Embracing Our Future: Social Purpose Leadership In 2030

Executive Summary

Current leadership models and structures are not working in many public sector and nonprofit contexts. Prior to COVID-19, many organizations were struggling to address everyday internal challenges such as finding funding to adequately cover the costs of their work, losing staff to more attractive private sector remuneration, and ensuring organizational technology was meeting the needs of their teams. At the same time, external factors were building such as a growing sense of mistrust of public institutions, cybersecurity threats, Canada warming at twice the rate of the global average, and polarized political opinions, creating tension for traditional leadership philosophies. Many of these challenges have been intensified by COVID-19 stresses, a global awakening to the prevalence of systemic racism, financial constraints, and an increased focus on well-being and mental health. All of these challenges demonstrate the fraught nature of current leadership approaches.

The current paradigm defines leadership and the capacity to influence change in a linear and rigid way. But some organizations are acknowledging that the leadership skills of the past are not the leadership skills of the future. “We’ll never go back to the type of top-down leading-from-an-ivory-tower type of place where employees are looking up to some guru in the sky, saying whatever you say, I’ll do it.” Instead, other skills such as storytelling and captivating an audience, as well as the ability to directly engage with people around difficult issues are rising in prominence.