Leadership Development
Develop Connecting Leaders for today and tomorrow

The leader of the future is a Connecting Leader, someone who connects to themselves, their team, their organization, and the outside world to deliver value on every level. This type of leadership role is critical in a business environment shaped by daily crises, sky-high complexity, and increasing expectations that organizations will address social and environmental problems that governments and other institutions can't. Connecting leaders understand those forces and envision the future to chart a way forward through constantly evolving workforces and workspaces, orchestrating teams, businesses, and ecosystems for impact. Always with a purpose-driven, human-centered approach that's ever more critical in the face of AI-driven technological advancement.

At Heidrick & Struggles, we know what makes great leaders. Building on our 70+ years of delivering leadership insights, we did the hard work to develop and refine our point of view on the future of leadership—The Connecting Leader—integrating market research, proprietary assessment, consultant expertise, and client feedback. More broadly, we use best-in-class industry and behavioral expertise to create scalable, personalized development solutions, whether assessing top executives across sectors for impact and potential or crafting engaging experiences that transform leaders as they ascend within their organizations and industries. Our leadership development framework provides practical skills and tools for effective leadership, combining professional development with career advancement opportunities for early career professionals and senior leaders alike. Delivering evidence-based leadership concepts, solutions, and results for maximum organizational impact—it's all we do.

Are you a future-ready leader?

The future of leadership: The Connecting Leader

The world has changed, and leadership has changed. Connecting leaders who build human-to-human relationships will positively impact all stakeholders and collectively raise their teams, organizations, and ecosystems to the top in the short and long term. These future leaders demonstrate modern leadership by connecting with their teams through strong interpersonal skills, applying critical thinking and curiosity to observe and learn, and opening their enterprise to the world to scale and accelerate growth. These leaders also envision the future and the needed transformations while creating value through their ecosystems and delivering to their clients, today. They understand that leadership development equips future-ready leaders with a learning mindset to stay curious, agile, and adaptable through continuous learning and best-practice application. These leaders will leave a lasting legacy on the people they work with, the organization they work for, and the world we live in.

Leadership Development

The connecting leader: Five imperatives for leaders today

How are leaders around the world leveraging connecting capabilities to help their organizations thrive? Our research shows that effective leaders share core capabilities rooted in authentic connection—the ability to inspire, influence, learn, adapt, and support their team’s professional growth. By unifying diverse teams, guiding change, and fostering growth, they create positive impact for all stakeholders and elevate their teams, organizations, and ecosystems in both the short and long term. These leaders leave a lasting legacy on their people, their organizations, and the world.

Developing future-ready leaders
The future of the enterprise is about long-term value creation, balancing economic success with social and environmental responsibility. The future of leadership is about being more human-centered while embracing greater openness to the external world.
~ Dr. Regis Chasse, Head of Leadership Development Solutions at Heidrick & Struggles
Leadership Development

The connecting leader: Learning mindset

Ability and willingness to learn are the foundations of successful leadership in today's world. Our leadership development framework emphasizes continuous professional development and provides exclusive access to insights that help leaders adapt to changing business environments. Leaders who embrace learning create unique opportunities for themselves, their teams and organizations to thrive in an ever-evolving landscape. This article offers tips on how companies can help leaders foster a learning mindset.

Leadership Development

The connecting leader: Orchestrating ecosystems

Leaders today must be able to build connections within and across their organization and its ecosystems, even as they change. Effective leaders make time to understand the wide range of stakeholders and develop practical skills for managing complex relationships. Our leadership development framework provides tools for navigating organizational dynamics and creating ecosystem partnerships while maintaining focus on strategic objectives and team performance. This article offers tips on how companies can help leaders develop the capabilities they need.

Recent Heidrick & Struggles research shows
 
4X
how much more productive accelerating leaders are than derailing ones
 
77%
executives say they risk losing talent because of better promotion and development opportunities elsewhere
 
92%
executives cite learning opportunities as top retention tools
 
10%
planned annual increase in leadership development investment by companies worldwide by 2026
 
85%
HR and learning leaders believe measuring the impact of leadership development is important
 
48%
HR and learning leaders unsatisfied with their measurement approach
Leadership Development Solutions
Our leadership practice provides a set of signature experiences, tailored to accelerate distinct populations of leaders. Each of these signature experiences are tailored to your specific business strategy and leadership challenges.
INSPIRE

For senior executives focused on business transformation and accelerating growth.

UNLOCK

For closing capability gaps among leaders who are critical to strategic priorities.

ELEVATE

For next-generation leaders building the mindsets and skills to take on bigger roles.

Developing Future-Ready Leaders

Leading change in a permacrisis

Leaders today are faced with an unending onslaught of disruption. Rather than a step-by-step process typical of classic change management, leaders need a consistent set of mindsets and behaviors that they can deploy with agility. Our leadership development framework equips effective leaders with the practical skills and critical thinking necessary to navigate organizational change successfully, helping senior leaders excel in their leadership roles.

Leadership Development: The Heidrick Leadership Accelerator

Whatever your strategic ambitions, your leaders need to level up and work across their ecosystems to anticipate the future, shape new strategies, innovate, and drive performance. Our comprehensive leadership development framework provides future leaders with the tools and insight needed to excel in their leadership position while fostering career advancement and professional development throughout their organization.

Playbook

Leading in Uncertainty

A playbook for harnessing the power of agility. Our research on organizations and leaders who accelerate performance in a volatile and uncertain world indicates that agility separates the best from the rest. Too many organizations are slow, bureaucratic, and indecisive. They fail to embrace uncertainty. Modern leadership requires the skill set to transform challenges into competitive advantages through effective leadership and strategic thinking.

How can we help?
Contact us to discuss the needs of your organization

Building Strong Foundations of Future-Ready Leadership

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