16 Jan WHICH IS MORE IMPORTANT IN LEADERSHIP? WHAT OR HOW?
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It’s January, and you might be considering what you will focus on this year.
It’s a typical process for people to plan. To choose what to focus on in the next 6 or 12 months. To decide what you will work on, and what you will achieve. To decide what your priorities and goals are. To determine what KPIs and other measures of performance will be.
Yet, there is more to leadership than this. We all recognise that we live in a time of rapid evolution. The increasing complexity of our environment. The rise of technology in our work and world. And so, the role of leadership continues to evolve.
What is it to be a leader right now?
What do our people want and need from us?
The expectations of leadership are evolving. As technology is increasingly prevalent and being leveraged in spaces unseen before, people want their leaders to be human. Check out this 2025 research from Gallup’s Global Leadership Report: What Followers Want.
In all the conversations I’m having with senior leaders now, their challenges and opportunities in leadership are related to people. As they say, there are only 2 challenges in business, selling and people.
To be an effective leader is to recognise the importance of humanity in leadership and to embrace it. To understand that people are seeking hope, connection and communication, visibility, collaboration and trust. These are the things that bring out the best in your people and in you as a leader.
To handle yourself, use your head; to handle others, use your heart.
Eleanor Roosevelt
So, as well as asking ‘what’ you will do this year, perhaps another question to consider is ‘how you will lead’.
- How will you show up?
- How will you be present?
- How will you communicate?
- How will you build relationships?
- How will you engage your people?
- How will you be visible?
- How will you role model?
- How will you lead?
I’d love to know your thoughts.
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