I. Executive Summary
This report synthesises the roundtable discussion “Rethinking Tomorrow’s Leaders”, which critically examined the attributes of purpose-driven leadership, proposed reimagined approaches to leadership development, and outlined concrete actions for cultivating future leaders. The session aimed to identify global challenges and co-create strategies to transform organisational and educational practices towards a more ethical and sustainable future.
A strong consensus was established that traditional, command-and-control leadership models are obsolete. The emerging leader paradigm necessitates individuals who are purpose-driven, human-centric, and highly adaptive. As technological advancements, notably AI, increasingly automate technical proficiencies (“hard skills”), the focus must pivot to irreplaceable social competencies (“soft skills”), such as empathy, negotiation, and intellectual curiosity. A key challenge identified across all sectors is the delicate equilibrium required to reconcile altruism and social responsibility with commercial productivity and profit generation.
To cultivate this new generation of leaders, the discussion centred on strategies for transforming education and organisational structures. A primary finding highlights the necessity for developmental interventions to commence at the primary stage, ensuring that sustainability concepts are embedded early. This initial foundation must be complemented by a shift towards experiential, project-based learning, providing young professionals with real-world context and immediate vocational impact. This hands-on approach, reinforced by dedicated mentorship and cross-sector collaboration among industry, academia, and social enterprises, is deemed essential for capacity building across the entire organisation.
In conclusion, participants established practical commitments focused on reducing intergenerational disparities, decentralising organisational structures, and ensuring emerging talent is afforded autonomy and clear vocational purpose, thereby fostering a more inclusive, ethical, and sustainable professional landscape.
II. Session Objectives
The session was designed to address the opportunities and challenges driving the contemporary demand for sustainable, socially responsible leadership. Key objectives included:
- To identify the global challenges and opportunities necessitating sustainable and socially responsible leadership, and to explore the values, mindsets, and competencies essential for developing purpose-driven leaders capable of creating substantial business and societal impact
- To co-create strategies aimed at transforming leadership education and organisational practices to foster a more inclusive, ethical, and sustainable future.
- To discuss individual and collective commitments and identify opportunities for collaboration and follow-up engagement that support the development of future leaders.
III. Leadership Qualities for a Sustainable Future
Sustainable leadership in the 21st century requires more than technical expertise — it demands adaptability, empathy, and ethical foresight. As societies confront accelerating technological disruption, widening generational gaps, and intensifying sustainability challenges, the profile of an effective leader must evolve accordingly. This section outlines the essential qualities that future leaders must cultivate to navigate complexity, drive innovation responsibly, and uphold social and environmental accountability.
The core discussion defined the traits needed to manage technological disruption, generational differences, and sustainability challenges:
Adaptability and Dynamical Thinking
Leaders must possess an adaptive and dynamic cognitive framework due to the rapid pace of global change. It is critical to assimilate global evolution and maintain the foresight necessary to anticipate future trends. The capacity for constant adaptation is paramount for effective leadership.
Empathy and People-Centricity: Effective leaders must operate with empathy and maintain a people-oriented focus. This includes proactively addressing team dissatisfaction regarding issues such as lack of autonomy and the need for flexible work arrangements. This represents a shift towards a “human-centric” approach where the conventional workplace hierarchy is diminishing.
AI Acumen and Ethical Use: Future leaders must secure a comprehensive understanding and ethical application of Artificial Intelligence (AI). They must mitigate potential misuse of AI and acknowledge that AI cannot supersede essential human qualities.
Balancing Profit and Responsibility: Leadership necessitates balancing commercial performance with environmental and social responsibility. This is conceptualised as reconciling fiduciary responsibility to shareholders with broader ethical responsibility to society as a whole.
Social Competencies and Resilience: As AI absorbs technical expertise, leaders must prioritise social skills (“soft skills”) such as negotiation, curiosity, empathy, and collegiality. They are also required to exhibit robust resilience under pressure and be capable of integrating external viewpoints without compromising core beliefs.
Intergenerational Understanding: Leaders must be grounded and willing to comprehend the digital tools and social trends utilised by Generation Z. Thisgeneration seeks professional growth and purpose, demanding clarity regarding the rationale (“Why”) underpinning their tasks.
IV. Reimagining Leadership Development
Sustainable leadership in the 21st century requires more than technical expertise — it demands adaptability, empathy, and ethical foresight. As societies confront accelerating technological disruption, widening generational gaps, and intensifying sustainability challenges, the profile of an effective leader must evolve accordingly. This section outlines the essential qualities that future leaders must cultivate to navigate complexity, drive innovation responsibly, and uphold social and environmental accountability.
The core discussion defined the traits needed to manage technological disruption, generational differences, and sustainability challenges:
Early, Experiential Learning: Leadership capacity building must commence early. Early exposure at the Primary Stage is critical for instilling fundamental sustainability concepts. Students require a greater volume of hands-on projects to gain real-world experience, moving beyond reliance on traditional internships.
Project-Based Learning (PBL): PBL is essential for students to acquire practicalexperience and observe the immediate impact of their learning. This methodology involves creating self-directed and independent projects for junior staff, which provides hands-on work experience and explicitly communicates that making mistakes is not an intrinsic fault.
Mentorship and Coaching: The apprenticeship model—where knowledge and ethos are passed from seniors to juniors—is prevalent in sectors like healthcare and should be promoted universally. Senior professionals should function as a trustworthy partner, offering support and guidance to juniors.
Cross-Sector Collaboration: Industry, academia, and social enterprises are required to collaborate to facilitate youth development. Exposure to diverse professional backgrounds and sectors is vital to prevent leaders from developing tunnel vision or becoming isolated in “high-level bubbles”.
Focus on Empowerment: Development must emphasise empowerment and collective advocacy. Companies should increase the availability of internship opportunities earlier in the academic cycle, for instance, starting from the freshers’ year, as a measure to identify potential.
Information Literacy: Information literacy should be formally institutionalised as a subject to equip youth with the critical thinking skills necessary to discern between credible and unreliable information, advertisements, and automated bots.
V. Action & Commitment
Participants outlined tangible, actionable commitments for current leaders and educators to support the development of future talent, structured around five core areas:
Key Actions
The final segment transitioned into tangible commitments and action items for immediate implementation, built around five core areas.
Educational Integration: Participants committed to embedding sustainability concepts across all stages of education. This involves establishing awareness in primary education about sustainability and fostering interest in secondary education with more engaging content. At the tertiary level, students should be guided towards actionable engagement through project-based learning, industry partnerships, and real-world problem solving.Educational programmes should incorporate elements of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) or emphasise the importance of social impact in the curriculum.
Mentorship and Value Discovery: Corporations emphasised the necessity of mentorship to assist emerging leaders in clarifying their personal values and effectively applying knowledge. Practical training opportunities, such as internships and project-based work, were regarded as crucial for bridging the theory-practice gap. This is supported by a “junior-care” approach that prioritises mentorship and support, taking time to understand each junior’s unique qualities and actively nurturing that potential. Furthermore, the “pass it on” apprenticeship spirit should be promoted across all sectors.
Intergenerational Collaboration: Intergenerational Collaboration: To mitigate generational divides, participants pledged to encourage dialogue and cooperation across age groups. A key commitment was to build communities and bridge the gap between individuals of diverse ages and backgrounds from the bottom up. This involves linking Year 1 university students with recent graduates, and university students with secondary students, to fostermutual understanding. Ultimately, prioritising human resources and networking was deemedthe most critical resource.
Structural and Organisational Changes: Leaders underscored the importance of transitioning towards flatter, more inclusive structures that empower talent, promote autonomy, and enhance decision-making. The commitment is to flatten the organisation, shifting the operational paradigm away from hierarchy toward one defined by its openness and collaborative dialogues. Leaders must also promote the use of data in decision-making. Allowing staff to take risks and giving young workers the autonomy to set their own KPIs is deemed crucial.
Cross-Sector Connectivity: Finally, there was a strong commitment to establishing linkages among academia, industry, and social enterprises. This necessitates convening different stakeholders together to discuss. Cross-sector collaboration is required to enhance the connectivity of sustainability issues. This collaborative dynamic can be leveraged through “co-creation” between the board and junior staff to unlock exponential growth and innovation.
V. Conclusion
The conference successfully provided a robust conceptual framework for addressing the complexities of leadership in a sustainable era. The collective insights unequivocally confirm that the future of leadership is not defined by command and control but by openness, collaboration, and purpose.
The most critical strategic investment must be directed toward early, experiential education and cultivating a culture of empathy-driven mentorship. By reforming curricula, embracing hands-on projects, and actively encouraging multi-generational interaction, institutions can develop leaders who possess not only technical competence but also the resilience, ethical core, and critical thinking skills necessary to navigate the complexities of AI and global sustainability issues. The commitments established by participants—from decentralising organisational structures to prioritising human connection—represent tangible steps toward transforming the current environment into one that organically nurtures the ethical, adaptable, and purpose-driven leaders of tomorrow. The ultimate goal is to foster a society where businesses prioritise social value alongside economic profit, thereby ensuring a sustainable and inclusive future.