentially achieve for the organisation. This doesn’t have to be fully fleshed out but should set the stage for future AI initiatives.

Assess Current Data Assets: Leadership should work with data teams to audit available data and build systems that can collect and analyse clean, relevant data aligned to strategic objectives as this will be key to future AI success.

Identify Low-Hanging Fruit. What are the best and least complicated first case uses? Seek repetitive, time-consuming, administrative tasks that could be streamlined; customer service portals that could be automated. You may seek external support as well as working with c-suite and data teams to build new AI-led systems that will show instant results with minimal risk to build confidence and demonstrate value.

Stage 2: Experimental/Activation. 41% in 2024

Two fifths of organisations assess themselves to be in this stage, experimenting with AI technologies to address specific opportunities or challenges. This phase is entrepreneurial and opportunistic with a focus on learning, testing agility of existing business models and data. More conservative, risk-averse companies might feel most comfortable at this stage now, trialling and preparing their organisations for more wide scale transformation in the next two to five years.

Leadership Action

Set Up Pilot/Proof-of-Concept Programmes: Identify and define high-potential, simple to run end uses and trial small, measurable projects within a controlled environment. Emphasis should be on analysing results and interaction with systems and employees, iterating and identifying areas which need to be adapted and developed before bigger, more risky projects are explored.

Foster a Culture of Experimentation: Leadership needs to encourage a mindset where small-scale failures are viewed as learning opportunities. Our project teams often find successful organisations treat their AI pilots as experimentation cycles rather than one-time projects. Ensure all learning is documented, analysed and applied to future projects and scaling up.

Identify Key Metrics for Success: To that end, establish clear KPIs to continually evaluate the success of these AI experiments, whether improved efficiency, growth, cost reduction or customer or employee satisfaction. Iterate based on feedback. Report to stakeholders, demonstrating transparency, feasibility and value.

Develop Cross-Functional Teams: Include IT, data scientists if you have them, business unit leaders, and compliance officers in pilot teams to ensure pilots are practical, scalable, and compliant. Smaller companies may wish to hire consultants.

Invest in AI Talent: As experimentation ramps up, recruiting AI specialists or upskilling existing employees will become crucial. Maintain open dialogue with existing staff and look for opportunities to upskill to foster trust.

Stage 3: Foundation Building, Investing in Infrastructure and Data, Wider Experimentation. 2024: 14%

This is where we start to enter the more advanced stages inhabited by earlier adopters.   These may tend to be enterprise and innovative and/or tech companies which have a clear understanding of how AI can benefit their operation and have defined processes for implementation across the organisation.  Leadership understands the need for robust infrastructure, data governance and AI talent.  According to a Gartner report, 80% of AI projects will fail to scale by 2025 if companies don’t build a solid AI infrastructure.

Leadership Action:

Introducing wider AI projects: Those low-hanging fruit identified in stage one should now be going live and being closely monitored for governance, security, quality, impact and ROI. Our clients have tended to scale up first in operational optimisation, customer support and marketing analytics and content creation. If your organisation does not have its own AI ecosystem in place, with a c-suite leader taking accountability and data leads in relevant teams, it might be an idea to bring in external consultants to maintain dedicated oversight and advise throughout this process.

Data Strategy & Infrastructure Investment: Leadership should prioritise building a scalable data infrastructure. This includes investing in cloud computing, data lakes and the tools necessary for managing large datasets. Test platforms for compatibility, robust compliance, cybersecurity, customer service and ease of use before scaling up.

Focus on Data Governance: As AI thrives on data, it’s imperative that leaders ensure that data collection, storage, and usage adhere to regulatory standards. Data governance frameworks must be implemented to guarantee AI models are ethical, secure, and transparent.

Recruit Specialised Talent: In this stage, it’s essential to have the right expertise to scale up and optimise AI use. Leadership should seek to build teams of data engineers, machine learning experts and AI project managers or bring in consultants.

Consider Establishing a Data Governance Committee: Form a committee to ensure data privacy, quality, and compliance are central to your AI operations. Ensure accountability and transparency.

Promote Data Literacy: As AI permeates every level of the business, leadership should invest in data literacy programs to ensure employees at all levels understand how to share relevant, clean data with the knowledge base and interact with and interpret AI outputs.

Stage 4: Strategic Scaling Stage, Deploying AI Across Functions, Optimisation. 12%

Just one in eight are at this stage and those that are here and beyond – having reached it carefully and in alignment with strategic objectives – are reporting promising results with efficiency savings, growth and vastly improved products and services.  At stage 4, AI moves from pilots to full-scale deployment across multiple business units. Agility is built into business models to continuously adjust and adapt. The workforce should be growing in confidence, with AI integrated into their routines and actions.

Leadership Action:

Consider Investing in AI Platforms and replacing some legacy systems: Seek advice on which platforms to use and look at what competitors are doing with them. You may wish to invest in a single Gen-AI powered CRM such as Amazon AWS, Salesforce or Hubspot, and bolt-on other application and tools – or have your data scientists build your own using open access Generative AI models. Continuously monitor ROI and build a relationship with the provider to ensure constant adaptation and improvement or consider alternatives.

Align AI with Business Goals: Always start with objectives, not the technology, to avoid buying into hype. New models and platforms and iterations are coming on to the market daily. In this second wave of adoption, consider prioritising high-impact areas such as supply chain management, customer personalisation and fraud detection.

Consider Creating an AI Centre of Excellence (CoE) and/or Data Governance Committee: Establish a centralised AI committee or CoE that drives AI strategy, oversees technology deployment, and ensures best practices across the organisation. An ecosystem should now be in place with c-suite responsibility and accountability and company policies, guardrails and training for anyone in knowledge-based or customer facing roles in risk and compliance issues such as data security, copyright infringement, GDPR, inaccuracy and bias.

Leverage Data: Use analytics to gain insights, drive decision-making and continuously improve your offering, operations and forward planning.

Stage 5: Maturity, 7%.

Organisations at Maturity stage will find that AI has become a core component of the organisation’s DNA, integrated into the very fabric of the company, driving every aspect of decision-making and enabling continuous innovation. According to a study by Accenture, the few businesses in this stage outperform their competitors by three times in terms of profitability. In the most extreme of AI streamlining exercises, Meta boosted net income by 201% and saw a 178% stock surge by focusing on AI operational efficiency. However this came at a cost of 21,000 jobs. Companies that have successfully reached the fifth stage of maturity find themselves in a virtuous cycle of continuous improvement while employees understand the value of data and are guided by AI copilots in everything they do. AI augments every task, function and team. Employees are 1.5 times more likely to view AI as a helpful colleague. This shift in perspective leads to increased AI usage, enthusiasm, and productivity gains. Impact is assessed and ROI and value are demonstrable and measurable.  Robust guardrails are in place to minimise and mitigate risks.

Leadership Action:

Foster Continuous AI Innovation: There is no time to rest on laurels. Other organisations are catching up and technology is constantly evolving. Leadership must keep pushing the envelope by encouraging teams to innovate continuously. This may involve AI-powered R&D initiatives or the adoption of cutting-edge technologies such as AI-generated content, AI-driven customer experiences and autonomous systems.

Evolve Organisational Structures: Leaders should ensure that the organisation is agile enough to respond to the fast-paced changes in AI technology. This may involve restructuring teams, constantly upskilling or creating new or hybrid roles.

AI in Strategic Decision-Making: Make AI a critical player in c-level strategic decisions, using AI-driven insights to predict market trends, customer needs, enhance supply chain and internal operational efficiencies.

Stay Ahead of AI Trends and New Tech Offerings: Leadership must stay abreast of the latest AI advancements such as generative AI, reinforcement learning, or edge AI, and adapt them to their current and future business models. Rialto supports c-suite leaders at this stage to maintain a bigger picture perspective, stay focused on future and personal/professional development.

Benchmark Against Industry Leaders: Continuously evaluate your AI maturity against the best-in-class organisations to identify new areas for AI-driven growth.

Maintain virtuous cycle of improvement: Ensure data analytics feed into continuous development and growth. Maintain a constant state of innovative evolution. Sustain and expand capabilities and use cases.

Ethical Considerations: Never lose sight of the governance and ethical risks and responsibilities. Build in continuous reviews and ensure continuing compliance with changing regulations in different territories.

Benchmarking your organisation against the above five stages will provide a clear indication of where you and your company lie on the path to AI maturity and the steps you may need to be considering accordingly. It’s clear that organisations are moving through this process at an ever-faster pace, reflecting the growing importance of AI in today’s business environment.  Yet with 41% of organisations now in the experimental stage and only 7% in full AI maturity, there remains a significant opportunity for competitive growth.

While cost reduction and efficiencies may be the primary goal of immature adopters, high performers are twice as likely to have shifted into a phase of innovation where they use Gen AI to create new businesses or offerings, expand into new sectors or regions armed with detailed insights and the confidence of likely success gained with reliable analytics extracted from vast lakes of data.

The shift from initial scepticism to full AI integration can happen faster than many expect with the right approach. Whether you’re just starting out or already experimenting with AI, having a clear roadmap and a focus on continuous innovation will enable your organisation to progress rapidly and stay ahead. The question isn’t whether you should move up the stages, but how quickly you can—and will—do so.

Whatever stage you are at, The Rialto team of experts can help guide you and your organisation to maturity at a pace that suits your culture, while ensuring a human-centric focus, bringing your people on this journey with you. Contact us for a free initial consultation if you would like to know more.

*Asana and Anthropic State of AI at Work study        

It’s difficult to imagine any business leader not yet open to the transformative possibilities of Generative AI. Most will already be exploring the potential or investing in it, to varying degrees.

But what impact is it having on employees and what exactly is the role of CEOs and HR heads in leading their people through this fast-evolving landscape of seemingly infinite opportunities and risks?

So far, the most cautious adopters have dipped their toes in, primarily viewing Generative AI as a tool for streamlining operations – summarising content, reducing human workforces, cutting costs. One analyst described this limited approach as an Ozempic-style organisational weight loss programme.

While that might make for a prettier bottom line in the short run, now is the time for beefing up, not slimming down. Underweight organisations will not have the agility, growth mindset or adaptive workforce to identify and seize the burgeoning AI-led opportunities to enhance, augment and strengthen their position, brand and future-focused growth and customer experience development.

There are few sectors, functions or roles that will not be affected by this revolution. Employers told a 2023 World Economic Forum survey they expect just under half of workers’ skills to be disrupted within five years. As GenAI develops at exponential speed, that estimate is looking highly conservative.

That means that companies of all sizes must prioritise their people to build agility and rapid learning systems into their business models.

How can CEOs and people leaders ensure they are priming their workforces to help them make the best uses of AI at the right time, pace and scale while minimising the risks?

Know when to automate and when to augment:

Generative AI is transforming workforces but not exactly in the way doomsayers had forecast. Yes, many roles will be displaced in the face of Gen AI’s ability to create content, code, marketing tools, conversational chatbots and data-driven insights.

The real transformative power of Generative AI, however, lies in both its accessibility – the open model means anyone who can write a question can use it – and its capacity to upskill and augment the work of humans.

Some forecasters predict that AI will do most jobs better, faster and cheaper. What does that mean for human workers?

Take the example of chatbots. They may replace the front line of call centre agents now that natural language processing has made their conversational skills so much more sophisticated.  However, their true value comes in the augmentation of bot and human. The bot can undertake the dull, repetitive tasks and work the unsocial hours while enhancing the experience of both the employee and customer. It can share personalised information and offers with the customer while enriching the data available to the human agent based on the customer’s history, wider trends and probabilities to guide the agent towards a conversation or transaction that satisfies all parties, whether through resolution of an issue or a sale.

If used properly, with training and guardrails, Generative AI can act as a highly informed and incredibly efficient co-pilot for almost all employees involved in work that involves using a computer or Smartphone which is why they all need to be confidently and actively engaged in the ongoing disruptive process affecting how work will be completed in the future .

Transforming your business model

This starts with investment in a Chief Data Office and/or a Chief Automation Officer or similar who can oversee the organisation’s customer and AI-based transformation, working closely with all c-suite leaders and especially the CEO to ensure that use and assimilation of new platforms, applications and processes are aligned with strategic objectives both in the short, medium and long term. End uses need to be defined in terms of cost and objective and ways to measure ROI identified; projects should be piloted before being scaled up and disrupted employees need to be fully informed and prepared.  The CDO/CAO will also be accountable for a robust data governance and adaptive regulation-adherent framework to minimise and mitigate inherent risks around AI such as data compliance, inaccuracy, poor data, security, privacy issues and intellectual property. They should also ensure a safe data-sharing mechanism to ensure insights, content generation and strategic scaling up of AI-powered projects are based on the most up to date, clean and complete datasets available.

Larger companies may wish to create a whole new ecosystem of data-trained leaders to ensure all teams are using their technology safely and effectively and to share data and insights vertically and horizontally.

Workforce optimisation

The CEO and people leaders will also need to work with the CDO/CAO to ensure processes are in place to constantly review their workforce’s skillbase and ensure staff are equipped, not just for the demands of 2024 or even the next fiscal year, but in alignment with strategic priorities for the known mid/long term

One way to do this is to leverage predictive analytics and data analytics to audit the workforce and identify functions , teams and even individuals who could increase their value – and job satisfaction – through upskilling.

Platforms including Gen AI-driven CRMs (customer relationship management systems) such as Salesforce Einstein have capabilities to create dynamic, upskilled workforces, identifying need and responding with personalised training or career advancement opportunities. This keeps the workforce agile and adaptable.

Introduce new skills

Generative AI’s potential for positive disruption depends on the quality of the data that goes in and the prompts used to extract insights. Employees who use it do not need to be data scientists, such is the beauty of the open model. However, the clearer and more refined their prompts, the greater the value of the Gen-AI insights that will enhance their productivity, efficiency and quality of work.

Those who upload clean data with an understanding of how that might be used will also add great value to their everyday work.

The more of this type of training provided to the workforce, the greater the ROI and employee satisfaction, creating skilled, stable, adaptable workforces, minimising attrition and attracting the best and most relevant talent. According to a PwC survey, two thirds of jobseekers considered a company’s use of cutting-edge technology when deciding where to apply. If they are looking for good use of AI, chances are they will come with a pro-tech attitude, willingness to learn and a level of skill.

Soft skills crucial to AI-based transformation such as adaptability, problem-solving, abstract thinking, creativity and empathy can be harder to teach. These are some of the skills employers should be looking for in new recruits if they are struggling to embed them into the existing workforce to fill the gaps and promote cultural change.

Foster trust to build resilience

While some employees, especially those trained in technology or science or younger recruits who have grown up around it, may embrace any opportunity to augment their own work with AI, there are sections of the workforce who may be more intimidated by technology and fearful of such a fast pace of change and the possible impact on their own careers.

Trust needs to be built from the top down to reduce these concerns. Offer flexible, human-centred training – not just digital – and ensure total transparency. Dispensing of teams or individuals whose jobs can be automated will have an unsettling ripple effect across your whole organisation.

The staff affected need a special type of transition assistance which guarantees to work with them until a new future is secure. This is an enhanced brand of transition support which only Rialto so far are pioneering globally.

Ensure any restructuring is designed openly, fairly, and with kindness. Explain the reasoning to the whole workforce and ensure they feel valued and understand the necessity and future value created by introducing technology, the security and opportunities for growth and, if you are able, explain that you are or will be offering upskilling to all employees who will be working alongside AI in the future. Open a dialogue, invite questions and answer them as honestly as possible.

Ideally, this should come directly from the CEO. Vacuums in knowledge will be filled by mistrust and misinformation. Take control of the messaging around AI, working closely with your operations and HR leaders.

We are only just starting to understand the true transformative potential of Gen AI. It’s no longer sufficient for CEOs and other c-suite executives to delegate responsibility for IT software and systems. They need to understand what is happening now, what is on the horizon and lead from the front, with compassion, confidence and strategic acumen.

If you require professional, structured support from our experienced team of AI, change and transition management experts, or would like to develop a greater personal understanding of Generative AI, its capabilities and risks, do get in touch.

In the first of our blog series on LinkedIn, we explained how to create an impressive LinkedIn profile. Here we explore ways to optimise your profile, network and seek out job opportunities on the platform.

There are currently more than 58 million companies listed on LinkedIn with more than 15 million open job listings.

Six people are hired via LinkedIn every minute. Read on for tips and tricks to make sure the right recruiters are matched with your profile, improving your chances of being found for the right role.

Be active:

The more active you are on your profile, the more you will appear in employer/recruiter searchers. Tweaks, updates and relevant content sharing and posting will help boost your presence. If you are currently job searching, make sure you are using LinkedIn regularly.

Follow the companies in which you are interested and their executives/thought leaders to build up links and stay informed on developments and opportunities and gain insights into their culture.

Connect, connect, connect. Don’t be shy about sending out a request to anyone you know or is connected to you in any way who you can share insights with and might be mutually helpful. This is not a friend-making platform, it’s about building networks. You will be as useful to an old colleague, schoolfriend, acquaintance, contact-of-contact as they are to you. Also, link in to recruiters, HR leaders, industry influencers and key decision makers. If an employer sees you are linked to them via other connections, they are more like to take you seriously. It will help you access the elusive hidden job market and bring recruiters to your door. Do follow etiquette, though. Don’t employ a scattergun approach, mindlessly messaging hundreds of people with no obvious links to you. Ensure there is a purpose or shared interest or field. Add a personalised message explaining why you want to connect and offer to help or share information, but keep it brief.

Be proactive. Message senior decision makers, hiring managers, recruiters, any of your connections in the relevant sector and ask about opportunities. Keep it brief, friendly and professional. Read profiles fully first to get a sense of their preferred style of communication and their role and experience so you can make any introduction or opening gambit personal and specific instead of sounding like a cut and paste job. Don’t send CVs on spec and long personal sales pitches. Just explain what you are looking for, how you think you can help and ask if they know of opportunities or can suggest anybody else to contact. Any inside information may give you that edge over other job seekers and valuable access to the hidden market.

Open to work. Consider whether it’s appropriate to set your profile to Open to Work. There’s a video here on how to do it. You can limit this information to recruiters, useful if you do not want other people to know you are looking or want to seek opportunities subtly. Alternatively, you can also alert all contacts, although you might wish to discuss this option with a skilled coach to decide on the right positioning for you.

Search and subscribe to job alerts: Clicking on the jobs icon in the toolbar will take you to a page where jobs matching your skills and experience will be displayed. You can search for further positions and switch the “set alert” toggle to “on” to receive notifications when relevant new jobs are posted.

Join groups and networks to extend your reach and stay informed. Add insightful comments to posts and share or create your own content to showcase your expertise and thought leadership and make sure people see your name. Nine in 10 super successful job hunters in a LinkedIn survey belonged to at least one group.

Maintain your network. Once you have made a useful contact, try to maintain it. For example, if you had a good job interview but didn’t get the post, follow up with a message to the panel members thanking them for their time, asking for feedback and politely requesting that they might consider you for any future roles. Be careful not to overstep the mark or become over familiar. Keep it professional unless the relationship has developed into a mutually more friendly one naturally. Ensuring you are gently in the background of a specific space will help keep you in the mind of employers, recruiters and other contacts who may have helpful information or consider you when an opportunity arises.

Prepare for applications and interviews. Use this incredible resource to frame your approach, response and interview style. Look at anyone who has worked for the company or comparable companies. What skills do they showcase? What were their career trajectories? Who do they follow? What do they post?

Similarly, read into the company culture and the backgrounds of any individuals who may have a part in the recruitment process. Finding a common interest with an interviewer before meeting them can be a good icebreaker – say a football team or the fact you’ve both worked at the same company or in the same European city. It shows you’ve done your homework. Don’t be over familiar though! Knowing it’s their first born’s 18th birthday or the name of their dog could backfire!

Should you pay for premium?

If you’re not actively looking for a job, recruiting or seeking to build your sales or following for commercial purposes, the free-to-use platform should meet most or all your needs.

But it’s worth going for the free one-month premium free trial to unlock the extra features and decide if it’s worth paying for while you are in the market. They include direct email access to hiring managers, notifications of views of your CV, LinkedIn Learning courses and AI-powered searches.

These are just some of the tools and benefits to LinkedIn and the beauty of it is that it’s a vast resource of accessible, free and easily searchable information to support you in so many aspects of your career development. However, while algorithms make it as personal to you as they can, there are limitations to its offering.

It goes without saying that competition for jobs at the very top is most intense and the process so much more complex as companies seek the very best candidate for crucial positions upon which futire company fortunes can be made and lost.

If you feel you could benefit from professional, structured highly personalised support in your executive job search, do contact Rialto for a free initial consultation.