Editor’s Note

Happy New Year! Welcome to the January issue of Leadership Excellence.

The year 2020 will be remembered for Covid-19 and will be marked in the history as a year that brought in disruptions to the extent no one imagined. Work, workforce and workplace has been transformed and leaders had it tough. Managing the workforce during the crisis was an ultimate test of leadership and a great learning curve for leaders. Many of the leadership skills that leaders honed over the years are out the window and new skills are in. In this new age, there’s a growing movement to apply agile principles to leadership and organizational development. Eager to learn about the leadership trends of 2021 that will help leaders bounce back with confidence and help sustain organizational success? This first edition of the year is all about that!

Check out our Top Trends segment, where we have complied trends shared by eminent leaders and leadership experts on what leaders can do to prepare for the changes ahead.

The cover story of this issue, Shifting Your Approach To Leadership by Ken Cooper talks about the new skills leaders have to master to lead effectively. The article focuses on how to become more leaderly in this decidedly unleaderlike environment.

Jim Clemmer’s article, Thrive In Turbulent Times With Agile Leadership puts forth a few steps for leading in a new age. Developing Future-Ready Leaders by Ryan Gottfredson is all about focusing on vertical development. 

Regardless of what the future holds, increasingly leaders need to be socially-minded, data-driven, decisive, champions of talent, and disruptors. Read Jonathan H. Westover’s article, Core Leadership Capabilities For The Future of Work for more insights.

Are you looking to connect with today’s top HR leaders and executives from all over the world? Do you want to learn new strategies and diverse tools to inspire and challenge the people, teams, and stakeholders in your organization that optimizes the human experience? Do not miss the Human Experience Summit 2021 by HR.com, a unique 2-day event on February 17 – 18, 2021 that will propel inspiring and passionate HR leaders around the world to go beyond the employee experience. The 38th annual LEAD Award winners will also be announced at the virtual awards ceremony on February 18. 

The year 2020 has proved that agile leadership is the need of the hour. Hence, leaders need to be aware of the trends that will dominate the business landscape in 2021 and beyond.  We hope you enjoy reading all the articles in this issue that offer leadership lessons relevant for the year ahead.

Last but not least, we believe that there is no better way to connect with people than by sharing your leadership story. If you have one, send it to us.  

Happy Reading!