Global Leadership Forecast 2021

Global Leadership Forecast 2021

The Largest Leadership Study of Its Kind
Global Leadership Forecast 2021 is the most expansive leadership research projectof its kind. It is the ninth forecast since DDI first began this stream of research more than 20 years
ago. This report examines responses from 2,102 human resource professionals and 15,787 leaders aroundthe world. The research, which spans more than 50 countries and 24 major industry sectors, summarizes
best talent practices and provides key trends to guide the future of leadership. The full set of leader
demographics is depicted below.

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Global Leadership Forecast 2021

A New Era Driven by Crisis
A crisis is the true test of leadership. In our darkest moments, we look to our leaders to findthe light. In the past year, leaders have faced a constant barrage of crises, from a global pandemic to
economic crisis to deepening political divisions.
Through each of these tough moments, leaders have had to dig deep, demonstrating vision, purpose,courage, and strength to move forward without a clear road map.
For 20 years, we have intended the Global Leadership Forecast to be a true “forecast,” helping you
to predict what’s next. However, what came through clearly in this year’s study is that companies are
gearing up for an era of constant crisis, one in which predictability is scarce.
The leaders who are succeeding in this time are those who have been able to rapidly learn new
skills and change. They’ve learned to lead their teams virtually. They’ve gotten comfortable with
uncomfortable discussions around race and inclusion. Most of all, they’ve learned to act with empathy
and compassion, recognizing that we don’t leave our humanity at the door when we clock in to work.
This ability to embrace uncertainty and develop new skills rapidly will be the hallmark of great
leadership in the years ahead. Meanwhile, leaders who continue business as usual will be yourgreatest risk.
In line with this dramatic shift in leadership, we have also changed our approach to publishing
this study. This year, we are proud to introduce the Global Leadership Forecast series. Rather thanpublishing our data in one large report, we will publish a series of smaller reports. The intention is toremain agile to answer new and pressing questions as we face rapid change.
As you review this report, note that each section is divided into two parts. The first part examines thedata and conclusions. The second is about where to focus, defining actions you can take to capitalizeon the findings. We invite you to share your questions, feedback, and thoughts on new challenges you
and your leaders are facing.
After all, data is only as good as how you use it.

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CEO Top Challenges

The Pressure Is On to Develop and Retain Top Talent
Quick Reference Guide
CEO Top Challenges
The Future of Work Is HereThe Leader Quality Gap
The Bench Is Empty
The Big Burnout
Retaining Top Talent
Critical Skills for the Future
How Leaders Want to Learn
Leaders Crave Connection
Illuminate the Leader
Experience
Leading a Digital Future

What’s keeping CEOs up at night? The top challenges for the year aheadaccording to CEOs were clearly focused on talent. Developing the next generationof leaders and attracting/retaining top talent ranked in the top three challenges,
along with global recession/slowing economic growth.
The only other challenge selected by at least 50% of CEOs as a top concern was
driving new product innovation. CEOs acknowledged how critical it is for them tohave top talent and effective leaders to drive their strategies forward and position
their organization for future success.

According to HR professionals, identifying anddeveloping future talent continues to be a top skill
they look for in leaders. It’s also the single-mostcritical skill they’ll need in the next three years.

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Global Leadership Forecast 2021

Build Next-Gen Talent
As younger generations step into leadership,

interaction skills, recognizing a greater

there are substantial changes happening

need for developing empathy.

and looming for leaders. We examined what

D&I is a requirement. They are looking fordifferentiates the next generation of leaders,

better inclusion and diversity from theircurrently those high-potential employees whoorganizations. Overall, they were more

don’t have formal leadership responsibility.

negative about how their organizations are

These employees range in age from 21 years

approaching bias and fairness. Only 56% of

to an average of 38 years old. They are also

next-gen leaders said their leaders challenge

more likely to be from diverse racial/ethnic

themselves and others to recognize andbackgrounds (32% of this group comparedeliminate biases, in comparison to 67% of

to 28% of current leaders).

current leaders.
Flexibility is key. Their organizations are

Overall, this group said:

doing well with flexible work practices. An

They need feedback. Leaders at all levels

equal percentage of these next-gen leaders

want feedback, but this next generation of(72%) and their leaders said that flexible

leaders is looking for even more coaching andfeedback from their managers. Specifically,

arrangements are common and supported.

30% said they wanted more coaching and

They crave clarity. Compared to leaders,

feedback from their managers than they arethis group struggles to act decisively without

currently getting, in comparison to only 25%

clear direction, and is unsure how to applyof current leaders.

data to decision making. In addition, they

They need to up their EQ. They need moreworry about reacting to change, bothinternally and externally with customers.

help growing their communication and© Development Dimensions International, Inc., 2021. All rights reserved.

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The Future of Work Is HereHow the Workplace Will Transform

Quick Reference Guide
CEO Top Challenges
The Future of Work Is HereThe Leader Quality Gap
The Bench Is Empty
The Big Burnout
Retaining Top Talent
Critical Skills for the Future
How Leaders Want to Learn
Leaders Crave Connection
Illuminate the Leader
Experience
Leading a Digital Future

The pandemic electrified company operating models and HR practices, but it
also brought on the future of work much faster than expected. For the past decade,analysts have been writing about automation, the fourth industrial revolution, and the growing roleof AI, data, and technology at work. All of this has now come to reality.
The top area CHROs think will change the most in the next 10 years is developing and upskilling
employees. It’s also clear that flexible work, contract workers, and dynamic work models are here
to stay. While many companies had very little infrastructure to plan and manage contingent work
before, it has now gone mainstream and must be treated in HR as a strategic workforce segment.
In addition, the role of women, minorities, and intersectionality is critical today and will be so in the
future as 72% of CHROs cite this as high priority. The problem is no longer one of driving diversity.
The new strategy is to create a culture of inclusion and belonging, from which diversity will result.
As the data show, the leadership model must change. Companies must give young people theopportunity to move into leadership early; they must embrace women and minorities completely
as leaders; and they must get ready for younger people to take on the highest levels of leadership.
Finally, the future of work is filled with technology, data, flexibility, and mobility. Companies mustdesign safe workplaces, mobile solutions, and hub work locations that let people move to where
work may be, operate in a safe and healthy way, and collaborate easily.
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Global Leadership Forecast 2021

The Certainty of Uncertainty
Preparing for the future of work is all about

To prepare leaders to anticipate and react toequipping your leaders to quickly anticipate andthe speed of change, our study showed thatreact to the speed of change, which is one of

HR should focus on three key skills:

the most challenging and uncomfortable things

1.

Managing change

2.

Influence3.

Building partnerships

leaders need to do. In fact, only 35% of leaderssaid they are effective at managing change.
While a global pandemic may be a once-in-

These skills are essential in helping leaders

a-generation level of disruption, the future

engage their teams and peers as they rapidly

will continue to be marked by dramatic andadapt and change their course of action toaccelerated change, likely at an unprecedented

meet new demands.

level. As illustrated in the chart below, someindustries are particularly vulnerable to thechanges, and are also the least prepared tomeet these challenges.

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The Leader Quality Gap

Leader Confidence Jumps, but HR Is Unimpressed
Quick Reference Guide
CEO Top Challenges
The Future of Work Is HereThe Leader Quality Gap
The Bench Is Empty
The Big Burnout
Retaining Top Talent
Critical Skills for the Future
How Leaders Want to Learn
Leaders Crave Connection
Illuminate the Leader
Experience
Leading a Digital FutureThis year marks the biggest leadership quality gap in a decade.
A full 48% of leaders rate their organization’s leadership quality as high, up from only
38% a decade ago. Meanwhile, HR’s confidence in their leaders dropped, with only
28% believing they have high-quality leadership.
Why the massive disparity? Likely, it’s a case of crisis response. As the pandemic hit,leaders found themselves working harder than ever to pivot the business, while trying
to show empathy and connect with their teams on a more human level. And they saw
how hard other leaders are working as well. As a result, they were more generous in
their quality ratings.
In fact, leadership quality ratings peaked as the pandemic began to hit in full force,
especially in terms of how people viewed senior leaders. As people adjusted to a
new normal, quality rankings dropped slightly. Meanwhile, HR is focused on theorganization more holistically. They see where employees have complaints and whereleaders have fallen short.
HR is likely also concerned about what comes next. As businesses change
permanently, new challenges loom ahead. While current leaders may be performing,
HR may recognize that they don’t have the skills to meet future challenges, which isechoed in HR’s bench strength ratings elsewhere in this report.
Moving forward, HR can close this gap by working to bring in the leadership talent
they need, and by helping leaders identify and build the skills they’ll need for the
future. That way, leaders’ confidence will be based on more than just their optimism.
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Global Leadership Forecast 2021

Best Practices for Better LeadershipAmong organizations that had the highest

Using data and external coaching also

leader quality overall, these were the top

consistently scored high across organizations,practices they had in common:reflecting leaders’ desire to get a more objective

1.

Leadership development begins withpicture of their skills. These experiences may

a diagnosis of a leader’s strengths andhelp to significantly close the “self-awarenessweaknesses.

gap” between how leaders rank themselves and2.

how others see them.

At any time, HR can access the up-to-datestatus of leadership talent capability acrossthe organization.

3.

Competencies required for leaders’ successare clearly defined.

4.

HR has an effective process for identifying
leadership potential.

5.

Leadership development modules are
positioned as a planned sequence rather
than independent events.

6.

A senior executive outside of HR champions
leadership strategy.

7.

There is a core leadership program for all
leaders in the organization.

Putting even some of these practices in place
will start to have an impact. Organizations thatwere using at least three of these practices had
not only 1.8X higher leadership quality, but also
1.4X higher leadership success rates and 1.5X
stronger bench.

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The Bench Is Empty
Leadership Talent Is in Short Supply

Quick Reference Guide
CEO Top Challenges
The Future of Work Is HereThe Leader Quality Gap
The Bench Is Empty
The Big Burnout
Retaining Top Talent
Critical Skills for the Future
How Leaders Want to Learn
Leaders Crave Connection
Illuminate the Leader
Experience
Leading a Digital Future

In line with leaders’ concern about developing the next generationof leaders, this year’s study saw bench strength continue to drop. Only 11% of HR
say they have a strong bench to fill leadership roles, the lowest rate we’ve seen in
the past decade.
Why the drop? Likely the biggest reason is the rise of unpredictability of otherchallenges. In the past, many organizations could more easily predict theirchallenges in the next three to five years, and groom leaders who were prepared tomeet them. But as markets have shifted rapidly and companies are feeling increased
pressure to innovate and redefine their markets, companies need leaders who areprepared to lead during rapid change and re-prioritization.
As a result, companies should be thinking about bench strength much less interms of one-to-one replacements for key roles. Rather, they should be focused on
creating leadership teams with complementary strengths and cross-collaboration,
enabling them to better weather change.

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Global Leadership Forecast 2021

The Leadership Pipeline
As companies focused mainly on survival

HR leaders must realize their companies have an

during the pandemic, many largely ignored

enormous well of young leaders ready to growtheir succession and high-potential programs,

and progress. They need to build an inclusive

and their ability to build new leaders fell

workplace environment where senior people

behind. Consider the gap shown below: In

are comfortable working for younger people

every industry, bench strength is 10–25% below

and part-time experts can thrive and excel.

current capabilities. That gap means that as theCompanies must also adopt a new model for

economy grows again, companies will struggle

leadership, driven by the idea that “everyone

to have ready-now leaders.

is a leader” and that leadership must be
developed continuously.

Developing new leaders and finding andupskilling current leaders with the potential
to grow is crucial to future success. Today,
companies have six generations of employees
at work, ranging in age from people in their lateteens to vibrant workers in their 70s and 80s.
So, the idea of a linear, progressive leadershippipeline must change.

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The Big Burnout

Wellbeing Becomes a Boardroom Topic
Quick Reference Guide
CEO Top Challenges
The Future of Work Is HereThe Leader Quality Gap
The Bench Is Empty
The Big Burnout
Retaining Top Talent
Critical Skills for the Future
How Leaders Want to Learn
Leaders Crave Connection
Illuminate the Leader
Experience
Leading a Digital Future

Leadership energy has taken a nosedive. Sixty percent of leaders now
indicate that they feel “used up” at the end of every workday, a strong indicator of
burnout. And those numbers continued to rise as we collected data throughout the
study.
The most critical risk of this exhaustion is retention. Among leaders who said they
definitely felt used up at the end of the day, 44% said they expected to have tochange companies to advance. Furthermore, 26% said they expected to leave in thenext year. In comparison, only 24% of leaders who reported not feeling used up said
they had to leave to advance, and only 6% expected to leave their current company
within the next year.
This stress was even higher for high-potential employees who aspire to leadership.
According to more than 1,000 high-potential employees, 86% reported feeling used
up at the end of their workday, a 27% increase over the past year. These ambitious
future leaders may be reluctant to express their frustration, possibly fearing it could
cost them the chance for a key opportunity. However, these high performers aretwice as likely to leave as peers who indicated they didn’t feel used up at the end of
the day (37% vs. 17%).

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Global Leadership Forecast 2021

Start with Empathy
How well organizations manage burnout is

Finally, the research clearly points to how

directly influenced by leaders. However, only

great leaders create followership. In looking

18% of leaders felt confident in helping teamat the leadership skills that differentiate high-members avoid burnout. We examined theperforming companies from low performers,

difference between organizations that were

the three biggest areas are leading change,

best prepared to prevent employee burnout

coaching and delegation, and building

and those that were not.

partnerships. These capabilities point out
that great leaders don’t just lead. They also

The number-one factor that influences burnout

collaborate, partner, and bring people withis leaders’ ability to demonstrate empathy—

them.

connecting with their teams on a more humanlevel. While leaders typically rate themselves
well on showing empathy, we saw leaders’self-ratings of empathy drop 15% during the
pandemic. This drop showed that as leaders areunder stress, many of them struggle to show
empathy, even though these are moments when
their team members need it most.

We found that the number-one
factor that influences burnout isleaders’ ability to demonstrateempathy.
Beyond empathy, leaders’ ability to manage theflow of work is most critical. Excellent skills incoaching and delegation ensure that people are
getting the right amount of work and resources
to complete it. In addition, leaders’ ability to
influence others plays a major role in helping
to prioritize work and energize teams aroundcommon goals.

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Retaining Top Talent
7 Key Factors Influence Retention

Quick Reference Guide
CEO Top Challenges
The Future of Work Is HereThe Leader Quality Gap
The Bench Is Empty
The Big Burnout
Retaining Top Talent
Critical Skills for the Future
How Leaders Want to Learn
Leaders Crave Connection
Illuminate the Leader
Experience
Leading a Digital Future

The loss of a single highly talented leader is steep. The loss typically includes
significant technical and organizational knowledge as well as the investment in theirdevelopment over the years. In addition, their departure may trigger others to leave or atleast slow down team momentum. And that’s all before accounting for replacement costs
to hire new talent.
To keep these losses to a minimum, we conducted an analysis of which factors are most
predictive of leaders’ engagement and long-term retention. In order of most impact,
leaders who intend to stay:1.

Know what constitutes good performance in their role.

2.

Have a clear understanding of their future career path in the organization.

3.

Feel that their direct manager genuinely cares about their wellbeing.

4.

Have a high-quality development plan.

5.

Receive effective coaching from their manager.

6.

Get feedback on their skills.

7.

Have access to the information and tools needed to do their job well.

Notably, these factors all contributed more to leaders’ engagement than things suchas their promotion rate, taking on new assignments, or work-life balance.

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Global Leadership Forecast 2021

Energize Leaders’ Career Paths
Developing talent is one of the hardest things

attributes were more positive about their

managers have to do, which is also why it’s one

organization’s leadership overall. Additionally,of the top ranked worries for CEOs.

organizations with a higher percentage ofleaders who demonstrate these attributes were

However, there are some specific behaviors

more likely to be considered best places toleaders can focus on that correlate to higher

work by their leaders.

rates of retention among the leaders whoreport to them:
1.

Provide opportunities for growth anddevelopment.

2.

Become an advocate for high-performing
team members, ensuring they gain visibility.

3.

Be vocal in making the achievements ofteam members known.

4.

Celebrate the success of team members.

5.

Share credit with team members.

6.

Support the development and advancementof team members, even if it means moving
them outside their own direct reporting line.

Efforts to encourage managers to practicethese behaviors will pay off. Leaders who
described their direct manager as having these© Development Dimensions International, Inc., 2021. All rights reserved.

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Critical Skills for the Future
Development Doesn’t Align with Needs

Quick Reference Guide
CEO Top Challenges
The Future of Work Is HereThe Leader Quality Gap
The Bench Is Empty
The Big Burnout
Retaining Top Talent
Critical Skills for the Future
How Leaders Want to Learn
Leaders Crave Connection
Illuminate the Leader
Experience
Leading a Digital Future

Which leadership skills will be most critical for future success?
Over the next three years, leaders see their organizations undergoing rapidtransformation. As a result, they place a high priority on the skills that will enable
them to line up both the technology and people resources they’ll need to makethat transformation a success.
Unfortunately, fewer than half of leaders feel they are effective in most of theseskills. Even worse, they aren’t getting development in the skills they need mosturgently, as shown in the top left quadrant of the grid. Only 28% of leaders saythey are currently being developed in any of these areas.
At the top of the list is identifying and developing future talent, as companies are
increasingly concerned about their bench strength to meet new challenges. In linewith that, managing successful change will be a top priority.
Without question, that future will also be more digital, as HR and leaders rank
digital acumen as a must-have skill. Rounding out the top priorities, leaders willneed to quickly get up to speed in building a strategic vision for a new future, andinfluencing others to ensure success as one unified team.

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Global Leadership Forecast 2021

Strengthen Leader Resilience
While HR and leaders rated skills related to

Two other core skills, coaching and delegation

rapid change as their top priorities, we also

along with empathy, were foundational acrossstudied which leadership skills most accounted

business challenges. These are especiallyfor how prepared organizations were toimportant for leaders who are now having

succeed across the broadest range of businessto navigate more diﬃcult conversations andchallenges. Organizations with leaders who

provide support to stretched employees.

were stronger in these five skills were more

Additionally, digital acumen was a significant

prepared to meet the business challenges they

predictor not only for digital transformation

faced, particularly through the pandemic:

readiness, but also for innovation and

1.

Leading virtual teams

responding to the competitive environment.

2.

Coaching and delegation

3.

Empathy (EQ)

4.

Digital acumen

5.

Building partnerships

Currently, the majority of leaders feel underprepared in all five of these critical skills. Most
glaringly, fewer than one in five leaders rated
themselves effective in leading virtual teams,
which has quickly become essential. Roundingout the top priorities, leaders need to build
their skills in building a strategic vision andinfluencing others to build toward one unified
future.

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How Leaders Want to Learn
Leaders Crave External Validation

Quick Reference Guide
CEO Top Challenges
The Future of Work Is HereThe Leader Quality Gap
The Bench Is Empty
The Big Burnout
Retaining Top Talent
Critical Skills for the Future
How Leaders Want to Learn
Leaders Crave Connection
Illuminate the Leader
Experience
Leading a Digital Future

In times of uncertainty, leaders want two things: more time to learn,
and greater external validation that they’re doing the right things.
On average, leaders report spending nearly 4.4 hours per week learning, but would
prefer to spend about 7.5 hours. This number also spiked while the survey was open
as the pandemic hit, and leaders felt less certain of their skills.
Perhaps a more important trend we spotted this year is the strong desire forexternal validation and objectivity in their learning. More than anything, leaders
wanted outside coaching and developmental assignments to help them grow theirskills outside of their day-to-day work. In addition, they expressed a strong desire
for assessment to help them pinpoint their development areas.

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Global Leadership Forecast 2021

Application and Relevance
Above all, leaders’ learning preferences showedthat they want to know they are truly applying
their skills to new challenges. If nothing changes
about their career, the development isn’t
worth it.
On average, leaders who say their organization
offers high-quality leadership development say
they are able to apply about 72% of what theylearned to their job. In comparison, those who
rate their company’s leadership development
programs as low say they can only apply 53%
of what they learn to their job.
Leaders also need to get the feedback andvalidation that shows their new skills areworking. Organizations that report their leaders
practice and then receive feedback from their
managers on key skills are 4.6X more likely tohave high leader quality and bench strengthcompared to those that don’t.
In addition, leaders who said their organization
provided high-quality assessment on their skills
also reported being more prepared to facebusiness challenges.

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Leaders Crave Connection
Interactions Matter More Than Managing Work

Quick Reference Guide
CEO Top Challenges
The Future of Work Is HereThe Leader Quality Gap
The Bench Is Empty
The Big Burnout
Retaining Top Talent
Critical Skills for the Future
How Leaders Want to Learn
Leaders Crave Connection
Illuminate the Leader
Experience
Leading a Digital Future

How much time leaders spend interacting or managing has a huge
impact on their teams. Management tasks are what keep leaders inaccessible,
disconnected, and working at their desk. Leadership, meanwhile, requires effectively
interacting with others—being out front, with people. Effective interactions are whatmake up the core of leadership.
The moments that leaders can connect and the conversations they have with teammembers, peers, and customers define how effective (or ineffective) they are.
Without positive interactions, coaching suffers, employee engagement dives, andthe ability to influence disappears.
Unfortunately, our data show that person-to-person interaction is happening lessand less. Leaders at all levels reported they feel overburdened with tasks they haveto manage, and aren’t able to spend as much time interacting as they would like.
On average, leaders prefer to spend almost half (41%) of their time interacting,but currently only spend about a quarter of their workday (27%) interacting withothers. This is a harmful trend for engagement. And, even worse, leaders feel theirorganizations want them to be spending even more time managing than they are.

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Global Leadership Forecast 2021

Encourage High-Quality Interactions
Valuing interactions proved to be a strong
indicator of leader engagement and retention.
Compared to leaders who said their companies
favored management activities much more thaninteraction, leaders who said their companies
valued interactions were significantly more
likely to rate their leadership as high quality at
every level, especially senior levels.
In addition, they reported much higher
engagement in their roles. They were also more
likely to be energized and feel purpose in theirwork. Most importantly, they were less likely tofeel like they had to leave to progress.
By contrast, there’s a harmful reverse trend
for leaders who don’t get enough interaction.
Leaders who indicated that they spend much
more time managing than interacting are:32% less engaged in their roles.
1.5X more likely to feel used up at theend of the day.
Twice as likely to leave the organization
within the next 12 months.

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Illuminate the Leader Experience
What Leaders Value Most in Development Experiences

Quick Reference Guide
CEO Top Challenges
The Future of Work Is HereThe Leader Quality Gap
The Bench Is Empty
The Big Burnout
Retaining Top Talent
Critical Skills for the Future
How Leaders Want to Learn
Leaders Crave Connection
Illuminate the Leader
Experience
Leading a Digital Future

How do leaders feel about their development and growthexperiences? Over the past decade, employee experience has risen as one of thehottest topics in the workplace, yet little is known about how leaders differentiate
and rate their experiences.
For the past several forecast studies, we’ve examined how leaders rate theirorganization’s development programs and have uncovered a concerning trend.
Only 23% of leaders rated their leadership development as high quality this year,
a significant drop from previous forecasts. However, this still rates higher than any
other experiences leaders are being provided.
Overall, coaching and mentoring are the areas where leaders are least satisfied,along with performance management programs. For many leaders, these programs
are simply nonexistent, but among those that do have them, few rate them ashigh quality.

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Global Leadership Forecast 2021

Improving the Experiences That Matter Most
On the whole, leaders make it clear they
aren’t all that satisfied with their growth anddevelopment offerings, but they also don’tvalue them equally. What are the experiences
leaders say were the most valuable? And whichmattered most in enabling a smoother transition
to their current roles?
These are questions we explored further to
see what really defines a successful leadershipexperience from day one. Four factors stood out
for leaders who had better experiences taking
on their current leadership role:
1.

There were clear and realistic expectations
for their performance.

2.

Leaders went through a formal assessment
to identify their leadership strengths andareas for development.

3.

They received feedback about theirleadership skills.

4.

They received effective coaching fromtheir manager.

Focusing on what matters most to leaders,and improving these experiences, can pay
off tremendously. Organizations whereleaders indicated that these experiences wereconsistent had 1.5X higher leader engagement
and retention, and were also 2X as likely to bevoted as a best place to work by their leaders.

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Leading a Digital Future
People Skills Drive Digital Transformation

Quick Reference Guide
CEO Top Challenges
The Future of Work Is HereThe Leader Quality Gap
The Bench Is Empty
The Big Burnout
Retaining Top Talent
Critical Skills for the Future
How Leaders Want to Learn
Leaders Crave Connection
Illuminate the Leader
Experience
Leading a Digital Future

The ability to drive digital transformation will be one of the defining
features that separates successful and struggling companies in the
coming years. However, leaders are skeptical of their capabilities to drive digitalchange.
Across a broad set of leadership skills, leaders reported having the least confidence
in their digital acumen and ability to lead virtually. In fact, 23% of leaders saythey aren’t effective at all at leading virtual teams. Our research shows that few
organizations are developing these skills in their leaders. Fewer than 30% of leaderssaid they had ever received development for these two skills.
As a result, few feel prepared for operating within a highly digital businessenvironment. Only 20% of leaders overall feel their organization is prepared for
digital transformation, and confidence declines with leader level. In fact, CEOs rated
this as one of the challenges their companies are least prepared to meet, with only
19% of CEOs saying they felt prepared.

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Global Leadership Forecast 2021

Key Skills Drive Transformation
Successfully driving transformation goespace of business and technology change will

beyond digital acumen and leading virtual

continue to put pressure on leaders to beteams. The graphic below highlights the skills

upskilled and to act as innovators, designers,that are the most significant contributors forand technology partners.

organizations that are successfully prepared to

Our research shows that organizations that

operate in a highly digital business environment.

are reinventing how they approach work andOrganizations that had already developed

driving a more inclusive, innovative future areleaders in these areas were 1.8X better preparedbuilding these skills and fostering a culture tofor digital transformation. They are also more

support transformation. They are more agile,

likely to be innovative, with leaders being

data-driven, and more likely to encourage an

1.5X more likely to develop novel products orexperimental mindset—positioning them better

services in their work.

for reinvention after the pandemic.

Preparation in these areas goes beyond what’s
digital. Work is also entering the biggest eraof transformation in decades. The accelerated© Development Dimensions International, Inc., 2021. All rights reserved.

25

www.ddiworld.com

Global Leadership Forecast 2021

About DDI

Authors

Acknowledgements

DDI is a global leadershipconsulting firm that helps
organizations hire, promote,and develop exceptional leaders.
From first-time managers to
C-suite executives, DDI is byleaders’ sides, supporting themin every critical moment ofleadership. Built on five decadesof research and experience inthe science of leadership, DDI’s
evidence-based assessment anddevelopment solutions enable
millions of leaders around theworld to succeed, propelling
their organizations to newheights.

Stephanie Neal, M.A.
Director of DDI’s Center
for Analytics and Behavioral
Research and General Managerof the Global Leadership
Forecast

The authors would like toacknowledge the invaluable
contributions of the following
people:Jazmine Boatman, Ph.D.
Vice President, DDI Operations

Senior Content Editor
Beth Almes

Bruce Watt, Ph.D.
Vice President, International
Operations

Research Advisors
Andrea Ruttenberg, Mark Busine,
Liz Hogan, Rosey Rhyne

Principal Industry Analyst

Graphic Design
Janet Wiard, Susan Ryan,
Stacy Infantozzi, Ben Shulman

Josh Bersin

For more information, visit
ddiworld.com.

© Development Dimensions International, Inc., 2021. All rights reserved.

Project Management
Beth Gillen

Editorial
Carly Barry, Helene Michael,
Amy Reed
Project Contributors
Laura-Nelle Hurst, Nicola Potter