A leadership survey has been conducted by the executive search firm Odgers Berndtson and Harvard Business Review Analytic Services in 2020. The study surveyed nearly 2000 global executives and senior managers representing companies with revenue ranging from 50 million dollars to over 5 billion dollars. The key findings of the research study are as under:

• About 95% of senior executives believe that managing disruption well is vital to the success of the organization. However, 85% of them lack confidence in their own leadership.


• In this respect, the study defined disruption as a force which can unsettle an organization by challenging its operational capabilities such as:
  
  
  1. Emerging technology
  
  
  2. Unexpected competition
  
  
  3. Effect of climate change
  
  
  4. Regulatory oversight
  
  
  5. Innovative business models
  
  
  6. Rising customer expectations
  
  
  7. Shifting demographics
  
  
   
• Further, only 15% of the senior executives are confident that their leaders can bring long-term success during increasingly disruptive forces. Almost one-fourth of the executives surveyed exhibited very low confidence. Also, about 88% of the leaders believe that challenges relating to stakeholder’s expectations, technological, environmental, and political uncertainty will increase over the next 5 years.


• Top drivers of disruption are advances in technology (62%) and changing customer expectations (54%). However, only 16% of senior managers believe that current disruptions are managed well. Further, the least confident organizations face more resistance to change.


• In progressive organizations, leadership is more focused on moving the strategy at an accelerated pace. However, this requires constant adaptability, driving growth, and showing resilience to stay on course.


• It is found in the survey that successful leaders are more in tune with their colleagues. In today’s time, prioritizing talent is imperative. However, executives show less confidence in a leader’s abilities to prioritize talent. Therefore, the leaders are also not confident that organizations are properly managing the talent agenda.


• Further, even confident organizations face challenges, which are:
  
  
  1. Shrinking pool of qualified leaders
  
  
  2. Organization’s reputation
  
  
  3. Unattractive compensation
  
  
   


• However, confident executives exude more trust in their leadership and 93% of them are of the view that leadership is purpose-driven and 88% say they are visionary.


• In this study, qualities such as strategic thinking, resilience, and adaptability score more highly than digital acumen, analytic skills, and the ability to operationalize transformation. Today’s leaders are valued more for their curiosity, courage, and emotional intelligence, the personality traits that were not very much appreciated a decade ago.


• Also, the study advises that organizations, which are not confident that they will thrive in the face of disruption need to look at the confident organizations to learn how they are managing it. They need to hire and develop leaders who can deliver both in the present and future, have the potential and adaptability to steer the organization on a sustained growth path.


• The leadership survey has offered an invaluable insight into the workable possibilities to initiate change. They are briefly discussed as below:
  
  
  1. Adapt or die – The leaders must recognize that the only way to succeed in the present environment is to make a sustained effort and being open to change.
  
  
  2. Prioritize talent – The leaders need to attract and retain talent by exhibiting their vision for the organization, the purpose it fulfills, and the strategy which leads the organization to that point.
  
  
  3. The organization should reinvent the definition of good leadership – The present situation demands leaders to show more humility and accept that they don’t know answers to all the questions. Leaders require the potential for learning and self-growth; they must combine their drive with resilience but also adaptability.
  
  
   

To summarise, the important learning emerging from the study is as under:

1. The majority of the respondents believe that the CEO has the most important role to play. However, about 40% believe that CEOs may not be able to deliver considering the future uncertainties.


2. The study has highlighted that the major quality that leaders require is humility.


3. In present-day crisis, humble leaders or leaders having higher EQ have better chances of success than the leaders practicing the old autocratic style of leadership.


4. The results of the study also revealed that the level of confidence in leadership is tentative across all geographical regions.


5. However, a difference of opinion has been observed with regard to the top challenges faced by management while managing disruption in an effective manner.

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