By Kate Coombs
What does it take to become a better leader in 2025?
It’s true that business leaders today are navigating a far more unpredictable landscape than their predecessors and facing an even more uncertain future ahead, which has in turn shifted the demands for what qualities a good leader needs to have.
To survive – and thrive – in 2025 and beyond leaders now have to show their technical prowess, become literate in AI and have an in-depth understanding of how their organisation’s actions impact upon wider global challenges such as climate change, and use this knowledge to a professional advantage.
For existing leaders, and for those hoping to progress to the C-Suite, there is a steeper learning curve to conquer. To that end, a common step for such professionals is to gain new skills – engage in further education and training opportunities to build the competencies needed to ascend the career ladder.
As such there is a seemingly limitless choice of study options to consider when it comes to exploring better leadership skills.
But is brushing up on core competencies – and adding in new ones – enough? Whilst skills such as becoming technologically savvy are essential (Korn Ferry lists all of the above in its latest annual Workforce Global Insights Report), in 2025 being a ‘better’ leader requires digging a little deeper.
Alongside developing practical skills, business leaders must also be able to exercise and apply their emotional prowess – possessing the mental capability to understand how to apply their expertise in a responsible, ethic manner.
Whilst there are many educational programmes highly proficient in teaching the theory and strategy behind successful leadership, the material is often based on ideas and approaches which are increasingly at odds with how modern businesses operate and the demands placed upon leadership teams. Even programmes designed to equip leaders with digital skills, often fail to consider one other vital aspect – responsibility.
The Responsibility of Leadership
Emotional Intelligence (EQ) and capability is the other side of the leadership coin – especially when it comes to tackling modern challenges. Today’s leaders are required to be able to consider the ‘why’ behind their business decision making, so that they can ensure they are acting with the right values in mind.
Today’s leaders are required to be able to consider the ‘why’ behind their business decision making, so that they can ensure they are acting with the right values in mind.
Leaders are challenged to navigate difficult situations where their business decisions may require them to contradict their core values. Whilst moral value systems are largely universal, difficult business decisions can force leaders to deviate from their beliefs. Organisations typically facilitate this drift away from cores values, if it benefits their company. Leaders must build on their capacity to navigate situations which challenge their value systems by having more effective conversations and being empowered to challenge constructively.
As aspiring leaders advance in their career path, their thinking can become limited by the existing ethos at their organisations. Even the most idealistic of professionals can find their values are eroded over time to benefit the organisations they serve.
Whilst this might help them to gain a professional advantage, not only do such individuals risk becoming professionally unfulfilled when their aspirations do not end up matching the reality of their work, they will also find themselves increasingly out of step with the values of modern industry, especially when addressing significant challenges such as climate change or prioritising ethical actions.
In supporting leaders to get ahead in 2025, leadership training also needs an injection of EQ, supporting professionals in adjusting their approach to making business decisions in a way that meets business needs but enables them to stay true to their values.
At Imperial Executive Education, we have designed the Responsible Leadership in a Complex World programme to provide exactly this support.
Responsibly Conscious Leaders For A Complex Future
The programme is designed to enhance the practical and intellectual capabilities of business leaders to better tackle the challenges presented by the modern world that have not been faced by previous generations; AI, digital transformation and climate change, but also empower leaders to address these in an emotionally intelligent way.
By building the essential skills to navigate complexity and make informed, intelligent decisions, the programme acts as a reset button for professionals. Participants can take the opportunity to take stock of their career path, consider the legacy they wish to leave and gain the knowledge and support they need to return to the values they’ve held all along.
The benefit? More fulfilled, engaged leaders who can drive lasting impact within their organisations and wider society.
Supported by the work of Imperial’s Centre for Responsible Leadership, the programme incorporates cutting-edge research and insights into the most pressing challenges and ethical dilemmas facing organisations and those that lead them. The Centre is driven by the belief that responsible leadership transcends superficial compliance and trend-driven theories. To act in a responsible, ethical manner and create true lasting impact, leaders must take a deep dive into the practices and attitudes driving modern business and then seek to improve them.
By embedding the right values at the core of an organisation’s work and enacting it through every action, the Centre not only generates the means for positive ethical action but shares this best practice with industry.
Those industry leaders have also taken a role in designing the curriculum, with experts from eco-focused start-ups to multinational firms each sharing their own experience of embedding responsible leadership into their work. Participants are challenged to analyse these case studies, exploring the distinction between what is ‘right’ and what is most advantageous for an organisation, and understanding how to navigate both effectively.
The result is a curriculum that empowers leaders to tackle challenges in a way that not only generates profit but has a positive impact on people, planet and purpose.
A Personal Perspective
Learners can use this as a benchmark to track their development and understand in real time how the programme is helping to meet these goals.
Learners will take a personal approach by completing pre-study self-reflection and analysis. This provides an early window for learners to reflect on their own behaviours and consider how the programme can best help address their needs. By establishing their intentions early on, learners can use this as a benchmark to track their development and understand in real time how the programme is helping to meet these goals.
Whilst organisational contexts differ across the world, most values are universally held. Participants on the programme will be empowered to enact their moral values and become resilient in situations in which their values are tested, making it less likely that they’ll make decisions that they regret.
Through further study, participants can also discover the elements of their leadership behaviour that might hinder them from challenging the status quo and seeking to act in a more responsible way.
In establishing a peer network of progressive thinking and ongoing learning, participants are encouraged to share their successes and challenges, establishing better routes forward together.
Getting comfortable broaching the uncomfortable
In returning to the workplace, participants bring fresh vision as well as the tools to embed these within their teams, setting the right tone for the future. Navigating change is never easy, but leaders must learn to become comfortable with addressing the uncomfortable. Only then can they be sure they are moving forwards rather than falling back into old routines and value systems.
Continuing to navigate change and break free of the comfort zone is an essential attitude for lifelong learning and professional development. Change has become the only constant in industry – whether organisational, technical, societal or geopolitical. To stay ahead, leaders need a new compass from which to navigate and must be unwavering in following it. Like all explorers, in charting a new course, they are sure to leave a legacy in their wake.
You can find out more about the ‘Responsible Leadership in a Complex World’ programme on the Imperial Executive Education website. The programme takes place at Imperial’s South Kensington campus from Monday 3 November – Friday 7 November 2025.
