Leadership lessons from the Olympians?

As 10,500 super-humans at the peak of their powers give their absolute all in Paris for the honour of bringing home a medal, most of us can only sit back and look on in awe.  They may be faster, higher, stronger as per the original Olympics motto. But simply having a natural physical advantage and access to a particular sport is only the start of the long and arduous journey to the top.

Leaders can learn a multitude of valuable lessons from Olympic athletes, whose dedication, discipline, and resilience offer profound insights into elite performance. Behind every competitor is a story. How did they get to be among the very best? What drives them? How do they maintain that discipline? And what is the magic that inspires so many to break world records and personal bests during this 11-day period once every four years?

Here we look at some of the legends of the modern Olympics; their techniques, practices, and temperamental qualities and explore how leaders can seek to emulate them to elevate their own professional and organisational performance.

Adaptability – Oksana Masters, Paralympic Rowing, Skiing, and Cycling, USA

Masters’ difficulties started before she was even born. She was exposed to in-utero radiation poisoning from the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in her native Ukraine resulting in constructive surgery to her hands and a double leg amputation. After spending her early years in orphanages where she was abused, she was moved to the US aged seven. She entered her first Paralympics in London in 2012, winning a medal in the rowing, and has gone on to pick up medals in cross country skiing and the biathlon. This year she’ll compete in cycling.

“That’s the cool thing, which I think a lot of people don’t realise, about Paralympians,” Masters has been quoted as saying. “We’re constantly adapting to our environment, because the world was never created for us.”

While few of us will face the kind of challenges Masters has overcome, she is a shining example of how adaptability enables us to survive and even seek opportunities in difficult circumstances. She took up cycling to overcome a back injury and ended up competing in it at the highest level.

Leaders must be flexible and ready to pivot in response to changing circumstances.  Sometimes, the greatest innovation and the most positive transformation comes from necessity. Author Napoleon Hill said, “Every adversity carries within it the seed of equal or greater benefit.” The business and economic landscapes are changing fast with vital forces including globalisation and AI. Strong leadership needs to be alert to those changes and nuances and be able to adapt positively and decisively to seize opportunities.

Self awareness. Simone Biles, Gymnast, USA

Four-times gold medallist Biles made a triumphant return in Paris after pulling out of the Tokyo 2020 finals. She was experiencing a mental block unique to gymnasts, known as the “twisties”. Biles faced an initial backlash from critics who accused her of letting her team down and being afraid of failure after a poor first round score.

In fact she was having a breakdown.

Having grown up in foster care and later suffered abuse within her sport, she shared that she urgently needed to take time out to look after her mental health, kickstarting a wave of support and a global discussion about the subject which had been something of a taboo in sport. “Sometimes, you have to take that power back,” she said.

Her self-awareness and intuitive knowledge of what she had to do – step off the big stage and heal at home with the support of loved ones – saved her from total burnout.

Leaders face unprecedented and competing pressures and little thought is given for the toll that can take. They are expected to just get on with it all.  But they are only human and need to recognise their limits and take care of their well-being to sustain long-term performance.  Self-awareness helps leaders understand their strengths and weaknesses enabling better decision-making and personal growth. Taking time to be mindful of your physical and mental health – and knowing how, where and whom to ask for help if you need it – will keep you at the top of your game for the long haul.

Courage – Adam Peaty OBE, Swimmer, GB.

Peaty is regarded as the best sprint breaststroke swimmer of all time. He was the first British swimmer to ever retain an Olympic title and has broken the 100m World Record 14 times.

Yet as a small boy he was so terrified of water he would scream if anyone tried to get him near a bath.

He has certainly faced that fear down.

No matter how experienced, qualified or senior, nobody is immune to an attack of the terrors when faced with a new challenge or pressure.  How does Peaty deal with it? “Honestly you can overthink it,” he says. “It’s two laps of the baths.” When facing a fear it’s helpful to break it down.

Leaders often face daunting challenges and uncertainties which take courage – it means standing out in front and expecting people to believe in you. Courage does not mean having no fear – it means being afraid and doing it anyway. Embracing new challenges, even if they may seem overwhelming – like returning to defend an Olympic title after a four-year gap – is what keeps leaders sharp, engaged and at the top of their game.

In Paris, Peaty missed out on matching icon Michael Phelps’s three Gold medals in the event by just two hundredths of a second – leaders will know the feeling of giving their all and only to see an opportunity or promotion go elsewhere.

We could all learn from Peaty’s magnanimous response after what many viewed as a defeat – second place and a silver medal to add to his previous haul. He had been crying, he admitted, but they were tears of joy after his comeback from burnout, a broken foot and too much drinking.

“If you’re willing to put yourself on the line every single time, I think there’s no such thing as a loss. And I’m so happy that the right man won.”

His honesty over his own weaknesses only served to elevate his heroic status making him more relatable, another leadership attribute that inspires teams. We could all be more Peaty!

Perseverance – Eddie “the Eagle” Edwards, Skijumping, GB.

Who could fail to be inspired and enchanted by the most unlikely Winter Olympics hero of all time (with close competition from the Jamaican “Cool Runnings” bobsleigh team). With no financial backing, the plasterer slept in his car and borrowed ski boots so outsized he had to wear six pairs of socks. He qualified to represent Britain on the sole achievement of being the first and only British candidate and faced cruel opposition from the sport’s governors. After his first entry at Calgary in 1988 – when he came last in both his events, scoring only half the points awarded to the second-last placed Spaniard – the rules were changed to ensure he couldn’t return, sealing his status as a British underdog legend.

No matter how many obstacles were put in his way, sometimes by chance, sometimes intentionally, Edwards refused to give in. He knew what he wanted and was prepared to sacrifice so much, work so hard and endure hardship, mockery and snobbery to achieve his ambition, even though he knew he would never win.

Leaders must be resilient, pushing through setbacks and persisting in the face of adversity. If executives and leadership can learn anything from Eddie, it’s to dig deep through the tough times, find creative ways around or over obstacles, navigate resistance and do whatever it takes to land safely at the other side.  He may not have won a medal but he did lift the nation and challenge ideas about elitism and what constitutes success. His perseverance paid dividends in other ways with his subsequent career as a much-loved TV personality and national treasure.

Effective teamwork – Jason Gardener, Darren Campbell, Marlon Devonish and Mark Lewis-Francis, 4x100m relay, GB.

Nobody was going to beat the Americans at the 2004 Athens games. They had won 15 of the previous 19 Olympics finals and, with Justin Gatlin and Shawn Crawford, the 100m and 200m gold medallists, plus Coby Miller and Maurice Greene, the result appeared to be a foregone conclusion.

But that’s not how it worked out. Here were four of the most brilliant individuals in their field but this was a team event. They weren’t a team. Sloppy passing let the Brits snatch gold by a hundredth of second, the country’s first since 1912. Campbell had been all ready to go home after facing criticism from track legend Michael Johnson. “I had a meeting with the guys and said if they wanted me to keep going I would,” he said afterwards. “Once they put their faith in me, I had full faith in them. The craziest thing is we knew we were going to win it.”

Here was a team galvanised by adversity – they had almost been disqualified before the final but appealed successfully. One of their own had been humiliated internationally. It fortified and united them, ultimately propelling them to one of the greatest British Olympic victories in history.

Teams need leaders. But leaders need teams equally. Identifying strengths and weaknesses and knowing who to put on which part of a project or with a particular client, maintaining an open dialogue, building trust, genuine loyalty and mutual support builds winning teams.

Healthy rivalry with other teams within and outside of the organisation can help strengthen team identity and resolve, as long as it doesn’t get out of hand.  Think of Seb Coe and Steve Ovett, pushing one another to land gold and silver in the 1980 800m for Team GB – not figure skaters Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding, whose bitter conflict resulted in Kerrigan being attacked with a metal bar before the 1994 Games and Harding banned from the sport.

Olympic athletes don’t win medals by accident. They rigorously train; stay focused and build up to peak performance with immaculate timing. They are driven constantly by the desire to break records and achieve personal bests.  They compete not just for themselves, but for their team, for their domestic club, for national pride. Similarly, leaders need to stay focused on their vision and goals, maintaining discipline in their actions and decisions to drive consistent progress and achieve long-term success.  By understanding the competition, cultivating a mindset of continuous improvement and always seeking ways to enhance skills, processes, and outcomes, they can drive a culture of innovation and learning supporting sustained growth and competitive advantage.

The inspiring journeys of Olympic athletes, of which we’ve only described a few, can serve as powerful motivators. Leaders can draw on these stories to inspire and motivate their teams, creating a culture of ambition, resilience, and excellence. Sharing stories of overcoming adversity and achieving greatness can boost morale and foster a positive organisational culture.

Here at Rialto, we find that drawing on sporting analogies can act as a powerful tool for leaders to work through leadership challenges. These analogies provide relatable, vivid, and memorable ways to convey complex ideas and inspire action.

In today’s volatile, uncertain economic climate, the most remunerated staff can be the most vulnerable to job losses as organisations seek to trim the bottom line. Sometimes, the higher the climb, the more dramatic – and painful – the fall can be.

Losing a significant income and the perks that go with it – and then trying to replace it with another – can be one of the most stressful life events for any executive or senior leader. There may be school fees, eye watering mortgages and other domestic expenses to worry about.

The financial stress comes at the same time as a loss of status and confidence at being told your role is surplus to requirements and this can have a devastating and destabilising impact on relations at home.

Questions of self worth, loss of identity and feelings of loneliness or loss of control are just some of the emotions that can make the whole process distressing and daunting, even for those who were active in the decision making process of their role going or for whom the events have come as no surprise.

For some, it can be easy over time to either slump into a state of despair or take the first job offered in panic, damaging years of investment put into building a successful brand and career.

Of course, every senior leader and executive would prefer to feel in control of any career decisions and never find themself in such a destabilising situation.

But it doesn’t have to feel like the end of the world – and could, in fact, be an opportunity in disguise. The first step that our executive transition team will suggest after working through your exit is a reframing of a mindset. Embracing the chance to reflect on your career to date, possible skills development, a pivot or exploring a new and exciting direction can help ward off the psychological impact of an unexpected loss of position and keep a positive frame of mind to seek, identify and seize opportunities you might otherwise never see.

Once your head is in the right place, you are ready to follow these practical steps to stride into the future.

1. Take time to reflect

It’s crucial to take the time to process your emotions, lean on trusted friends and family and accept support to get into that more positive mindset and reflect on your career. In an ideal world, would the position you left have been the one you would have chosen? Is there somewhere else you would rather have been? Why was the role no longer needed? Did the organisation fail? Were you in a dying or declining sector or function? Perhaps this is a wake up call, time for a change. Did you lose your own way somewhere along the line?

Be honest with yourself, but don’t fall into the trap of punishing yourself or feeling like a failure. You were good enough to get yourself into that position. You are still good enough to secure another one – more so, in fact. More experienced, more skilled. Write down your most cherished accomplishments and think about what you had to do to achieve them. As well as building your confidence, they will be useful to keep in mind and use to illustrate your value when exploring your future career options and roles you’d like to pursue.

Take the time to evaluate your recent performance, study the market demand curve ahead and map out the market and update your skills, of which more later.

Is this parting of ways a sign that you were no longer in the right job, culture or industry? Had you lost your enthusiasm or found yourself no longer driven in the same way? We’re human. It happens. You’ll find a better fit. You may well come to look back at this apparent setback as an outright blessing, especially if you walk into an exciting new phase of your career.

2. Assess Your Financial Situation

Understanding your financial situation is critical. Review your savings, severance package and other financial resources against your commitments and obligations. This assessment will help determine your budget and timeline for finding a new job. It might also be a good time to consult with a financial advisor to plan your finances effectively during this transition.

3. Look forward to the place you want to be

Try to visualise where you would like to end up. It can be easier to do this when you free your mind to wander, while walking or engaging in another pleasurable task that does not occupy your poor, overwrought brain. This does not mean identifying the exact role you want now, but thinking about your priorities. Do you want a better work/life balance? Would you like an opportunity to travel more? Or travel less? Or even move to a new part of the country or even the world? All of these possibilities are now open to you. Do you have a desire to give back/ Or interests that you haven’t had enough time to pursue which your vast transferable skills could now turn into a new career? Could you relaunch your professional life by combining your passion and your professionalism in a place that makes you feel happy every time you walk through the door?

4. Seek professional help

Research shows that senior professionals who partner with skilled and experienced executive career coaches excel in the competitive executive landscape. While it’s beneficial to work with high-quality recruitment consultants, it’s important to remember that recruiters ultimately serve the organisations they have been retained with, which can sometimes make it challenging to fully leverage your value or consider your needs.

In contrast, independent career coaches focus solely on your best interests. Establishing a relationship with an executive coach is crucial at this stage of your career. Mutual understanding and trust are core to this partnership. If you don’t feel these elements are present, it’s wise to address this straight away as the focus should solely be on enabling you to be in a stronger position to achieve your goals and aspirations.

Both recruiters and coaches can help you refine your professional profile to align with market growth areas, boost your confidence and secure the right new role for you at this stage of your professional life. Personalised support and unbiased guidance from an executive coach can be particularly valuable as you explore new career opportunities, aim to step up or advance your career and guide you through your next career steps.

5. Update Your CV and LinkedIn Profile

Ensure your CV is current and highlights your most recent achievements and skills & ensure it aligns with future market needs and language . If you have been in the same position or industry for some time, it may be a good idea to totally revamp your online presence as recruiting trends and requirements have moved on. Talent is found by AI in many cases. Your profile must be optimised accordingly. A compelling LinkedIn profile is essential as it’s often the first place that AI, recruiters and potential employers now look. Include a professional photo, a strong headline, and detailed descriptions of your roles and accomplishments, including in-demand soft skills (see our previous insights for details and keywords) and highlight any AI knowledge or experience. If you have a mentor or career coach, get help with this. They will know what recruiters and AI are looking for right now.

6. Leverage your networks

Networking is one of the most powerful tools for those looking for a new role, especially at executive and senior level. Recommendations are gold dust and they can help you access the hidden grey market – with positions that are not advertised or not yet formalised, putting you front of mind, giving you extra time to prepare, or even encouraging an organisation to create a role for you. Inform your professional contacts about your career direction and focus. You could do this via email, sending a message to people working in your target organisations or sectors with whom you feel you have a good relationship. Explain your proposition: the impact you can have and what makes you qualified for it. Attend industry events, join professional online and face to face groups and participate in online forums to ensure the right people keep seeing your name. Building and maintaining relationships can lead to enhanced and increased job opportunities, provide support during your job search and can lead to that decisive information, introduction or recommendation.

7. Benchmark your skills and seek to close any gaps

Whether you have been absent from the job market for two years or two decades, it will have changed – a lot. Generative AI and other technologies have accelerated the evolution of the workplace exponentially and will continue to change everything. Now is a good time to benchmark your skills against industry trends, which any good career coach can help you do. If AI concerns you, it’s time to face your fear. Forrester Research’s 2024 Hiring Trends Report noted that 78% of hiring managers in Fortune 500 companies consider AI literacy a crucial factor when evaluating executive candidates. PwC’s Global CEO Survey 2024 found 88% of CEOs believe AI will fundamentally change their business models within the next three years, necessitating AI-literate leadership. Executives must be able to identify opportunities, develop efficient solutions, manage change, and address ethical implications of AI deployment. You may require additional training to fulfil these requirements. Rialto has researched this area extensively for clients and can provide tailored developmental options.

The skills employers were prioritising even two years ago have changed almost beyond recognition, also in response to changing cultural and people-centred management styles and trends. Empathy, emotional intelligence, agility and resilience are among the skills most sought after in 2024. How do you develop and demonstrate such nebulous skills? Time out of the executive world leaves you perfectly placed to do just that. It might be through play – explore your creative side with a hobby or join a sports team. Perhaps you could volunteer, work directly with people less fortunate. It will help you reground and be great for your CV. If you’ve spent years nose to the grindstone, lurching from one averted disaster to getting another new project live, you may have lost sight of who you really are. Enjoy this time to rediscover what you enjoy, reconnect with your feelings and spend relaxed, devoted time with loved ones and old friends. Your emotional intelligence will shine through, your stress levels will fall and you’ll instinctively feel more confident about clear-headed decision-making on your way to that new role and beyond.

8. Develop an Executive Job Search Strategy

Treat the process of job search or exploring career options like a job in itself. Get up at the same time every morning, dress sharply, put in the hours. Keeping a routine will keep you alert and motivated. Create a structured job search plan. Identify target companies, set daily or weekly goals for targeting and networking activities and keep track of your progress. Assess and analyse any barriers and challenges emerging. Seek feedback where appropriate. Are you looking in the wrong place? Is there a sector or function that better suits your unique combination of talent, expertise and experience? Are you missing skills or failing to properly demonstrate or illustrate them? Read up on what is happening in your target sectors – where are they headed? Which skills are over-supplied? and which are in short supply? Is your skillset now a commodity? How can you fill any gaps? Keep on refining your offering and presentation with every lesson. Put the work in early and you’ll have the best chance of restarting your career on a better trajectory.

9. Prepare for Interviews & Informational Discussions

It may have been a while since you were in an interview. We see people who were head-hunted at university and have never been through a formal recruiter process again. Work on your interview skills now, don’t wait until you’re in front of a panel for the job you really want! Nerves are natural. The interviewers will want to see you at your best and put you at ease. Ask your career coach what are the most common interview questions in your sector/position and to suggest some good answers. Adapt them so they feel comfortable and natural; practice, speaking out loud. You could even record yourself to help refine the content of your answers but do not rehearse them word for word – this will only bore interviewers and put you at risk of missing the point of the question. Listen more than you talk and have questions prepared – questions you genuinely want answers to. Enthusiasm is infectious. Authenticity helps build a rapport and gets you that elusive likeability factor.

Develop a compelling narrative about your career and prepare to discuss your recent job loss positively. How are you going to explain it without: a) spoiling your own chances here or b) criticising your former employer or organisations, which signals disloyalty and indiscretion. Demonstrating resilience, self awareness and a forward-looking attitude can make a strong impression on potential employers.

10. Stay Open to New Opportunities

While it’s essential to have clear goals, being realistic, staying flexible, and open to different opportunities can also be beneficial. Consider interim roles, non-executive directorships, consulting, or freelance work. These opportunities can provide income, expand your network, and potentially lead to full-time positions.

11. Take Care of Your Well-being

Last but certainly not least, job loss and the stresses that go with it can take a serious toll on your mental and physical health. To remain positive and resilient, maintain a healthy routine including regular exercise, a balanced diet and adequate sleep. Mindfulness practices or speaking with a trusted friend, family member or professional can be beneficial to avoid stress levels becoming overwhelming.

A clear and healthy mind will help you make wiser decisions during your early transitional phase whilst maintaining good physical and mental health ensures you stay focused and motivated when applying for new roles. Wellbeing contributes to a better general impression when speaking to individuals, showcasing confidence and stability. Coming full circle, the ability to frame and develop a constructive narrative around your job loss as a positive opportunity rather than a setback can make explaining your situation less painful and more empowering. Focusing on your future aspirations and the new possibilities ahead will help convince you as much as anyone listening.

Losing a job is never easy but with the right approach and outlook, executives can transform this experience into a valuable opportunity. Take the time to reflect, learn from the situation, and adapt. Allow yourself some breathing space to reassess and realign your priorities, rediscover what truly matters, and reconnect with who you are. This pause can provide a more thoughtful approach to your career, leading to an exciting new phase that aligns better with your current self and true aspirations, rather than simply continuing on a predetermined path.

If you’re facing redundancy or are looking for a new role and think you could benefit from professional, personalised support to address any of the above, contact one of the team for a free initial consultation.

You may find some of our previous insights helpful.

• Six ways to use storytelling to supercharge your career
• Upskilling to lead into the future
• Going from Gen AI avoidant to pro
• AI’s rise – executives in transition

“Are you two really the best we’ve got?”

A despairing voter spoke for much of his nation when he fired the question at the UK Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and Conservative PM Rishi Sunak in a televised debate eight days ahead of what some view as one of the most frustrating UK General Election run-ins in recent memory.

Days later, a cartoonist ran the same phrase under unflattering caricatures of the No 10 rivals alongside US President runners Biden and Trump after the first head to head of the new campaign. Americans have a choice between an octogenarian who appeared to almost fell asleep during the debate and a septuagenarian convict who is calculated to have allegedly made 30,573 false or misleading claims during his previous term in office.

Meanwhile young men and boys are looking to the self-styled “king of toxic masculinity” Andrew Tait – currently awaiting trial for rape and trafficking – for guidance on how to be a man while much of Europe is so disillusioned with mainstream politics it is looking to the Far Right for strong governance.

Is leadership in crisis?

A newly-released index in leadership confidence suggests it is.

Russell Reynolds has been tracking confidence in executive teams for the last three years – and seen a continuous decline which it blames on widespread failure to address the unprecedented complexity and uncertainty of leadership in the current landscape.

The Leadership Confidence Index captures board members, CEOs, C-suite leaders, and next-generation leaders’ confidence in their executive team, looking at capability, issue management and behaviour.

All three fell, as, according to a separate index by the same researchers, did faith in leaders’ preparedness to face the top threats impacting organisational health: economic uncertainty, availability of key talent and skills, tech change, geopolitical uncertainty and increased regulation.

Yet it is amid this edgy climate of unease, economic shocks and rapid technological advancement in the wake of the AI revolution that effective leadership can and should shine like a beacon, navigating organisations through the turbulence, raising teams to the challenge and riding tailwinds to transformational growth.

So how can executives and senior leadership up their game to inspire confidence, loyalty and improved performance? Here are eight ways:

1. Inspire a Shared Vision

In times of uncertainty, a compelling vision can unite and motivate the team, encourage loyalty and minimise attrition and burn out. Executives can inspire by:

• Articulating the Vision: Clearly communicate the long-term vision and how you hope to get there. It should be ambitious but equally not too far reaching.  Ensure there is a strategy to support everyone to understand their role in achieving it and invite questions. The more the vision is challenged, the more robust and engrained it will become.
• Aligning Goals: Align individual and team goals with the broader organisational vision to ensure a shared sense of purpose and direction. Every employee should understand why they do what they do every day, feel valued and know what they stand to gain, personally and professionally.
• Involving the Team: Engage employees in the vision-building process to enhance commitment and enthusiasm.

2. Communicate with Clarity and Transparency

Effective communication is the cornerstone of inspiring leadership, especially during crises. Executives and senior leaders should:

• Be Transparent: Share the challenges being faced and the strategies being implemented to address them. Honesty builds trust.
• Maintain Clarity: Ensure messages are clear and consistent. Avoid jargon and be direct about what is happening and why. Think about the channels through which you communicate and who should deliver the messaging.
• Encourage regular two-way engagement: Keep lines of communication open through regular updates, meetings, and feedback sessions.

3. Show Empathy and Compassion

During difficult times, employees look to leaders for understanding and support. Executives can demonstrate empathy by:

• Listening Actively: Take the time to hear employees’ concerns and suggestions. Show that their voices matter. Build time into board and SLT meetings to discuss those concerns and share details of the discussions with the workforce to show you are listening.
• Offering Support: Provide easily and universally accessible resources for mental health and well-being. Create a nurturing culture where employees feel confident sharing any personal or professional issues, knowing leadership will respond with careful consideration, practical support and genuine understanding and kindness.
• Being Visible: It can be tempting to hide below decks when seas are rough but this is exactly the time the crew need to see their captain leading decisively. Make a conscious effort to be present and approachable. Check-ins and addresses to staff can go a long way to build strong relations and loyalty, whether virtual or in real life.. Take a personal interest in your workforce. Namecheck employees who have gone above and beyond and recognise any achievements they may have chosen to share from their personal lives such as adopting or charity work.

4. Demonstrate Resilience and Adaptability

One worrying trend noted in the Russell Reynolds report was the failure of leadership to develop resilience in response to repeated exposure to shocks and challenges. Inspiring leaders should embody resilience and adaptability, setting a powerful example for their teams.

• Stay Positive: Lead with realistic optimism. Positivity can be contagious, filtering down from the top, but only if tempered with honesty about the difficulties you face together. Employees will become jaded and may even be offended if leadership constantly tries to spin messaging that does not align with what they are hearing and feeling.
• Adapt Quickly: Show flexibility in strategies and be willing to pivot as circumstances change. Admit mistakes or wrong turns and be humble and open about what you have learned. Not only will this instil faith that you recognise when change is needed and are skilled enough to change tack, it will create a dynamic and agile environment in which others feel safe to go back and try things differently.
• Celebrate Small Wins: Even if you are struggling to steady the ship in a major storm, take time to recognise and celebrate even minor successes to boost morale and maintain momentum. Make sure staff can see the light on the horizon – calmer waters and exciting new opportunities ahead – and that they belong to an organisation committed to seizing them.

5. Lead by Example

Executives who lead by example are rewarded with confidence and respect and inspire leadership and teams to behave the same way.

Ways of leading by example include:

• Maintaining Integrity: Uphold the company’s values and ethical standards.  Executives should clearly define and communicate the ethical standards and behaviours they expect, model these themselves and reward employees who do the same. They should be seen to address conflicts justly and take responsibility for decisions, whether they have been successful or not.
• Showing Commitment: Executives and senior leadership need to be seen to be willing to go the extra mile and demonstrate a strong work ethic. This does not mean being in the office for 12 hours a day and over weekends to try to set up a slavish competition around time spent in the office. But it does mean showing company loyalty, determination to see projects through and genuine interest in the outcomes of initiatives and efforts across the organisation, not just in your own department or team.
• Embracing Challenges: One man’s challenge is another’s opportunity. Strong organisations and leadership welcome the churn and thrust of dynamic economic landscapes. Industrial revolutions – such as the AI-led one we are currently in – leave the luddites behind and create a new generation of entrepreneurs and visionaries. Be alert and open to flexing your leadership and business model to capitalise on emerging trends and technologies. If your organisation is struggling, embrace the opportunity to do things differently, always ensuring you take your people with you by following the steps we have laid out above.

6.Foster a Culture of Innovation

Embracing challenges in this way can be a catalyst for innovation and progress. Executives can inspire creativity and forward-thinking by:

• Encouraging Experimentation: Create an environment where it’s safe to take risks and experiment with new ideas. Open collaborative forums where employees at any level can suggest and work together on new initiatives or ways of doing things.
• Providing Resources: Allocate time and resources for teams to explore innovative solutions to problems. Think of how big tech companies build playful spaces designed to foster creativity. Ensure your workspace – and online resources – have an element of play.
• Recognising Innovators: Always respond to staff who show initiative, praising the instinct even if their ideas are not necessarily what you are looking for at that moment. Publicly acknowledge and reward those who contribute innovative ideas and solutions.

7. Build and Maintain Trust

Trust is a critical element of effective leadership, particularly during difficult times. Executives should focus on:

• Consistency: Be consistent in words and actions. Follow through on promises and commitments. If changes have to be made meaning that this becomes impossible, explain why.
• Accountability: Take responsibility for decisions and outcomes, whether positive or negative. Accountability builds credibility. Share your analysis of how things went wrong – or right – lessons learned and what is being done to ensure best practice is being adopted going forward. This also encourages employees to be accountable and trust that any mistakes owned up to will be treated fairly and with constructive learning in mind.
• Open Honest Dialogue: Encourage open and honest communication across all levels of the organisation. Explain clearly any changes in direction, restructuring and other critical decisions that will impact on the workforce; give the reasons and thinking behind them and the benefits to the company and employees. Encourage feedback and answer further questions.

8. Embrace AI

Surveys have repeatedly found that employees do not trust their executives or leadership to lead them through the AI revolution and are secretly using Generative AI without appropriate guidance or guardrails while they wait for official policy and training – at great reputational, compliance and commercial risk.

Meanwhile the Russell Reynolds research found only 58% of leadership felt confident in their Executives’ ability to effectively embrace digital transformation.  Executives and senior leadership should be embracing new technologies by:

• Becoming AI-literate: AI is not an IT issue. Every leader of every department and function should be AI-literate and collaborating to develop the best and most effective AI capabilities across the organisation in alignment with strategic priorities and objectives.
• Demonstrating proficiency: Explain to your workforce how you plan to improve their experience and skills and drive progress and growth through AI.
• Be open: Keep them up to date on any developments and how their jobs might be affected; invite their collaboration and feedback in the change management needed to adopt and scale up new tech initiatives and programmes. Offer personalised, human-led training and answer any questions or concerns they may have to maintain buy-in, confidence and trust.
• Show them the future: Leadership that is able to demonstrate its understanding of the AI revolution, its opportunities and risks, and show a commitment to genuine tech-led progress will give employees faith in the future of your organisation, even if things feel tough right now.

There is no doubt that leadership is facing an unprecedented myriad of complex challenges, globally, domestically and internally, with frequent economic shocks, changing cultures, regulations, expectations and fast-moving technology and trends.

As the England football team has demonstrated in its opening matches, skills, expertise and experience are nothing without cohesive, visionary leadership that inspires trust and confidence.

But when faced with adversity, unexpected challenges and external pressures, effective leadership can turn things around by taking responsibility, adapting, fostering creativity and innovation and inspiring loyalty and faith in the future.

Confidence can ebb and flow at the best of times, but in the worst of times, executives and senior leadership can show strength by asking for help and guidance, through mentors, networks or coaching, to refine, sharpen and build their skills and instincts in accordance with the changing, AI-led climate.

The Rialto team of executive coaches can support you and your organisation to navigate challenges, build resilience and adaptability and identify and seize new opportunities, including optimising the adoption of AI through intensive research of relevant trends & use by competitors in your industry.

Overview:

Labour and the Conservatives are jockeying for position as the party that can be most trusted with the economy. Both have pledged to adhere to strict rules on debt and borrowing to avoid the investor jitters and economic meltdown triggered by Liz Truss’s mini-budget of tax cuts and increased spending.

Both will have to grapple with a major funding hangover from the triple shocks of Brexit, Covid and the war in Ukraine and many say neither has been totally upfront about the scale of the task ahead, which could seriously suffocate any chances of imminent economic recovery and hoped for interest rate cuts.

Both have promised major house-building programmes which would be a welcome boost for the construction industry after years of slow development made worse by high mortgage rates – but can they be achieved?

The biggest potential economic game changer between Labour and the Conservatives came with tax cuts or tax freezes.

The Tories have promised £17bn tax cuts over the life of the next Parliament to put more money in the pockets of working people, which they say will stimulate the economy. Their proposed scrapping of NI for most self-employed people means they will carry 15% less of the tax burden than salaried workers – 20% compared to 35% on average – making it more attractive for employers to use consultants and freelancers. For directors and partners, this could potentially offer a considerable wage boost.

However, the Conservatives also tabled a raft of expensive new measures including National Service for all 18-year-olds and heavy investment in infrastructure, defence and childcare. Rishi Sunak says the funding will come from cutting the welfare bill, non-doms and slashing the civil service and non-protected public services. Critics say such income streams are far from guaranteed and his sums don’t add up. His promised tax cuts plus extra spending could therefore bring more uncertainty and instability.  But is he just setting a political trap for the incoming government, making tax the electoral focus and forcing Labour’s hand?

Arguably, we could have advanced The Reform Party as the most viable future opposition here after they polled one percent higher than the Conservatives for the first time days before releasing their own manifesto. However, Nigel Farage’s party is unlikely to translate vote share to seats.  The right wing vote will be split fairly equally if current polling is reflected on the day. Either way, the Conservatives have realistically shifted from fighting for the right to rule, to battling for the Shadow bench, which means they can offer a menu of extravagant economic pledges without potentially ever having to honour them.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, currently seen as PM-in-waiting, introduced what some have called a “straightjacket” or “safety first” manifesto. There were no rabbits, no hats, no surprises. Land is in sight, all he has to do is keep the ship steady and hope for the weather to remain clement.

Starmer stressed his number one priority would be wealth creation via a National Wealth Fund, using £8bn within “allowed” borrowing and broad reform to regulation and planning to kickstart the economy and bring in private investment as the first of his five core missions. He pledged to create 650,000 new “good” jobs, most in a world-beating green economy, and drive the highest growth in the G7 – a difficult one to pull off with so many variables beyond his control, mainly the performance of the other six members.

Optimists believe that with a “super-majority” in the Commons and his growth mindset, there is a chance he could push through a bold programme of change and hope to ride a global uplift to pull off this trick, which seems to represent his riskiest promise.

Critics say he has not given any clear indication of how his party plans to achieve this turnaround, especially with the fiscal mess and spending pressures he will inherit.

His clean green Great British Energy company and Great British Railways would bring these core sectors back into national or partial national ownership, the former, he says, helping to bring down energy prices and profit the nation. For the renewables industry and the manufacturing and logistics businesses supporting it, a Labour term in office should see heavy investment towards the latter part including improving the national grid. Other sectors can hope for energy security going forward, lower fuel prices, lower inflation and more interest rate cuts plus more intense investment in innovation and business creation in the regions and nations, should all go to plan!

No tax cuts for now but he pledged not to raise corporate taxes, VAT or taxes on working people and promised wholesale reform of the business rates system to make it fairer on SMEs, all welcomed by business leaders. He did not rule out council tax and capital gains tax increases.

Instead, extra money for the NHS, infrastructure and education would come from raiding private schools, non-doms and economic growth, he said. In interviews, Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves indicated she would like to lower taxes for working people but only if fiscal stability was first achieved.

Labour has ruled out reversing Brexit but said it would seek a more favourable trade deal with the EU.  The CBI approved Labour plans for further devolution to “unlock the power of the UK’s regions” and attract national and international investment.

Improved workers’ rights and minimum wages tied to cost of living with an end to age bands could see wage bills rising for most British businesses.

While Starmer’s policies were broadly welcomed, he only set out clear funding plans for the fifth of the five years and for a selection of policies. 0Critics said his plans were uncosted and largely unachievable in the current economic climate.

Neither party has been clear about how they will reduce crippling national debt payments while repairing crumbling healthcare and other public services, transport links and increasing defence spending without tax rises.

Aside from the central planks of the Labour manifesto, offering hope to the regions, renewables, manufacturing around infrastructure and housebuilding, senior leadership and executives have little to go on from the manifestos in terms of strategic planning and may have to wait many months for a clear idea of new opportunities in and risks to the domestic economy and global trade.

That means continuously striving for innovation, efficiency and optimising new and disruptive technologies to ensure professional and organisational strategic growth and success in this ongoing, unpredictable and ever-changing business environment.

Responses from business organisations:

Conservative Party:

Rain Newton-Smith, CBI CEO: “Moves to reduce tax on workers and increase the number of apprenticeships are in isolation welcome – but both are areas where a more holistic approach could unlock the business investment needed to deliver the shared goal of a high productivity, high growth economy. ”

Paul Johnson, IFS Director: “The Conservatives have promised some £17bn per year of tax cuts, and a big hike in defence spending….Those are definite giveaways paid for by uncertain, unspecific and apparently victimless savings. Forgive a degree of scepticism.”

Justin Young, CEO at Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors: “1.6 million homes over the next five years … is over 300,000 new homes a year – which hasn’t been achieved since the sixties.”

Accountancy Age: “The focus on reducing administrative burdens and enhancing access to finance for SMEs is poised to support smaller businesses in navigating economic challenges and capitalising on growth opportunities.”

Helen Dickinson, Chief Executive of the British Retail Consortium: “After 14 years in government, the Conservative Party are aware of the major issues facing the retail industry. Unfortunately, this manifesto fails to take the bull by the horns. Despite previous promises to reform the broken business rates system, we continue to see empty shops around the country that have fallen prey to sky-high rates.”

Labour Party:

Paul Johnson: “This is a manifesto that promises a dizzying number of reviews and strategies to tackle some of the challenges facing the country….Labour’s manifesto offers no indication that there is a plan for where the money would come from to finance this.”

Rain Newton-Smith: “Reassurances that Labour will not increase corporation tax and will look at wholesale reform of the business rates system are especially welcome…Turning these proposals into legislation would require continued collaboration with business to understand the fine detail on how their implementation can avoid unintended consequences.”

Helen Dickinson: “The Labour manifesto includes many of the right policies to help retail invest for the future, upskill its workforce, and play its part in growing the UK economy.

“From replacing the broken business rates system, to reforming the rigid Apprenticeship Levy, Labour are promising to make changes that will have a meaningful impact to retailers and their customers.”

Promises, promises…key takeaways from the election manifestos for Executives and leadership. 

Following our overview of the key electoral policies put forward by the leading political parties, here we explore how the manifestos may affect key areas of business and different sectors.

Taxes:

Conservative Party:

• £17bn tax cuts per year by 2029/30.
• Includes a further 2p off employee National Insurance by April 2027 and end of NI for 4m self-employed.
• No income tax rises – but thresholds frozen until 2029.
• No rises on VAT, corporation tax, capital gains tax, or stamp duty land tax.

Labour Party:

• No increase to National Insurance, income tax or VAT, thresholds frozen until 2029.
• Corporation tax capped at 25% for the full term.
• £8.6bn in taxes to be raised by the end of a first term by raiding private schools, energy companies, overseas property investors and cracking down on non-doms and tax avoidance.

Workforce and skills:

Conservative Party:

• Fund 100,000 apprenticeships for young people, paid for by curbing some “poor quality” university degrees.
• Mandatory National Service – military or civic – for all 18-year-old school leavers. (Unclear how this will fit with apprenticeships.)
• Introduce “Advanced British Standard” baccalaureate-style qualification and scrap  ’levels and newly-introduced T levels. Business leaders say the constant reform of further education and qualifications makes it difficult to compare potential recruits of different ages.
• Extend free childcare for pre-schoolers from 15 to 30 hours per week, supporting working parents.

Labour Party:

• New Deal for Working People to ban exploitative zero hours contracts, enforce a living wage for all workers based on the cost of living, equal workers’ rights from day one, improve trade union access and protection.
• Remove cap on compensation for ordinary unfair dismissal, currently the lower of one year’s pay or £115,115.
• Establish Skills England to bring together business, training providers and unions with national and local government to create a highly trained workforce.
• Create 650,000 new jobs, mostly skilled, largely through public/private investment in the green economy. Open 3,000 new nurseries.
• Replace the Apprenticeship Levy with a Growth and Skills Levy, align skills provision and migration with an industrial strategy, empower regional mayors to support skills and growth

SMEs:

Conservative Party:

• Improve access to finance for SMEs including through expanding Open Finance and exploring the creation of Regional Mutual Banks
• Lift employee threshold allowing more companies to be considered medium-sized.
• Retain key tax incentives like the Enterprise Investment Scheme, Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme, Venture Capital Trusts, Business Asset Disposal Relief, Agricultural Property Relief and Business Relief.

Labour Party:

• Create a new Regulatory Innovation Office and framework to foster innovation.
• Wholescale reform of business rates to make them fairer and level playing field between smaller businesses and online giants.
• Take action on late payments
• Improve guidance and remove barriers to exporting for small businesses as well as reform procurement rules to give smaller companies greater access to government contracts. (companies with at least two of the following: less than 50 employees, max turnover of £10.2m or 5.1m max on the balance sheet)
• Reform of the British Business Bank to help SMEs access capital.

Trade:

Conservative Party

• Complete free trade agreements with India and with the Gulf Cooperation Council.
• Continue to pursue free trade agreements with countries such as Israel and Switzerland
• Agree a free trade agreement with the US ‘when they are ready to do so’.

Labour Party

• No reversal of Brexit but would seek better EU trade deal.
• Publish a trade strategy striking new free trade agreements and negotiate standalone sector deals.
• Seek a new strategic partnership with India and deepen co-operation with partners across the Gulf and emerging African markets.

Infrastructure:

Conservative Party:

• Invest £36bn in local roads, rail and buses to drive regional growth including £8.3bn to fill potholes and resurface roads
• Reverse ULEZ expansion and apply local referendums to new 20mph zones and Low Traffic Neighbourhoods.
• Nationwide gigabit broadband coverage by 2030.
• Speed up the average time it takes to sign off major infrastructure projects ‘from four years to one’.
• Rail Reform Bill to create Great British Railways, a public-private partnership with £44bn allocated to Network Rail over five years

Labour Party:

• £1.8bn to upgrade ports and build supply chains across the UK.
• Push to full gigabit and national 5G coverage by 2030.
• Great British Railways – bringing them back into public ownership
• Update national planning policy to make it easier to build laboratories, digital infrastructure, and gigafactories.
• Create a new National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority.
• Develop a ten-year infrastructure strategy aligned with industrial strategy and regional development priorities.

Construction and estate management:

Conservative Party:

• 1.6m new homes over five years (100,000 more than the 2019 pledge which hasn’t yet been possible to deliver).
• Stamp duty cut for some first time buyers.
• New Help to Buy scheme.
• Tax cuts for landlords who sell to tenants.
• Abolish legacy EU ‘nutrient neutrality’ rules to immediately unlock the building of 100,000 new homes with local consent.

Labour Party:

• 1.5m new homes over five years made easier by reformed planning laws and enforced mandatory local targets.
• Establish new towns.
• Mortgage guarantee scheme to support first-time buyers.
• Stop developers selling new flats as leaseholds.
• Retrofit 5m homes to make them energy efficient.

Finance and professional services:

Conservative Party:

• Support the City of London’s position as a leading global market through the implementation of the Mansion House reforms.
• Ensure the Basel III capital requirements do not inhibit lending to SMEs.
• £250m Invest in Women Fund to support female entrepreneurs.
• Step up fight against money laundering and dirty money; ensure all British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies adopt open registers of beneficial ownership.

Labour Party:

• Support reforms in the Financial Services and Markets Act 2023.
• Uphold the ring-fencing regime.
• Regulate the Buy Now Pay Later sector.
• Create a national financial inclusion strategy.
• Reform the British Business Bank to support growth in the regions and nations, giving SMEs greater access to capital.

Retail and services:

Conservative Party:

• Ease burden of business rates for high street, leisure and hospitality firms with a £4.3bn business rates support package over five years.
• Crack down on high street crime.

Labour Party:

• Plan for higher wage bills through minimum wage/gig economy reform.
• Business rate reform to enable high street businesses to compete with online giants.
• End £200 threshold on prosecuting shoplifters.

Manufacturing and energy:

Conservative Party:

• Invest £6bn in energy efficiency over the next three years to make around a million homes warmer.
• Look to fund an energy efficiency voucher scheme for installation of energy efficiency measures and solar panels.
• Push forward with Advanced Manufacturing Plan providing a £4.5bn commitment to secure strategic manufacturing sectors including automotive, aerospace, life sciences and clean energy.

Labour Party:

• Set up a new Great British Energy.
• National Wealth Fund aims to bring in £3 private investment for every £1 spent.
• £1.5bn to new gigafactories to support automotive industry.
• £2.5bn  to rebuild steel industry.
• £1bn to accelerate the deployment of carbon capture.
• £500m to support the manufacturing of green hydrogen.

Technology, innovation, investment and R&D:

Conservative Party:

• Increase public spending on R&D from £20bn to £22bn and maintain research and development tax reliefs
• Create more freeports.

Labour Party:

• Support development of the AI sector, remove planning barriers to new datacentres, create National Data Library.
• Scrap short funding cycles for key R&D institutions in favour of ten-year budgets.
• New Regulatory Innovation Office to speed up approval of innovative products and accelerate benefits of the AI revolution.

Lib Dems, Reform and Greens, at a glance: 

Liberal Democrats:

• Seek to rejoin the Common Market and later reverse Brexit.
• A push for net zero would see more investment in renewables and retrofitting.
• Raise income tax thresholds when economically viable.
• 3% of GDP to go into R&D by 2030
• Address labour and skills shortages through provision of lifelong vocational training in key areas including technology.
• Modernise employment rights especially around the gig economy.

Reform: 

• Lift the income tax threshold from £12,570 to £20,000.
• Slash corporation from 25% to 20% and lift the threshold to £100,000 profit.
• Scrap business rates for SMEs.
• Raise NI for “foreign” workers to 20% to encourage hiring of UK staff.
• 20% tax relief on private healthcare.

Green Party:

• Nationalise water, five big energy companies, railways.
• Four-day working week.
• 75% windfall tax on banks.
• £15ph minimum wage.
• Freeze corporation tax.
• 150,000 new social homes a year.
• Carbon tax on businesses.

Hopefully we’ve been able to provide a valuable insight into what executives and leadership can anticipate post-July 4, areas of potential growth and some food for thought for individuals to decide how much faith can be placed in some of the bolder manifesto promises.

Of course, global events will continue to have an unpredictable and profound impact on the economic landscape, especially with half the world going to the polls, a resurgence of far right politics in Europe and a possible return for Donald Trump in the US.

What will that mean for relations with China, the war in Ukraine and geopolitical stability?

For executives and senior leadership, the central message domestically is the continued political emphasis on stability and robust regulation and infrastructure support to foster growth in key areas from both leading parties. Unless we are rocked by another seismic event, we are unlikely to see any shocks to the economy or radical socio-economic reform coming from Westminster, in the foreseeable future at least. What remains to be seen is how many of these promises we can realistically afford and which the incoming government will prioritise if they cannot all be met.

In summary, Sunak continues to insist the British economy is “turning a corner”. His manifesto promises to stimulate the economy with reduced taxes and greater consumer spending power, in line with Conservative tradition.

A Labour victory would see investment and devolution of decision-making in the regions, potentially creating new opportunities for business outside London and the South East. It may also see wage bills grow and union powers enhanced.

Both parties are promising improved road and rail networks to connect the country and stronger trade deals to promote export growth.

We’ll continue to keep a close eye on any developments we think relevant to our clients both in the UK and globally and seek to help executives and senior leaders navigate this rocky landscape through staying informed and ensuring they are poised to seize new opportunities for strategic and personal growth while avoiding pitfalls and risks.

If you require support to understand how the unfolding economic and political trends will impact your personal or organisations strategic planning and direction, please contact a member of the Rialto team to discuss how our business and leadership support can help.

Rialto Consultancy and Rainbird Technologies Announce Strategic Partnership to Deliver Transformative AI-Powered Solutions

Uniting AI-powered decision intelligence and expert-guided transformation to elevate business success.

London (UK), May 22nd, 2024 – Rialto Consultancy, a leading global provider of change management, organisational transformation and multi-level employee career transition solutions, and Rainbird Technologies, the pioneering Decision Intelligence platform, today announced a strategic partnership to bring groundbreaking AI capabilities to enterprises.

This alliance combines Rainbird’s advanced, explainable AI technology with Rialto’s deep expertise in guiding organisations through complex people-oriented change initiatives. Together, the two organisations will empower clients to harness the full potential of AI to drive innovation, improve decision-making, and unlock unprecedented business outcomes through a compelling joint solution focussed on considerate AI adoption and workforce upskilling and transition priorities.

“We are thrilled to partner with Rainbird and leverage their cutting-edge decision intelligence platform,” expressed Richard Chiumento, Rialto Director. “By integrating Rainbird’s AI-powered insights and automation into our comprehensive people focussed change management solutions, we can help our clients navigate transformation with greater speed, precision and transparency.”

The partnership will focus on a joint go-to-market strategy, enabling Rialto to seamlessly incorporate Rainbird’s solutions into its portfolio of services. Clients will benefit from a unified value proposition that combines Rialto’s expertise in areas such as talent development, change communication, global career transition employee upskilling, with Rainbird’s ability to digitise human expertise, automate complex decisions and provide auditable explanations for AI-driven outcomes.

“Rialto’s deep understanding of organisational change and their proven track record of driving successful transformations make them an ideal partner for Rainbird,” emphasised Rainbird CEO, James Duez. “Together, we will empower enterprises to embrace AI-powered decision-making that is aligned with their strategic objectives and values.”

The partnership will initially focus on joint go-to-market efforts in the United Kingdom, with plans to expand into additional global markets in the future. By leveraging each other’s strengths, Rialto and Rainbird are poised to redefine the way organisations navigate change and harness the full potential of AI.

About Rialto Consultancy

Rialto Consultancy is an award-winning global provider of change management and organisational transformation solutions. With a focus on talent development, change communication, global career transition and employee upskilling, Rialto partners with enterprises to guide them through complex change initiatives and unlock their full potential.

For more information, visit https://www.rialtoconsultancy.com/.

About Rainbird

Rainbird’s revolutionary Decision Intelligence platform is transforming enterprise decision-making with trust and explainability at scale. For over a decade, Rainbird’s AI platform has enabled organisations to digitise human expertise into enhanced, yet transparent, extended knowledge graphs. Their advanced reasoning automates complex judgments at scale while providing auditable rationales behind each outcome.

For further details, explore https://www.rainbird.ai.

Press Contact

Rialto Consultancy: Justine Smith, Press@Rialtoconsultancy.com

Rainbird Technologies Ltd: Sabu Samarnath, sabu.samarnath@rainbird.ai

The prevalence of older figureheads at the top of some of the most respected and best paid professions and institutions might suggest that the younger baby boomers and older Generation X-ers have never had it so good.

The median age of the world’s national leaders is 62, 70% of UK judges are over 50 and a third over 60; the average FSE 100 chief exec is 56 and the average US equivalent six years older.

Ageism, what ageism? Some might say.

However strip away these super successful outliers and the picture looks far from rosy:

• Half of all workers will lose their jobs in their fifties, most laid off or pushed out, many feeling unable to continue due to caring commitments or health issues.
• Three quarters in the same age group will not be offered promotion opportunities in their current organisations.
• Recent research by the Centre for Ageing Better found that half of people over 50 had experienced discrimination because of their age, most in the workplace.
• More than 800,000 people aged 50-64 are out of work but would like to work.
• Finance, insurance, communications and information and professional and technical services have some of the youngest workforces, making it increasingly challenging for those even in their mid-40s to remain visible and compete for some of the most sought-after roles in those sectors.
• The big four accounting giants – Deloitte, PwC, EY and KPMG – even have an upper age limit for global leaders who are expected to retire at 60.

So how can senior leaders and executives ensure they continue to be valued and enjoy career progression well into their fifties, sixties and beyond?

Here are six ways to beat ageism and make your extensive experience and mature expertise an asset.

1: Stay tech-savvy

Ageism in the workplace may be partly based on the myth that older means old-fashioned and intimidated by the new.

However, when you consider that the average age of the CEOs of Microsoft, Amazon, Nvidia and Apple is 60, it reveals such prejudice to be reductive and ignorant.

Generative AI and other emerging technologies are here to stay and evolving at breakneck speed. It will remain a perpetual challenge to senior leadership and executives of any age to keep up – but there is an abundance of material online to help.

Whatever your sector or function, you should be considering the technological or digital dimension to every strategic decision without exception. Executives who fail to adapt and continue to use old pre-genAI tried and tested methods will find themselves sidelined and left behind.

Challenge stereotypes by learning the language of AI and other frontier and digital technologies and contributing insights at team meetings, boardrooms, networking events and in written reports.

You could start with our previous blog on Seven Steps to Transformative AI Adoption.

It is worth signing up to any in-house training and devoting time every week to reading up on the latest developments in your field as well as taking advantage of free online webinars and videos.

Helpful sites include Wired magazine, Techcrunch, Apple News and Gartner.

2: Keep your skills up to date

In order to remain relevant in today’s fast-changing economic landscape, it is essential to be aware of the skills, both technical and soft, required by employers as they look to build leadership and teams capable of grasping the potential offered by new technologies and trends.

An Ivy League or Oxbridge degree and impressive CV are no longer enough to keep executives at the top of their profession and the old idea of strong leadership and hierarchical structures of authority are making way for people-focused business, approachability, compassion and inclusive environments to encourage managed risk-taking and creativity and support good mental health in the workspace.

Aside from being confident in being able to adapt quickly to change and new technologies, organisations are looking for leaders who demonstrate agility, resilience and emotional intelligence; they must be able to collaborate, communicate and delegate effectively but also be decisive.

Look at our blog on Essential Executive Skills for 2024 for a deeper understanding of the most valued skills of the moment, how to hone them and make them visible to your current or prospective employer or organisation.

3: Refresh your CV & digital profile

Whether you are looking for an executive transition or progression or want to remain relevant in your current post, regularly re-evaluating and refreshing your CV and digital profile can help you to ensure your focus and skillsets remain aligned with the changing workplace requirements.

If you are not currently looking for a new position, imagine your dream job and seek an advert for a role as close to it as possible. What are the skills required? What keywords do they use? How could you update your own resume to fit? Use terminology to demonstrate your familiarity with current industry trends and technology.

It is a good idea to include a digital skills section, showing any software, technology and AI you currently use or any relevant strategies, programmes or campaigns in which you have been involved.

Consider using a responsive design that adapts to different devices and screen sizes. This will automatically send out the message that you are aware of the importance of user  experience and accessibility in the digital age.

You could use various LLMS /Generative AI such as ChatGPT or Microsoft Copilot to help with ideas on developing and updating your CV & LinkedIn Profile.  Even if you do not plan to proactively market yourself for executive transition or executive outplacement in the near future, keeping both current will highlight any areas for improvement and remind you of the kind of skills and mindset you need to succeed in your current and future organisation.

4: Maintain a work ethic

There is a good reason why the UK Corporate Governance Code recommends a maximum tenure limit for a board chairman to be nine years.

Even the most proficient, experienced and skilled leaders can lose their edge or their enthusiasm if they stay in the same role for too long.

The more routine a job gets, the easier it is to fall into habits and take short cuts.

After 20, 30 or 40 years of working full time, it can be tempting to start coasting towards retirement; having longer lunches, leaving a little earlier, slowing down the pace a little.

However, ennui or lack of appetite and ambition will show itself and it can be contagious. Teams need dynamic leaders who energise, motivate and inspire. Lacklustre performances are unlikely to be rewarded with promotion or progression.

If you can afford to cut down your days to gain more of a work/life balance in your later years without losing efficacy, all power to you.

But make every minute that you are in work count and continue to grow your networks and influence. Challenge stereotypes by demonstrating that you still have the energy and passion of a 25-year-old and nobody will even consider your age a factor.

See your career as a constant journey on an upwards trajectory with unlimited scope for personal growth and development, not a hump that peaks in your 40s.

Consider a career change to suit your changing needs

Of course, if you are struggling to find any joy in work and count down the minutes until the end of the day, the days til the weekend and the weekends until your next holiday, the likelihood is, you are in the wrong job.

As we learned earlier, half of all employees in their fifties are going to lose their position in that decade, so why not pre-empt it? Seize the opportunity to reset, retrain, re-pivot and reinvigorate your career.

It might be that you have health issues or caring responsibilities that make it difficult to commute, work long days and travel for extended periods or that you have drifted from your target career trajectory.

If you have reached a senior leadership or executive level, you have a wealth of experience and skills that would be valuable in any organisation; you might just need support remembering what they are and gaining the motivation and confidence to make a change.

This is where professional career support can help. Career coaches can help you understand the changing world of work and where you might fit in it, or to gain new skills to help launch you in a different role, organisation, sector or even country.

Whether you are in a secure position or seeking work, it is never too late to look for a dramatically different role that will accommodate your changing needs or satisfy long-held but frustrated ambitions.

It can be all too easy to sleepwalk into a stale and unrewarding mid-life career; to become invisible, undervalued and underpaid or to lose sight of your youthful ambition.

But with the ageing population and over 50s fitter than ever thanks to improving healthcare and changing attitudes, middle age is just a state of mind.

Staying open to continuous learning and opportunities for personal growth and progress is key to reducing an individual’s chances of falling victim to age discrimination in the workplace.  However it can happen anywhere to anyone and is far too often perpetrated by leadership from the same age group.

Everyone in the UK, the US and the EU is protected legally from ageism and can seek recourse through legal channels.

Rialto consultants can support you to revitalise or repivot your career at any age. We also run frequent complimentary online webinars on AL, Leadership, Future of Work, Portfolio Careers and other Professional Development topics.

With rising life expectancy and pension ages and a declining birth rate, the workforce is ageing gracefully.

Almost two fifths of the UK population is over 50, up from 32% in 1981, an increase of 6.8 million people. The number of over-65s is expected to surpass the under-16s across Europe this year.

Meanwhile, the lower birth rate means fewer younger people are starting work to replace the retiring bulging Baby Boomers’ generation. Unless industry catches up, the demographic timebomb will have a profound impact on society, healthcare and the economy which is why the UK government and others are encouraging employers to value and actively nurture, retain and recruit older workers.

Over 55s currently represent 25% of our workforce. Yet over-50s are far more likely to be overlooked for promotions, retraining and hiring – one in three believe they have been turned down for a job because of their age and one in five employers admit age discrimination occurs in their organisation.

As well as being illegal and risking prosecution and reputational damage, discriminating on the basis of age is a poor business strategy which could leave any organisation short on skills and with an imbalanced and unstable workforce.

Here are five ways to support older workers – and reap the rewards.

1: Offer mid-life M0Ts.

This is a pilot that has been tested by the Centre for Ageing Better with four big UK companies and it has yielded positive results.

The scheme takes a holistic look at individuals once they reach the 50 milestone.

It explores finance and pension plans, career progression, aspirations and looks at how staff can better balance work with looking after their health and their families.

The result was increased productivity, reduced absence through sickness, commitment to ongoing learning and lower attrition rates.

A fifth of older people surveyed by The Centre for Ageing Better said lack of training was a barrier to their professional development. Are employers failing to offer training or retraining to older staff because they believe it will be a waste of resources? Or that older staff no longer wish to learn or even don’t have the capacity?

In the same survey, 90% of older staff said they took training when it was offered.

Meanwhile, the US Bureau of Statistics found that 45-54-year-old employees stayed with their company twice as long as 25-34-year-olds, meaning greater ROI when investing in older staff.

Offering clear progression pathways and keeping training programmes inclusive to all ages as part of ongoing later-career support can help keep your workforce motivated and skilled in alignment with your organisation’s strategic development and growth.

2: Include age in Equality, Diversity and Inclusion training

Most firms are hot on training around race, gender and disability discrimination but age bias is the big unspoken taboo.

Training could include positive reinforcement about older workers, guidance around the law and menopause awareness.

Ensure all staff are fully aware that disparaging comments, hostility and jokes around age are as unacceptable as those around ethnicity or sexuality; create systems where such inappropriate behaviour can be safely reported and managed.

3: Create a mentoring programme

Inter-generational workforces drive greater productivity, morale, continuity and cohesiveness. Mentoring schemes help connect the generations, allow more mature and experienced staff to share their accumulated knowledge and offer trainees, interns and younger staff safe relationships in which to ask questions, test ideas and learn. They encourage younger generations to appreciate the value of their more mature colleagues and make older staff feel integral to the workplace culture and evolution. The mentor/mentee relationships can also build a sense of familial loyalty and belonging to an organisation and improve wellbeing.

4: Ensure your public face is visibly inclusive

In order to keep and attract the best talent from every age group, make sure they are all represented in written and visual communications. Keep language inclusive – avoid terms like “young” or “energetic” in job adverts. Make sure there is a broad demographic represented in any images of the company, including older men and women of all races, ethnicities and backgrounds. Ensure any potential recruit can see themself becoming part of your organisation or team.

5: Take care of workforce health and wellbeing

More than half of workers will have long-term health conditions by the time they reach 60 but this needn’t be a barrier to productivity.

Making sure they have access to programmes or groups that focus on their physical wellbeing, like lunchtime yoga or Pilates, and mental wellbeing, like meditation or mindfulness classes, could encourage a more positive relationship with work

You can keep your workforce healthier for the future by extending health services to employees of all ages. For example, being aware of ergonomic practices to prevent back pain or musculoskeletal problems and offering access to occupational health could reduce the chance of these conditions becoming chronic.

Reviewing your workplace benefits for ways to support employees’ mental, emotional, and physical health throughout their working lives could mean they enjoy a healthy, active life as they get older.

Menopause support is equally vital to help your older female workforce. Half of the population will go through the menopause, eight out of 10 during their working life. A quarter will suffer debilitating symptoms including anxiety, joint pain, hot flushes and insomnia yet three quarters say their workplace does not offer any formal support.

Too often, women suffering some of these extreme effects feel they must suffer in silence, pass over promotions, cut their working hours or leave their job. A 2023 UK survey found almost a quarter were considering quitting because work conditions had become unbearable, potentially a damaging drain of talent and experience. Companies that fail to protect the employment rights of older women suffering menopausal symptoms also leave themselves open to legal action on the grounds of gender and/or disability discrimination.

Menopause training, flexible working, cooler office spaces, wellbeing support and other health programmes can all help minimise the impact for women, remove the stigma and extend their productivity and career lifespan.

More than 2,700 UK employers have signed up to The Menopause Workplace Pledge, committing to actively provide menopause support to staff, including Tesco and NHS England.

Two thirds of employers reported a skills shortage last year, yet as we have explored here, a ready-made workforce, experienced, emotionally mature and keen to be upskilled, is available to fill those gaps.

Rialto can support employers looking to identify and fill skills shortages within their organisations and support senior employees through mid-life MoTs with personalised programmes and coaching and online seminars on subjects around leadership and new technologies.

“Storytelling is the best way we have of coming up with new ideas.” Richard Branson.

Humans have used stories to explain, entertain and connect since the dawn of time, from prehistoric man seeking to understand and therefore survive the vagaries of nature and wildlife to the highly sophisticated marketing machines of modern commerce and politics.

We are drawn to the people and entities able to tell gripping, inspiring, emotional or insightful tales. Conversely, when a story seems phoney or does not make sense, we react with suspicion or fill in the gaps ourselves.

With the deafening cacophony of noise and choices we now face from a bewildering proliferation of communication media and modes, it is more essential than ever to control the narrative: to simplify the story, stand out and connect with your target audience, whether presenting to a panel or room full of people or one to one to a future customer. Adding a human dynamic and emotional connection to all your communications will give you that elusive and powerful elixir – likeability – and make it more likely you will be remembered too.

Here are six ways to use storytelling to supercharge your career.

1: Hone your ‘tell me about yourself’ story

Life can easily become a messy and highly-pressured jumble of competing priorities, responsibilities and missed opportunities unless you take time to reflect on the past, focus on the now and imagine your desired future.

Self-possession begins with insight into what you are doing and why you are doing it. Only then can you communicate your own value, qualities and personal brand to others.

What is the story of you and how can you use it in your professional capacity?

Understanding yourself, your unique history, set of abilities, skills, weaknesses and limitations, what motivates you, how, where, when and with whom you work best, is essential in effective leadership and professional development.

Imagine you are recounting your life story to a new acquaintance or even a therapist.

Choose the five most formative events.

It might be a painful loss or a sporting achievement; the birth of your first, longed-for child or a moment of inspired enlightenment. Practice telling the story of each.

These events do not happen in a vacuum. How do they fit into the narrative of your life? What impact did they have on you? How did you respond? What did you learn? How can you incorporate these life lessons into the way you do business and present yourself?

Not only will understanding the story of your life help you make better decisions and hopefully refresh your own sense of purpose, sharing that story, showing your humanity and vulnerability, helps build genuine connections and trust.

Your experiences, challenges, and triumphs become relatable touchpoints, making you more approachable and memorable in professional interactions. These connections often translate into stronger networks and opportunities for collaboration.

2: Ensure you are memorable when networking

Consider how many people you have met throughout your professional career. Hundreds? Thousands? How many really stood out? A handful? Why did they leave such an indelible impression?

The likelihood is they were good storytellers; they spoke with vigour and enthusiasm about their subject and had you fully engaged. They will also have shown a genuine interest in you and teased your story out without coming across as too intense or intrusive.

Imagine a scenario where you are at a networking event. First you meet Norman who immediately tries to sell his multinational accounting firm to you by reeling off its many achievements and his personal qualifications.

Next up is Chief Finance Officer #2, charismatic Ameera, who asks all about you, then, when you inquire how she got into her line of work, shares animatedly how she hated maths at school until one eccentrically-exuberant teacher came along and brought numbers to life. Ameena explains how she went from having panic attacks about trigonometry to seeing its artistry and tells you how it was intrinsic in great scientific discoveries in matters as diverse as mountains, music and blood. Her enthusiasm is infectious. She apologises for droning on, but you find, to your surprise, you are genuinely interested in how there could be a single equation which describes the full history of the universe. This is someone who is clearly authentic, interesting and passionate about what she does.

With which of the two would you immediately seek to connect, professionally? Want to work for or with? Which will you remember in years to come? Who would you think to recommend if asked?

If you can tell your story in a succinct, memorable way, it will travel well: your listener becomes the storyteller and your carefully crafted reputation will precede you.

Good storytelling drives productive conversations and creates lasting connections. Funny and self-deprecating anecdotes are the fastest way to get people to drop their guard and trust the speaker.

People will remember fondly “Kwame who had us all in stitches with that story about the escaped penguin” more than they will “Joan who worked at Sony for 12 years before she was headhunted by her current firm”.

What stories could you prepare for networking events, meetings and conferences to make yourself memorable? Think back to those formative moments in your life. How can you relate them to the purpose of your networking activity? Of course, trying to shoehorn a story into a conversation could be awkward but you can almost guarantee you will be asked what you do and what got you into it or what you like about it.

Don’t prepare scripted answers as they will always seem stilted but do have some story ideas ready to go – and if you feel confident injecting humour, all the better. Try not to be heard repeating your story but do refine it as you go. There is nothing wrong with a little embellishment for entertainment’s sake, as long as you keep it credible and factually accurate.

3: Make the right impression at interviews

There is a very good reason why hirers don’t recruit from the page. A CV may tell the story of your professional history, a covering letter may explain why you want the job and believe yourself to be the best candidate.

Employers want to get a sense of the person and how they would fit into the company culture. It’s also human nature to seek a personal connection. Quite simply, they are looking for someone they like and might enjoy working with.

Interviewing panels will therefore rely on non-verbal clues and instincts as much as the bare facts of your education, experience and skills.

They will want to see evidence of your soft skills and that includes an ability to read a room and respond appropriately, communicate effectively, listen and understand what is being asked of you.

As discussed earlier, storytelling is not only a fast track to creating emotional connections, it is also strongly associated with memory. Research by the Stanford Graduate school of Business found a story is 22 times more memorable than facts alone. The human brain looks for a beginning, middle and end to make sense of new information and file it effectively.

Think again of the story of why you do what you do.

Whatever trajectory your professional development has taken to get you to this point, it is as unique as your fingerprint; it will have featured moments of clarity, periods of doubt, failures, triumphs, milestones and near-misses. Share some of that. Leave them with a strong feeling of who you are while demonstrating your adaptability, resilience and insight.

That means being authentic and self-aware. Prepare as described above. Take time to really think about the answer to: Why do you think you’re the right person for this job? If you don’t really know, how will they?

It is now standard interview etiquette to back up interview statements with evidence. It’s not enough to state that you have a growth mindset, you need to give concrete examples of where and when you have been able to demonstrate that effectively.  Prepare compelling narratives. Telling well-constructed, honest and succinct stories will impress and endure.

4: Maintain an authentic personal brand

Your career is more than just a series of job titles – it’s a narrative of growth, experience and expertise. By strategically sharing your professional journey you can shape a powerful personal brand. Crafting a clear narrative around your skills, values, and achievements helps differentiate you in a competitive market. Your story becomes your unique selling proposition, positioning you as an authority in your field and a person of integrity and purpose.

Think carefully about how you wish to be seen and try to convey this through your personal story in all public-facing profiles and communications, whether through your website, LinkedIn page or when introducing yourself at professional events and presentations. Keep it consistent and authentic.

Stakeholders, employees, professional contacts and customers and markets are more likely to respond positively if they respond emotionally to your clearly-defined purpose, even if your story is one that does not immediately chime with their own. People buy from people.

5: Enhance your leadership presence

Leadership isn’t solely about authority; it’s about inspiring and motivating others. Great leaders use storytelling to articulate vision, convey values and galvanise teams behind shared goals. Whether addressing a team meeting or delivering a keynote speech, storytelling humanises leadership, making it more inclusive and inspiring. Leaders who master this skill can cultivate a positive, relatable organisational culture.

The most transformative leaders in business are able to share what drives and inspires them in order to drive and inspire others, often drawing on an event or time in their own life.

Every career journey has its share of setbacks and challenges. Sharing stories of resilience and overcoming obstacles not only builds credibility but also inspires others. Your ability to narrate adversity and growth demonstrates your capacity to adapt and learn—an invaluable executive trait in today’s fast-paced workplaces.

Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, whose personal vision changed the way coffee is served and sold worldwide, did not need to reveal intimate personal details to explain how his humble beginnings, growing up in a poor Brooklyn housing project, fired him up to seek out possibilities in the least auspicious places.

“The more uninspiring your origins, the more likely you are to use your imagination and invent worlds where everything seems possible,” he said.

6: Share employee & team stories

Make employees feel valued and seen by sharing their stories. Single out individuals who have gone above and beyond, analyse and celebrate their success to inspire colleagues. Naming employees and sharing a few personal details humanises your workforce, fosters a sense of belonging and comradeship and builds teams.

It may be something they have done out of work – run a marathon, volunteering overseas, having triplets. Obviously first seeking permission, sharing these details and milestones makes each member of staff feel their organisation knows and cares about them and what matters to them. It builds loyalty and will ultimately be rewarded with greater staff retention.

At its core, effective storytelling is persuasive. When you weave a compelling narrative you can influence opinions, inspire action, and drive change. Whether you’re pitching a new idea, negotiating terms, or delivering a presentation, a well-crafted story can captivate your audience making your message resonate deeply. Stories bypass mere data and statistics, evoking emotional responses that can sway decisions in your favour.

Storytelling is a skill that evolves with practice. Actively seeking opportunities to share your stories refines your communication abilities over time. Pay attention to audience feedback, refine your narratives, and experiment with different storytelling techniques. The more adept you become at storytelling, the more versatile and adaptable you’ll be in various career scenarios.

Storytelling is a strategic tool for professional growth and success. By embracing storytelling, you can forge meaningful connections, influence outcomes, strengthen your personal brand, and inspire others. Behind every successful career, organisation, product and service,there’s a compelling story waiting to be told.

It goes without saying that effective management is the cornerstone of organisational success, characterised by strong leadership, strategic vision, and the ability to inspire and empower teams.

In today’s rapidly evolving landscape of technology, the integration of generative AI systems is reshaping traditional business models and management approaches. As businesses embrace these transformative technologies, leaders must adapt their management strategies to leverage the potential of AI while fostering human collaboration and innovation.

While styles may vary, underlying principles and practices consistently define effective leaders.

Here we identify four of those key attributes, qualities and strategies and review how some of recent history’s most successful business leaders have embodied them. These lessons in leadership apply as much to any FTSE or Nasdaq-listed executive as they do to senior team leaders in an SME, Government or the public sector.

1: Visionary leadership:

The alpha leadership quality, characterised by confident capability to create and communicate a clear and compelling vision for the future of an organisation. A visionary leader will demonstrate a distinct and clear sense of purpose and direction, motivating others

to support ambitious goals and innovative ideas. This leadership style extends beyond daily activities and emphasises long-term strategic planning and transformative initiatives to create a lasting impact.

Visionary leaders can be guru-like in their style but not authoritarian, creating a culture aligned with the company’s purpose, values and strategic objectives. They are forward-thinking innovators who create safe spaces to encourage creativity and experimentation without fear of failure. They anticipate future trends and can continually reposition their organisation to maintain a dynamic thrust, never resting but always re-inventing.

Think Apple over Nokia, Facebook over MySpace.

The difference? The visionary leadership of their respective founders, Apple’s Steve Jobs and Facebook’s Mark Zukerberg. Both inspired almost cult-like enthusiasm and loyalty for their products through compelling storytelling, inclusive dialogue and constant adaptation

for future markets, not current ones.

Who best embodies it? Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, SpaceX and X

He’s a Marmite leader – it’s almost impossible not to have an opinion on him. However, few could ever doubt the irrepressible force of his singular vision. And while his obsessive tendencies, eccentricities and pushing of ethical boundaries may have alienated

allies, partners and politicians along the way, he’s the second richest man in the world, continues to reshape the future of our planet and, if he has his way, will change how we live in the solar system.

Musk exemplifies effective management through his relentless pursuit of ambitious goals. His personal leadership – clear communication of vision and brand, commitment to breakthrough technologies and ability to inspire teams to work almost slavishly towards a common purpose – is the difference between Tesla and the competition.

Key takeaway: Remember what it is your company does and why you do it.

2: Strategic agility:

A decade or so ago we might have been talking about strategic ability, but in 2024, with business in a state of constant revolution thanks to the breakneck pace of technological change, strategic agility is an essential requirement for effective management.

Leadership needs to be able to respond quickly and decisively to changing market conditions, emerging opportunities, and unforeseen challenges. They must look to the horizon and anticipate trends, like a cricket batsman reading the bowler and adjusting his stance before the ball is thrown.

Executives and senior leadership need to build strategic agility into the very DNA of their organisation so they can navigate markets which are constantly shifting according to consumer preferences, regulatory changes and competitive pressures as well as emerging technologies which constantly create new opportunities and risks.

Businesses need to be able to flex and innovate, explore new ideas, markets, products and services to seize growth opportunities in dynamic environments. Only then can they outmanoeuvre slower-moving competitors.

This demands a data-driven culture where real time changes within and outside the organisation can be collected and analysed to drive future-focused decision-making.

Who best embodies it? Jeff Bezos, founder and  Executive Chairman of Amazon:

Amazon turns 30 this year and the sprawling, ubiquitous behemoth of an organisation it has become represents the singular, towering achievement of one man’s strategic agility.

In July 1994, Bezos left his finance job to open a virtual bookstore from his garage.

Without strategic agility, he might be running a bigger virtual bookstore now. However, he has spent the three decades since constantly identifying nascent trends and technologies that would become part of the very fabric of the future.

When eBay first launched he spotted its potential and launched a rival immediately. Though it flopped, he loved the concept. Instead, he diversified his online book shop into kitchen goods, building layer by layer as he recognised and seized new opportunities to expand his online marketplace, backed by new efficient ways of logistical working, some of them controversial, in his mega fulfilment centres.

Not content with running the world’s biggest retail organisation, he was an early mover into cloud computing with Amazon Web Services and expanded into streaming services and smart devices, responding adeptly to market opportunities and consumer demands.

Key takeaway: Look up and anticipate the future.

3: Empathy and inclusion:

Equal rights in the workplace have been enshrined in law in the UK since 2010 and more recently, employers have come to see the business case as well as the ethical case for quality, diversity and inclusion.

In 2024, leaders are not only expected to oversee a fair and representative organisational culture but to demonstrate authentic empathy, compassion and emotional intelligence in the way they lead. It is no longer enough to live by the letter of the law, effective leadership means getting the best out of the human workforce by personalising the experience of every individual, celebrating difference, seeing the person with their unique set of skills and flaws; making them feel valued, heard, seen and appreciated.

This paradigm of people-centric management comes against the contextual background of potentially dehumanising technology becoming increasingly integrated with every aspect of work and of the rising awareness of mental health factors and isolating hybrid or home-working culture in the aftermath of the Pandemic.

Mental health issues and disorders are so prevalent in 2024 that organisational leadership that fails to recognise and support those feeling the impact – or fear of being displaced or intimidated by new technologies – risk lower productivity and burnout, causing problems with retention and talent recruitment.

A US study found 82% of employees would leave their job for a more empathetic organisation yet 58% of CEOs told the same study they struggled to constantly show empathy at work.

Effective leadership cultivates emotional intelligence within management practices, emphasising empathy, active listening and collaboration and prioritising human connections. Empathetic leaders reject pyramid-shaped hierarchies to empower all employees to have a voice and be heard.

Who best embodies it? Tim Cook, CEO of Apple

Cook is a leader who is always seen to prioritise feelings. His gift is making his workforce feel like one big family; he exudes empathy and authenticity and encourages his staff to do the same.

He is always able to hit the right note when sending out messages to his staff in the wake of a national or global tragedy that might have touched them and constantly reinforces the Apple ethos of inclusion and diversity.

Not only does this ensure devotion from his workforce and make a job at Apple one of the most coveted, the inclusive ethos is shared with customers. Anyone who has been to an Apple store may have noticed that despite all the high-end shiny tech on show, there

is a community café-like feel.

That all translates to unrivalled brand loyalty. 92.6% of iPhone owners are loyal to Apple, compared to 74.6% of Samsung users and it has a customer retention rate of 90%.

Key takeaway: empathy demands authenticity, act through listening not copying others or it will ring hollow.

4:Data-Driven Decision-Making:

In today’s technology-led world of business, no company, no matter how big or small, can afford to make significant strategic decisions without leveraging data analytics alongside traditional human experience and expertise.

Data-driven decision-making enables organisations to gain invaluable actionable insights, based on historic and real-time information about organisational performance, trends, what the competition is doing and predictive analytics for where their sector is headed.

It enables leadership to peer into the future and prepare business models, workforce readiness and a defined yet flexible strategy to best exploit customer preference and market conditions; to streamline operations and optimise efficiency and profit margins, innovate and expand into developing markets and regions while mitigating risks.

Technology to gather and analyse data has become accessible to all, not just data scientists – and affordable.

Meanwhile generative AI tools can be employed directly by leadership to gain a perspective on current and future economic landscapes in their sector and their organisation’s place in it.

Effective leadership demands wise delegation and macro-management. However, executives and senior leadership should be using the information-crunching, analytical and creative powers of generative AI – and encouraging staff at all levels to do the same – to optimise efficiency, stimulate a culture of continuous learning and stay up to date on developments and trends in their sectors and marketplaces.

Of course, this all comes with the caveat of due diligence. Generative AI and other frontier technologies are fraught with risks including frequent inaccuracy, data protection and intellectual property issues. Every organisation should have its own policy on use of AI and training around ethics and regulation.

Who embodies it? Reed Hastings, co-founder and Executive Chair of Netflix.

Reed Hastings’ data-driven approach has transformed Netflix from a DVD rental service into a global streaming giant. By prioritising data analysis in every aspect of the business, Netflix can make informed decisions, reduce risks, and strategically allocate resources for continued growth.

Netflix was the first successful streaming service and the first to use algorithms to make personalised recommendations. It recognised that data was key to knowing its customers, on an individual basis and as a “type”, by using collaborative filters and a broader

knowledge base – and that customers who were offered more relevant, personalised content were more likely to stay subscribed.

Hastings also recognised that data could be used in every strategic decision, from content creation to global expansion. Netflix analyses every user interaction – search patterns, completion rates, where they pause, rewind or fast-forward – to improve functionality

and deliver its own content according to popular tastes and trends.

It also uses data to analyse market trends, internet penetration rates and potential subscriber demographics to identify promising new territories and look for collaborators for future projects in any part of the world.

Key takeaway: Digital literacy and an understanding of the power of data – and its risks – are now essential skills for anyone in leadership.

It is no coincidence that the individuals we have chosen to exemplify effective leadership are all tech innovators. This is the industry leading the way in management styles, growth and value.

While those styles may look different and even clash – Musk and Cook, for example, would probably not be able to run a successful corner shop together – the fundamentals of effective leadership are the same, whatever industry and in any organisation. Though of course priorities will change according to region, sector, the broader socio-economic and political landscape and the general zeitgeist.

All leaders – no matter how successful – need to take time to actively evaluate their own effectiveness and look for areas where they can build new skill sets and expertise to evolve, adapt and stay ahead of the competition.