Where has leadership gone?
Leadership without conviction around values is just an exercise in conformity.
Real Talk from an Executive Dinner on Today's Leadership Crisis
At a recent executive dinner we hosted in Chicago with guests from across Fortune 500, education, arts and technology, we wrestled with a question that's keeping many of us up at night: Where has the leadership gone? As folks who live and breathe HR and learning development, we've got front-row seats to what's unfolding, and frankly, what we're seeing isn't always pretty.
Granted, we are living in a period of unprecedented volatility. It’s hard to know what variables to account for, and the stakes are high. New sweeping government regulations along with punitive economic measures is…a lot. It’s a tough time to be leaders. But around the table what we were witnessing is a greater level of conformity, cowardice and the ostrich-effect: leaders buying their heads in the sand and claiming it’s about the bottom line. We can do better.
When Values Are Just Wall Decorations
You know those framed values statements hanging in your office? Turns out they can actually be useful—if leaders actually use them! The best leaders we've seen pull those values off the wall when making tough calls. They can compass when the path gets murky, and they can hold us accountable when we get so profit focused that we forget we’re supposed to be serving people.
But here's the thing—there's often this massive disconnect between what's on the wall and what's happening in meetings. And you better believe your teams notice. They see the gap between those inspirational posters and the decisions that are being made, or they lack the context and transparency needed to understand what trade-offs are being made and why. And in the absence of a clear story well-articulated by leadership, people will make up their own stories.
In order to ensure the values are doing their work, we must:
Clearly articulate organizational values so that everyone understands what each word means. What do you mean when you say “integrity” or that you want to “do good”?
Secure genuine buy-in from all stakeholders. This may take time, and can be accelerated when your stakeholders get to witness values-in-action, so…
Operationalize your values in day-to-day decision making in a way that is visible to everyone.
We are operating in a tremendous environment of fear at the moment, and it can be easy to abandon values (which take bravery, integrity and risk to maintain) assuming that they can be sacrificed for the bottom line. But we know that this is short term thinking and rarely has long-term benefits. It can feel like we are operating in an all-or-nothing environment, but there is a middle path—if we're brave enough to walk it.
We're Training Leaders Too Late
A culture of fear breeds compliance, not innovation. For innovation you have to be able to take big swings and fail. So, how might we create safe spaces where future leaders can mess up, learn, and grow together? It’s an investment, to be sure.
One of our dinner guests said it very clearly: we’re offering leadership training too late. By the time someone gets that "leader" title, they've already formed habits that are tough to break. Sure, hitting quarterly numbers gets attention—but shouldn't we be developing leadership muscles way before someone gets promoted? At the moment, most organizations are practicing “trickle down training” - offering training to mostly senior level leaders and expecting them to develop their direct-reports. As spans of control have been increasing, this is not only ineffective, but will burn out your leaders before they’ve even hit their stride.
When we’re facing so much volatility, the easiest move is to shorten the horizon and obsess over the bottom line (though good luck predicting that these days). Many orgs starts by cutting the kind of development, support and training that makes for long-term, brand-loving teams. Let's call that what it is: that's not leadership—that's survival mode. And employees, customers and citizens are making it very clear with their time, energy and dollars that they’re looking for brave and visionary companies, not complicit ones.
The Power Problem No One's Talking About
"Relationships are a two-way street," one of our dinner guests, a very senior learning leader, likes to remind her teams. Leaders will talk a lot about “empowering” but often have very little vocabulary around the types of power, how to share power, weild power responsibly and really take possession of one’s own agency.
One of our guests wondered if we've made power into such a dirty word that many leaders are afraid to actually lead. The result? Something one dinner guest brilliantly called "power ooze"—where strategic problems seep down to everyone, but nobody feels empowered to actually solve them.
On the flip side, we're seeing a lot of "woe is me" behavior that makes collaborative work nearly impossible. We desperately need better conversations about power—both how to use it responsibly and how to claim your voice even when you're not the boss.
Simple Stuff That Actually Works
Let's get practical for a minute. Some of the most powerful tools we shared weren't complicated at all:
Why not celebrate the failed attempt that taught everyone something new? Make it an award you give out to people and teams!
Try asking team members and direct reports, "What do you think?" And then—this is key—actually shut up and listen.
Start your meetings with a quick Red/Yellow/Green temperature check. You might be surprised how much emotional baggage people are carrying into that budget review.
My favorite insight of the night? "Emotions lead to motion." Dry data might inform, but it's stories that get people moving.
So What Now?
This leadership drought we're experiencing? It's not inevitable. It's not even permanent. As HR and learning pros, we're in the perfect position to turn things around. We can nurture leaders who make decisions based on values, who understand how to use power as a tool rather than a weapon, and who create spaces where both success and failure drive growth.
I'm curious—what leadership gaps are you seeing in your world? What simple tactics have made a difference? Drop your thoughts in the comments—this is a conversation we need to keep having.
