Dana Maor is a senior partner at McKinsey & Company. She is the global co-head and Europe leader for the McKinsey People & Organizational Performance Practice.
Hans-Werner Kaas is the co-dean of McKinsey & Company’s CEO leadership program, the Bower Forum. He is a senior partner emeritus at McKinsey and works with and counsels CEOs and leaders across multiple industry sectors globally.
Kurt Strovink leads McKinsey & Company’s CEO special initiative globally. He is a senior partner with expertise in CEO transitions and the role of the CEO as a catalyst.
Ramesh Srinivasan is a senior partner at McKinsey & Company and co-dean of McKinsey’s Bower Forum.
Below, the coauthors share five key insights from their new book, The Journey of Leadership: How CEOs Learn to Lead from the Inside Out. Listen to the audio version—read by Maor and Srinivasan—in the Next Big Idea app.
1. Leaders need to think about who they are as much as what they want to do
Most successful leaders have cracked the code on what to do. Few, however, invest time in learning who they are as leaders. This stands in their way of thriving (rather than survival), reaching their full potential, and leading their organizations to sustained success.
In this age of constant change, challenge, and uncertainty, knowing what to do is insufficient. Effective leadership requires a balance of humility, vulnerability, and selflessness. Without these traits, leaders may be less effective at inspiring their teams and fostering a healthy organizational culture.
Leaders should engage in continuous self-reflection to understand their values, strengths, and weaknesses. Self-reflection is neither a privilege nor an indulgence; it serves the organization. It’s important to find a mechanism for contemplating your aspirations and opportunities for growth. It can be a mindfulness practice like meditation or creating an advisory group of trusted individuals.
We recommend leaders create a personal commitment plan to inspire their team and demonstrate commitment. Leaders who take an inside-out approach are better equipped to lead their teams.
2. The best leaders are vulnerable
Courage and showing vulnerability—sharing hopes, fears, and concerns—is part of being an authentic leader. It builds trust and encourages a culture of openness and continuous learning. An organization built on trust within is also more likely to build trust with customers and stakeholders.
Organizational speed and resilience are not possible if leaders are not empowered by trust to take initiative. When leaders demonstrate humility and authenticity, team members feel safe taking risks and innovating. Accepting failure turns mistakes into valuable learning opportunities, promoting resilience and adaptability. The most successful leaders do not pretend to have all the answers. They, too, are constantly learning and growing.
In our book, Reeta Roy of Mastercard Foundation shares a difficult moment that transformed the Foundation’s relationship with a partner organization. When Reeta decided to focus the organization’s mission solely on Sub-Saharan Africa, she spent months talking to community members in four countries to learn about barriers people faced. In a meeting with a partner organization, the organization’s leader interrupted the conversation to address a communication issue that was creating a damaging dynamic. Reeta realized their critical foundation of trust was at risk, so she apologized without hesitation and committed to making a change. This simple act set a new standard for the Foundation’s interactions and led to expanded collaboration with African organizations to address youth unemployment.
3. Being a great leader is a masterful dance of navigating polarities and balancing competing commitments
Leadership requires balancing vulnerability and authenticity with confidence and making tough decisions. It takes the discipline and creativity of a dancer. Leaders must balance certainty with openness, financial performance with stakeholder needs, short-term objectives with long-term aspirations, and control with curiosity and empowerment. They must be humble yet decisive, vulnerable yet strong, cautious yet bold, and forgiving yet demanding.
One foundational tension is around how leaders approach the need to be professional and the need to be authentic. The way out is not to resolve the tension but to keep it in balance, showing up as both professional (adapting to outside-in norms and expectations) and authentic (attuned to inside-out values and vulnerabilities).
Great human-centric leaders cultivate dual awareness, paying equal attention to their inner experience and their outer context and constantly choosing to adapt to the moment.
4. The digital age requires more adaptive leadership
Leaders must be committed to lifelong learning as technology evolves. A culture of flexibility and innovation is essential to staying competitive in a digital landscape.
In a world increasingly driven by data and algorithms, connecting with people on a human level will be essential to navigate the emotional and ethical complexities machines can’t manage. The human touch in leadership can ensure that technology enhances, not diminishes, the workplace experience.
Human-centric focus presents the toughest questions: How do I manage my time, and what gives me energy? How do I inspire my team? How do I shift the culture of the organization?
5. Control is an illusion
Successful leadership involves giving up control and trusting others. Prioritize tasks that only leaders can do and delegate the rest, fostering a culture of autonomy. Today’s best leaders understand they must listen and connect the dots across the organization. They create an environment where everyone feels valued and empowered to contribute, which is crucial in today’s dynamic and interconnected world.
The inclination of business leaders is to bring their expertise and brains to the world. They must also think about how they can create an environment that allows a whole organization to deliver successfully against their hopes and aspirations. The delicate balance between control and autonomy is exemplified in CEO Wendy Kopp’s journey to scale Teach for America globally to create Teach for All. The night before announcing the expansion, she was filled with doubt about upholding quality in a newly decentralized, sprawling organization. Wendy had to learn to relinquish control and trust local leaders to adapt the program to their unique contexts while adhering to core principles.
Wendy’s story is a powerful reminder that true leadership lies in empowering others, fostering a shared purpose, and embracing the collective strength of diverse leaders. While control may be an illusion, the impact of collective leadership is real and transformative.
This article originally appeared in Next Big Idea Club magazine and is reprinted with permission.
