Leadership for our times: Build on the past to create a better future

A version of this article originally appeared on the Forbes website.

The Middle East is in turmoil, while Ukraine and Russia are in the third year of war. Populations everywhere are ageing, upending longstanding economic models. Stresses on the natural environment are intensifying. New technologies, such as generative artificial intelligence, are making inroads, even as more than 750 million people lack basic literacy. In too many places, women remain second-class citizens.

In short, the world has problems. In its most recent Global Risks Report, the World Economic Forum diagnosed “a predominantly negative outlook for the world over the next two years that is expected to worsen over the next decade”.

In a bid to change this trajectory, good leaders will need to step up to help navigate these turbulent times, and a new generation of leaders will need to be prepared to step in.

The World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leaders initiative brings together a global network of individuals who can learn from each other and work together to make the world a better place (participants are aged 40 or younger when they join). It seeks to accelerate the impact of a diverse community of responsible leaders across borders and sectors to shape a more inclusive and sustainable future.

One question the members of the Forum of Young Global Forum ask themselves is: What qualities do we need to embrace to become the leaders the world sorely needs?

There have been many views throughout history as to what makes a great leader. Some examples:

"A leader is best when people barely know he exists. When is work is done, his aim is fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves" – Lao Tzu, Chinese philosopher

"A genuine leader is a not searcher for consensus, but a molder of consensus" – Martin Luther King Jr, US civil rights leader

"Leaders take the front line when there is danger" – Nelson Mandela, first freely-elected president of South Africa

All three statements, made by leaders from very different places and eras, are as relevant now as when they were first uttered, highlighting that while the problems of the world change, the basic principles of leadership do not.

Great leaders know where they want to go and bring others along. They learn from experience. They set – and demonstrate – high standards of integrity and accountability. They delegate well. When they see a problem, they offer a solution. They inspire confidence. They cut their losses. They serve.

These standards will still be pertinent to the world that the Young Global Leaders, and others, will continue to shape. That said, some aspects of leadership have greater weight now than in the past. For example, with globalization and technological innovation rapidly changing the workplace, it is more important than ever for business leaders to be adaptable. That characteristic implies a willingness to change one’s mind and to be open to ideas, wherever and whomever they come from.

Accordingly, the best business leaders today accept that they can’t know everything and are comfortable with that ambiguity. They excel at working with a wide variety of stakeholders. Of course, they must make difficult decisions, but before that they are conveners and motivators when working to find solutions.

In addition, today’s leaders need to be more empathetic. Because the pace of technological change is so fast, the human dimension of leadership looms ever larger. Nissan CEO Makoto Uchida sums it up this way: “You have to lead by the heart and not just by the head.”

In their recent book, The Journey of Leadership: CEOs Learn to Lead from the Inside Out, four McKinsey authors call this “leading from the inside out”, and argue that this skill begins with profound self-knowledge. Good leadership, they say, is about balancing their hard-nosed business skills with soft-leadership skills, which are sometimes the most difficult to muster and often a far cry from management styles of previous eras.

Leadership in the 21^st century leadership (and beyond) has a sense of purpose; it knows that making a positive difference goes beyond making the numbers and requires a sincere commitment to improving the lives and livelihoods of people and to restoring the health of the planet.

It identifies pressing problems that might have been overlooked before, and then devises innovative ways to address them. This is where many Young Global Leaders are already showing impressive results.

Female empowerment and the digital divide, for example, are both relatively new concepts. But this is where Young Global Leader and British-French-Senegalese social entrepreneur, Lady Mariéme Jamme, is directing her energy. Having launched iamtheCODE in 2016, her work uplifts women and girls globally by teaching them critical coding skills – addressing both female empowerment and the digital divide.

Jamme's initiative not only promotes digital literacy but also equips women with essential life and human skills. Collaborating with governments, multinationals, and universities, she has empowered more than 80,000 girls and women across 84 countries. Her efforts reflect her commitment to ensuring that women have the tools and opportunities to thrive in the digital age, tackling two key issues — gender equity and access to technology — at once.

Or consider competitive sport, which is increasingly getting more accessible to people with disabilities. Young Global Leader Birgit Skarstein of Norway is a Paralympic gold medallist, competing in both cross-country skiing and rowing.

As a member of the International Paralympic Committee’s Athletes’ Council, she uses her leadership skills to support the development of athletic opportunities and to advocate for the rights of her fellow athletes as well as working for a more inclusive society. As an ambassador with Right to Play, she also helps to bring the power of play, including sport, to children living in difficult circumstances.

Some consider dance an unconventional leadership tool, but Ahmad Joudeh, a fellow Young Global Leader and a stateless refugee from Syrian who became a Dutch citizen in 2021, demonstrates its potential. He has created a distinctive signature choreography that merges Western styles and classical Arabic dance, using his art to foster cultural connections.

2024 marks 20 years since the formation of the Forum of Young Global Leaders. Today it comprises some 1,400 people from more than 125 countries, many of whom recently attended the group’s annual meeting in Singapore.

As the examples above and many more highlight, Young Global Leaders showcase how the timeless principles of leadership can be adapted to the specific challenges of our times to build a fairer, kinder and more inclusive world – and this is as important now as ever.

Ida Jeng Christensen is head of the Forum of Young Global Leaders, Raju Narisetti is Leader, Global Publishing, at McKinsey & Company and a Young Global Leader alumnus.