Developing Future Leaders

No retail background. No fashion experience. She was head of HR. Now? She leads Chanel. Leena Nair’s path to the top wasn’t traditional. But it’s exactly what makes her leadership so powerful. Here’s how she’s redefining leadership and career path: 1. From small-town India to the C-Suite Leena was never the obvious choice. • Started on a factory floor in India • Rose to CHRO of Unilever • Achieved gender parity in global leadership And when Chanel called? She almost said no. What changed her mind? A call with mentor Indra Nooyi, who reframed her “weaknesses” as her strengths. ✅ She wasn’t what the industry expected. She became what it needed. 2. She leads a $20B brand without chasing the spotlight Leena doesn’t chase hype. She avoids the spotlight. She turns down 1,995 of 2,000 speaking requests. Instead, she leads by listening. Her first month at Chanel? No press. No product launch. Just people. She visited ateliers. Met milliners, artisans, embroidered. And asked: “Help me understand why we do it this way.” She made humility her leadership edge. In a high-gloss industry, she brought calm. ✅ She centers people, not PR. 3. Rewriting What Power Looks Like Under her leadership, Chanel is transforming, quietly but boldly. • Fondation Chanel funding grew from $20M → $100M • Over 60% of leadership roles now held by women • Still no e-commerce for fashion, craft over convenience Success is measured differently here: • Only 20% of bonuses tied to financials • The rest? Tied to impact on people, brand, and planet ✅ She’s not chasing quarterly wins. She’s building century-long relevance. Leena Nair didn’t come from the runway. She’s not loud. She’s not flashy. She’s not typical. And that’s exactly why she works. Join this FREE masterclass to learn how quiet, strategic leaders reach executive roles. https://lnkd.in/gEXrUQPM

A leader’s job is not to avoid turbulence. It’s to prepare for it. If there’s one thing I learned from two decades of studying crisis leadership, it’s that. You cannot operate as if disruption is a rare occurrence; you must expect the unexpected and learn to thrive amid uncertainty. I recently had the opportunity to contribute to this thought-provoking piece from the Aspen Institute Business & Society Program exploring what will define great business leadership in the period ahead: https://whr.tn/4btMkIQ The through-line among the responses is striking: While we may be living through a time of rapid technological transformation, it’s deeply human qualities that will distinguish the most effective leaders. From Diane Brady’s reminder that today’s leaders must serve as “communicators-in-chief,” to Andrew Ross Sorkin’s call for relentless self-inquiry, to Linda Hill’s vision of the leader as an “explorer,” each of these perspectives reinforced the need for more listening, reflection, and trust. My view is that the leaders who differentiate themselves will display three qualities: 1. Stamina, withstanding immense pressure over prolonged periods of volatility 2. Foresight, capable of anticipating and mitigating, rather than just reacting to, emerging risks 3. Humanity, because humility and authenticity produce trust I maintain that all three can be built like a muscle if they are not innate. But doing so requires a reframing of our mindset – instead of merely asking, “How am I responding to all this change?”, also asking, “Am I ready for what’s next?”

Training and coaching programmes in many workplaces are often seen as one-size-fits-all solutions. Its time for that to change, especially when it comes to leadership development. Too often, learning and development initiatives are decided without involving the people who are not actually taking part in them. Organizations make huge investment into programmes, without effective research into people's needs. They don't ask people what they want or need. They presume everyone's needs are the same. There are times where this might be ok....specific technical skills for example or simple standard work practices. But leadership development requires a different approach. To be honest, I used to deliver one-day trainings on leadership skills here and there. But I never felt good about it. I felt like I wasn't adding real value to anyone. I knew most people were likely to forget everything they learned. It seems like such a waste of time and money. Now, I largely provide a blend of training and coaching programmes. They include an assessment of participant needs. They have a measure of individual development over time. Each person's coaching programme is tailored to what they need. I communicate with my programme participant's managers, to support the continuation of coaching long after their initial coaching programme ends. I always think I can do better so I gather feedback from every participant and improve my programmes all the time. These are the best practices guidelines I follow and teach: 1️⃣ Assess participant needs and customize programmes 2️⃣ Clarify the measures of effectiveness that will be used. 3️⃣ Personalize learning paths- this is possible through blending training with 1:1 coaching programmes 4️⃣ Foster a culture of continuous learning where coaching and training is part of what people regularly give and receive. Ensure all managers have effective coaching skills 5️⃣ Evaluate and adjust all training and coaching programmes. Make improvements based on feedback and measures. ❓What else would you add to ensure training and coaching programmes are highly effective? #learninganddevelopment #employeedevelopment #leadershipdevelopment #traininganddevelopment #training #learning #coaching

As a therapist, people literally paid me to make them uncomfortable. That might sound backwards, but any good therapist creates a safe space for people to process the most uncomfortable things—shame, fear, failure, grief. We earn that permission by proving we're trustworthy enough to handle it. The same dynamic powers high-performing teams. Most teams confuse psychological safety with comfort. They think it means avoiding hard conversations or softening feedback. (Spoiler Alert: that's just conflict avoidance wearing a name tag.) Real psychological safety means people can challenge ideas, admit mistakes, and disagree openly—without fear of humiliation or retaliation. It's not about protecting feelings. It's about protecting truth-telling. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫: Google's Project Aristotle found psychological safety was the #1 predictor of high-performing teams. Not talent. Not resources. Not the number of whiteboards in the conference room. 𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐞'𝐬 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝 𝐢𝐭: 1. 𝐂𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐭 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬. Start meetings with "What are we missing?" or "Who disagrees?" Don't just tolerate dissent—make it part of the culture. 2. 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐲, 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐛𝐥𝐚𝐦𝐞. When something goes wrong, ask "What can we learn?" before "Who's responsible?" Your response to failure teaches people whether honesty is safe. 3. 𝐌𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐥 𝐯𝐮𝐥𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭. Share your own uncertainties and mistakes before asking others to. Leaders who admit "I don't know" or "I screwed this up" give everyone else permission to be human too. 4. 𝐒𝐞𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐚 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧. Challenge thinking aggressively while respecting people completely. "I have concerns about that direction" opens dialogue. "That's a stupid idea" opens LinkedIn job searches. 5. 𝐑𝐞𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐞𝐞. When someone speaks up with bad news, thank them publicly. When someone admits a mistake early, celebrate the integrity. What gets recognized gets repeated. (I need to remember this with my kids) The uncomfortable truth? Building psychological safety requires more courage than avoiding it. It means having harder conversations earlier. It means tolerating short-term discomfort for long-term trust. It means being the kind of leader people can be honest with—even when that honesty stings. That's not "being nice." That's being effective. Q: What's one way you've seen psychological safety (or the lack of it) impact team performance? #psychologicalSafety #leadership #workplaceculture 💡 Emotional Intelligence (EQ) is the most overhyped, underutilized, and misused skill. I partner with leaders and teams to do the deeper work that elevates their EQ to create psychological safety and agency. Because every day we’re peopling—and we can people better.

When it comes to African fashion, Christie Brown is a household name. 💃🏾 Today, the luxury label dresses global icons like Beyoncé and Alicia Keys with bold designs 100% made-in-Ghana. And yet it started much more quietly way back in 2008, in Accra. 👵🏿🪡Founder Aisha Ayensu, then a final year student in Psychology with a passion for fashion, decided to take a leap of faith and launch her brand. She named it Christie Brown, in honor of her seamstress grandmother. Aisha borrowed $20,000 from a friend, and put together a DIY fashion show, which was spotlighted on TV. 💫 Her fearless designs immediately hit a nerve with customers. That same year, Christie Brown won the Best Emerging Designer award at Arise Fashion week. Talk about finding product-market-fit! Or receiving an “affirmation from God”, as Aisha sees it. That first loan was repaid within a year. Aisha enrolled in fashion school to catch up. After this, Christie Brown was off to the races. For the next 15+ years, Aisha made some key business decisions that allowed her label to thrive: ✔️ She pivoted from bespoke to haute ready-to-wear to better serve her customers. ✔️ She shifted from a design-driven to a merchandising-driven strategy, which increased her margins. ✔️ She adopted a seasonless model that keeps collections continuously available. ✔️ She dove full-on into ecommerce, which opened up the US market (now generating about 50% of sales). ✔️ She recognized the importance of building both a strong executive team and a succession strategy early, participating in many leadership programs and developing robust corporate governance. ✔️ During COVID, she turned what could have been a major disaster for the brand into an opportunity, producing an online fashion show that was watched by 30,000 people and translated into a surge in sales. ✔️ And through all this, Aisha remained committed to manufacturing her complex designs locally. The results speak for themselves: with a turnover above $1M in 2024 (and 2025 looking even better), Christie Brown makes 3-5x more than comparable African designer brands. 👑 Hard to find a better way to honor one’s grandmother. Christie Brown is one of the 12 African companies profiled in my latest study for Proparco’s CREA Fund, available here: https://lnkd.in/diAwWrXe ----- For more business insights on the African Creative and Sports space, subscribe to my monthly newsletter HUSTLE & FLOW: https://lnkd.in/drBY8jnz

Leadership training looks good on paper, but in practice, it's broken. It trains for leadership in theory—not in reality. Most programmes: → Focus on abstract strategy, not real-world decisions → Teach frameworks, not the people skills leaders actually need → Run as one-and-done events, with no follow-through Leadership isn’t learned in a classroom. It’s found in the moments most programmes don’t prepare you for: → Leading when your team is emotionally shut down → Coaching someone who’s doing “fine” but not growing → Knowing when you’re the bottleneck—but being too reactive to fix it → Managing a high performer who’s driven by totally different values → Responding instead of reacting when you're under pressure → Leading without a title—or influencing across teams when you have zero authority → Helping team members reconnect with meaning when motivation drops → Regaining leadership presence after a public mistake or visible wobble That’s why 𝘏𝘢𝘳𝘷𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘉𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘙𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸 found that 50% of senior leaders say their company’s leadership training fails to build critical skills. Companies check a box, hand out certificates… …and end up with leaders who can talk about leadership—but can’t practise it. I’ve seen it firsthand: → A senior manager I coach attended a well-reviewed programme. But when it came to the real challenge—handling tough conversations with his team—he left with zero practical tools. → Six months later, the issue was still holding him back. Performance was slipping. Morale was shaky. → What he needed was real-world coaching. So what actually works? ✅ Train for real challenges, not textbook scenarios. → 𝘎𝘰𝘰𝘨𝘭𝘦 uses job rotations that force managers to lead unfamiliar teams under pressure. ✅ Go beyond passive learning. Embed feedback, coaching and application. → A client company pairs rising leaders with mentors and coaches for continuous, real-time development. ✅ Don’t “teach” leadership—build leaders through experience. → 𝘕𝘦𝘵𝘧𝘭𝘪𝘹 gives managers decision-making authority early. Radical. Messy. And it works. A two-day workshop won’t build leadership muscle. Only ongoing, real-world development will. Is your company developing leaders or just running leadership programmes? _____________ Hi, I’m Lucy. I help leaders lead from the inside out—using emotional intelligence, intrinsic motivation, and mental fitness to create lasting impact (without burning out).

I’ve worked with 10 venture-backed founders. Three exits later, these are the traits that stand out. 1. Deep in the weeds Great founders know the details cold. When something breaks, they don’t just delegate, they dive in. My experience: One founder I worked with could tell me exactly how many virtual gifts a livestream creator earned during his last stream on our app, and how much revenue we likely missed by not having a product feature live in time. That level of awareness and knowledge builds trust across the org. 2. Decisive under pressure They don’t wait weeks to gather consensus. Once they have sufficient context, they make the call, and the whole company sprints. My experience: At one company, a founder made a critical pivot decision overnight after an investor meeting, and set the a thoughtful and robust roadmap in motion by the next morning. 3. Zero patience for politics The best founders want the right person in the role, full stop. My experience: I once flagged to a founder that I was being blocked on a launch (my former company has just been acquired by theirs and I hadn’t been fully integrated into the new team). The founder immediately pulled me into the exec standup that morning and told the team to clear the path. He didn’t care about hierarchy games, just results. Of course, there are more traits that make great leaders. But across my career, these three are the most consistent through-lines for founders who drive successful outcomes. If you’re working for leaders who operate like this, my advice is simple: stick around. You’ll learn a ton! If you’re a founder, startups are hard, but you’ll exponentially increase your chance of success if you mirror these traits. ---— 👋🏾 Want more startup advice and tech news? Follow me here: Justin Gerrard And check out my podcast: Rush Hour Podcast ♻️ Repost if you think someone in your network would benefit! #startups #founders

Rethinking Entry-Level Hiring: Focus on Potential, Not Just Experience (What your workforce really needs from you) Experience isn't born overnight. It doesn’t materialize from thin air. In today's market, leadership isn’t about demanding prior experience. It’s about nurturing future talent. Here’s how forward-thinking organizations are shifting their approach: 1️⃣ Recognize the Potential Gap Demanding years of experience for entry-level roles creates a barrier. ➜ Acknowledge the current hiring paradox. ➜ Understand the frustration of fresh graduates. ➜ Focus on the skills that can be developed. Open doors, don't build walls. 2️⃣ Value Attitude and Adaptability Years on a résumé don’t guarantee success. Mindset does. ➜ Prioritize a candidate’s willingness to learn. ➜ Look for adaptability in a changing market. ➜ See beyond the paper and into the person. Potential outshines past experience. 3️⃣ Invest in Mentorship and Training Every expert was once a beginner. Build the foundation. ➜ Provide structured mentorship programs. ➜ Offer continuous training and development. ➜ Create opportunities for hands-on learning. Growth is a two-way investment. 4️⃣ Foster an Inclusive Hiring Culture Opportunity shouldn’t be a privilege. It should be a standard. ➜ Break down traditional hiring biases. ➜ Value diverse backgrounds and perspectives. ➜ Create a level playing field for all candidates. Inclusion breeds innovation. 5️⃣ Prioritize Skill-Building Skills are the currency of the future. Invest wisely. ➜ Focus on transferable skills over specific experience. ➜ Identify core competencies and develop them. ➜ Create a culture of continuous learning. Skills grow with opportunity. 6️⃣ Focus on Long-Term Success Short-term experience vs. long-term growth. Choose wisely. ➜ Build a pipeline of future leaders. ➜ Invest in the longevity of your workforce. ➜ Cultivate talent for sustainable success. Future-proof your team. 7️⃣ Leadership is Investing, Not Just Expecting True leadership isn’t about demanding expertise. It’s about building it. ➜ Absorb the initial training burden. ➜ Offer guidance, not just requirements. ➜ Build an environment where potential thrives. Your team will remember the organization that invested in them. Guide them forward. Build their future. Because leadership isn’t about finding perfect candidates. It’s about creating them. Image credit: George Stern

𝐁𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐏𝐢𝐩𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐅𝐮𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐍𝐞𝐱𝐭 As we think about intentionally developing Managers, Senior Managers, and Directors for the next phase of growth, one question keeps surfacing for me consistently: What will truly prepare today’s managers to lead at the scale and complexity of tomorrow? Leadership development has traditionally been designed around a more predictable operating context. We map career paths, create succession plans, and design competency models, all of which assume that the future will look somewhat like the present or past. But what happens when the operating context no longer aligns with that assumption? How do we match the disruption that has become the norm? That is where existing models need to be thoughtfully extended and strengthened for future leaders. If the last few years have taught us anything, it is that predictability is no longer a guarantee. Which means the way we build future leaders must continue to evolve, especially for our next generation of leaders. We cannot only prepare leaders for what we know. We must also equip them with the capabilities to navigate what is still emerging, including GenAI and Agentic AI, and evolving operating and delivery models. That requires a few shifts: - Expanding assessment beyond skills and experience to include potential and learning agility. - Designing learning journeys that are experiential and emphasize real-world application, not just theory. - Creating cultures where leaders are valued for how they navigate ambiguity, complexity, and change. In many ways, the leadership pipelines of the future will not just produce successors. These pipelines will extend beyond the traditional career ladder to develop leaders who can explore, adapt, and execute in parallel. Future leaders who may not have all the answers, but who have the resilience, agility, and curiosity to find them in real time. The world ahead will continue to need leaders who can manage what is known, while also building the confidence and capability to lead through what is still unfolding. Expanding assessment beyond skills and experience to include potential and learning agility. #leadership #agility #potential #LeadershipPipelines