Future Leadership Skills That Are Essential for the Future

It may be hard to think about the future when the present is so challenging, but in times of great change and uncertainty, it’s more important than ever to stay several steps ahead in your preparation.

These are the skills you should be cultivating now to be successful as a leader for the future.

Building of transparency and trust

Leaders of the future will need to be fully authentic and transparent. Even when the news is bad, people want to know what’s really happening. In an era when trust will be crucial, leaders who are consistently open and genuine, regardless of the circumstances, will engender that trust.

Positive attitude toward change

Leaders of the future will need to be optimistic by nature and positive about change because everything around us is likely to remain uncertain and complex for some time to come. Leaders won’t have the luxury of allowing themselves to become overwhelmed or immobilized; they must maintain an optimistic mindset as things around them remain unsure.

The flexibility that embraces ambiguity

Leaders of the future will need to be agile and flexible — able to create quickly, risk passionately, pivot immediately, and move on from failures, taking in the lessons of each experience in order to keep moving forward. The future will bring ambiguity, and the best teachers will be creation, risk, failure, and experience.