For those of us who think about leadership and are concerned that it is done well, 2024 was always going to be a big year. The headline area of interest was always going to be political leadership. With more people voting democratic elections in a single year than ever before, 2024 presented us with an unique opportunity to see how leadership is engaged with, responded to and perceived; with climate change urgency and social imperatives for change reaching severe tipping points, it gave us a chance to see what substance our incumbent leaders were made of.
So what did 2024 teach us about leadership? At times I have been wondering: ‘Is 2024 the year that leadership died?’
Political leadership has undoubtedly given us the most to reflect on. With nations from Algeria to Uzbekistan, and most of the alphabet in-between, holding presidential and general elections, and many more state and regional votes taking place as well, there was a lot to see and understand. Significantly, big players such as USA, India, Russia and the European Parliament were up for grabs, as well as nations which have created democratic models which form the foundations for many national government systems, such as France and the UK.
It goes without saying that while all democracy is equal, some are more equal than others. Not all votes may have been as free and representative as we’d want if we were doing a completely level benchmarking, but it is striking how we can draw threads across votes in all continents.
I believe that what we have seen is electorates searching for the simplicity of having someone be in charge. Leaving aside policy differences and political stance, it is absolutes which have won the day. On one hand we have seen is the appeal of technocratic and bureaucratic certainty, as seen in the UK with the election of lawyer and prosecutor Kier Starmer as Prime Minister, or in Mexico with the election of President Claudia Sheinbaum, a respected scientist and researcher. On the other we have seen values-led and dogmatic certainty in the continued and repeated election of Donald Trump in the US and Narendra Modi in India.
The two forms of certainty may feel like anathema to each other, but they are two sides of the same coin. Both give the wielder an aurora of assurance – that with their answers, whether ‘#facts’ or ‘#truths’, with them in charge things will be more certain and secure.
At this point it is worth me commenting on a fundamental truth about leadership. ‘Being in charge’ and leadership are not the same thing. To lead is to step back from power and create the space for followers, communities and insights to guide the way forward. For sure, leaders need to have ideals, values and beliefs, otherwise their leadership lacks substance and purpose, but they must know when to let go. It is the leader’s role to not be tied to dogmatism and ensure that they hear and question for alternatives in order to find the best solution.
But in 2024 this has not been a vote-winning position. Acknowledging and embracing the messiness of public discourse, the cacophony of valid opinions and positions and the multiple ‘right’ answers which exist has not appealed to electorates. Presenting oneself as powerful, whether through expertise of conviction has won the day.
In the commercial world this lean towards power and absolutism has perhaps been writ even larger. We have seen scale and wealth be leveraged in increasing ways, including in overt billionaire influence within the democratic process, attempts to accentuate power dynamics through mandates to return to past ways of working which may workforces have already left behind, or stepping back from the acknowledgement of diverse voices through the fading of initiatives which engage with diversity and difference.
What is it that has driven a push to certainty? It is the inexorable rise of change which we all experience every day. We are confronted with something new every time we look at the world around us. We see new technologies rising which change the meaning of our lives, we see conflict and geo-political changes taking place unpredictably, and above all there is the incomprehensible threat we have created for ourselves through climate change.
So, it is not surprising that right now we are drawn to absolutes – there are so few around us that any which are presented to us are grabbed at eagerly.
But the problem is that these will not work.
Leaders who are embedded in certainty will ultimately fail. As the world changes around them they hold on to the perspectives of the past and do not respond to the differences which emerge daily. Given the rate of change we are undergoing, this is doubly true for today. It is likely that by the time the most recent leaders who have been elected take office, the world will be a radically different to one in which they fought their campaigns.
What should we learn from leadership in 2024? It is that leaders must be grounded in a set of values, ideals and visions, in order to gain the confidence and buy-in of those around them, but that if they want to see these through they must let go and not confuse certainty and power for authority.
Is 2024 the year that leadership died? No, but we need to look in the right places. Beyond the headlines, and those who have structural leadership roles, we can all see around us examples of extraordinarily impactful leadership: in communities, in social initiatives, in the organisations we work in.
This is the truth of leadership – that it is a dispersed capability, not simply grounded in individuals and structures. Leadership is an act of consent and generosity. The interface between followers and leaders is where leadership happens as a shared action, and in 2025 we must hope that those we have asked to ‘lead’ us lean into this space and do not confuse the authority they are given with the certainty of power.
