Today, leaders are operating in a business environment defined by ongoing, compounding disruption. The rapid ascension of AI, evolving workforce expectations, geopolitical risk, and strong economic forces are shifting at once, not in sequence.
In this kind of environment, organizations don’t need managers of change. They need leaders of it.
A 2024 global leadership development study by Harvard Business Publishing revealed that 70% of surveyed organizations consider it important or very important for executives to master a wider range of effective leadership behaviors to navigate ongoing transformations. This isn’t about more leadership—it’s about better leadership that’s equipped to sustain the change. Companies know their future depends on leaders who can stretch, adapt, and connect more effectively than ever before.
CEOs also know that change leadership is not a side task. It is the job of the C-suite in service of enabling high-performing teams. Moreover, it’s one that can’t be delegated, automated, or put off until the dust settles—because it never settles. The organizations that will thrive in the next five years are already being shaped by the leadership decisions made today. The question isn’t whether change is coming. The question is: will your team be ready to lead it?
As executive teams consider how to lead more effectively in this environment, three areas of focus can help guide next steps:
1. Lead with greater intention and focus
Major change initiatives have the potential to collapse under their own weight—not because they’re the wrong ideas, but because they lack focus. Cited by a January 2025 article in MIT Sloan Management Review, the 2025 AI & Data Leadership Executive Benchmark Survey noted 92% of data and AI leaders identified cultural and change management challenges as the main obstacles to becoming data- and AI-driven organizations. In that sense, change leadership is a make-or-break competency.
Relatedly, periods of disruption require leaders to re-enter parts of the business they may have stepped back from previously. This is not about control. It is about regaining proximity to the decisions that matter and ensuring they reflect the current context.
As our colleague Stephen Miles, CEO of TMG, writes in Forbes, even the most experienced leaders must shift into “manual mode” during periods of instability. Operating in manual mode means taking a more deliberate and hands-on approach to decision-making. Leaders slow the pace, revisit key assumptions, and engage more directly with the critical tradeoffs at hand. It is a temporary but focused shift toward greater involvement, intended to raise the quality of thinking and sharpen alignment during periods of uncertainty.
2. Keep developing leaders to support high-performing teams
Most executives agree that leadership development is important. Few treat it as essential infrastructure. In moments of pressure—like now—it’s easy to push aside development, coaching, or reflection. Yet, if organizations don’t invest time developing leaders, companies lose the opportunity to develop high-performing teams.
By its nature, all change strains organizational systems. When change is designed – a business transformation to better serve customers or adopt AI – these strains are anticipated and planned. Yet, change can also expose misaligned priorities. The only real way to prepare for that is to develop leaders at all levels who know how to communicate, make decisions, and align others-especially under pressure. High-performing leaders treat leadership development as a part of a mission-critical system – particularly important during times of compounding change.
3. Recalibrate, then communicate.
Effective communication starts with strategic clarity. In periods of major change or volatility, there is often pressure to respond quickly, usually through messaging. But message discipline alone does not create alignment. High-performing leadership teams should start by stepping back and assessing: Are our assumptions still valid? Are we focused on the right objectives, given the current environment?
Once strategic priorities are clear, communication becomes a force multiplier. Importantly, communication during change isn’t a monologue. It’s a continuous loop of clarity and feedback. It aligns the organization around current realities, not outdated plans, and enables teams to execute with greater confidence and speed.
In an AI-powered, always-on, rapidly shifting business landscape, it’s easy to assume that speed and scale come from better tools. Yet the truth is, humans still scale leadership–not software, strategy decks, or organizational charts. Leading change well today means asking yourself key questions: Am I helping my teams grow? Am I showing up with clarity and consistency? Am I choosing what matters and staying on it?
How we lead today shapes how ready our organizations will be for tomorrow. There is no playbook for what comes next but the principles are clear: stay responsive and focused, communicate thoughtfully, and invest in the systems that help people perform under pressure. Perhaps the most enduring insight: change isn’t something we react to. It’s something we learn to lead.