HOW LEADERSHIP EXPERTS SEE THE FUTURE OF WORK AND BUSINESS TRENDS CHANGING IN 2024 AND 2025

From what leadership experts are saying, much is changing across the world of enterprises and non-profits. What does the future of management look like as we enter 2024, 2025 and beyond, however? Putting the question to the field’s most seasoned leadership experts, it becomes clear that executives will need to navigate increased complexity in business, technology, and globalization. While challenging, consulting futurists see this accelerating pace of change as an opportunity to strengthen organizational resilience.

To that extent, it bears noting that a multitude of leadership experts predict decentralized, cross-functional teams will become more mainstream. As younger digital native employees enter the workforce, companies will shift from rigid hierarchies to fluid networks where skills, data insights, and ideas can be more readily shared. For instance, one leading voice in the space argues that the right people paired with good ideas can drive an organization forward fast, and that leaders should invite input from all levels. He advises developing what he calls a “Culture of Disciplined People Who Engage in Disciplined Thought and Take Disciplined Action.”

The industry’s most accomplished leadership experts also expect stakeholder demands around sustainability and social impact will intensify. In a recent Global Leadership Forecast, Chief Research Officer at Development Dimensions International (DDI), Tacy Byham, Ph.D. found that nearly 80 percent of leaders surveyed reported being pressured to take action on environmental and social issues. Byham suggests integrating green operations and product lines while ensuring diversity, equity, and inclusion in internal strategies. Leadership expert and Wharton Professor Stephanie Creary notes that talking about values will not suffice – leaders must back words with demonstrable action.

As technology continues advancing at warp speed, top consulting pros further emphasize the acute need for AI governance and ethics skills. Author of Human/Machine and leadership expert John Havens observes that bias embedded within algorithms and automated systems already negatively and disproportionately affect marginalized groups in society. Havens argues leaders should mandate ethics training and perform impact assessments on technologies before deploying them at scale in business.

Put the pieces together and what you discover is that leadership experts stress that leaders should embody agility, empathy, cultural awareness, systems thinking and a commitment to lifelong learning in our age of complexity and volatility. Former CEO and C-suite advisor Margaret Heffernan puts it this way: “The mechanical model of business is largely exhausted because markets, customers, supplies and politics are inherently unpredictable. Leadership means embracing uncertainty as the new normal.”