By Shawn Snyder

Key Leadership Insights

• Leadership transitions are happening more frequently as CEO tenure shortens and workforce mobility rises. Organizations that do not prepare successors in advance risk operational disruption and strategic drift.
• Succession planning and succession management are not the same thing. Planning identifies who could step in; management builds the ongoing system that develops those people over time.
• The gap between intention and execution is where most organizations fail. Research shows 86% of executives call succession planning a priority, yet only 14% believe their organizations actually do it well.
• Internal candidates consistently outperform external hires in operational performance and organizational continuity. Building leadership from within is not just a preference, it is a strategic advantage.
• Development only works through real experience. Stretch assignments, mentoring, cross-functional exposure, and coaching are what actually prepare future leaders, not just identifying them on a grid.
• Succession management does not end when a transition occurs. Leadership pipelines require continuous review, updated development plans, and consistent senior leadership involvement to remain effective.

A report by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics stating that over 3.3 million U.S. workers quit their jobs in May 2025 highlights a growing reality for organizations: leadership exits are no longer rare or predictable. And resignations are only part of a broader spectrum, with retirements, internal promotions, and organizational changes also contributing to frequent leadership movements.

Recent research reinforces the scale of this challenge. A Harvard Law School study shows that the median tenure of S&P 500 CEOs has declined from six years in 2013 to about 4.8 years in 2022, while more than 1,400 U.S. CEOs stepped down in 2023 alone.

When leadership transitions happen more frequently, organizations face a critical challenge: maintaining continuity without disrupting performance.

A widely cited example of internal succession is Microsoft’s leadership transition in 2014. When Steve Ballmer stepped down, Satya Nadella, a longtime Microsoft executive who had led the company’s Cloud and Enterprise division, was selected as CEO after a months-long search. His deep experience within the organization and his leadership in cloud infrastructure positioned him to guide Microsoft’s strategic shift toward cloud computing.

Not every organization is that prepared. Research consistently shows that leadership pipelines remain a weak point in many companies. According to Deloitte research, 86% of executives say succession planning is a priority, yet only about 14% believe their organizations execute it effectively.

This gap between intention and execution is where many organizations struggle. Instead of preparing for leadership change, they manage it after the fact. That is where succession planning and succession management become essential. A structured succession management process, supported by modern tools and reinforced through succession planning training, helps organizations anticipate leadership transitions and build stability before gaps appear.

Step-by-Step Succession Management Process

Before breaking down the steps, it’s important to clarify how succession planning fits into the broader picture of succession management. Succession planning focuses on identifying potential successors for critical roles, essentially answering the question of who could step in if a leadership position becomes vacant.

Meanwhile, succession management builds on that foundation. Rather than stopping at identification, it turns succession planning into an ongoing, structured system. It focuses on continuously developing potential leaders, tracking their progress, and aligning their growth with future business needs. This approach is often strengthened when leaders and HR teams receive succession planning training that helps them apply these frameworks consistently.

Below is the step-by-step process that explains how succession management becomes a repeatable system rather than a one-time exercise.

Identify Critical Roles and Risk Areas:

Succession management begins with identifying roles that are critical to business performance, revenue generation, or operational continuity. These typically include:

• Senior leadership roles
• Key managerial positions
• Specialized roles where expertise is difficult to replace

The goal is to understand risk exposures that could trigger a leadership gap. These may include planned retirements, promotions, long-term leave, or rising turnover. Organizations that map these risks early shift from reactive hiring to proactive leadership preparation.

Define Future Role Requirements and Leadership Competencies

Once critical roles are identified, organizations must define what success looks like in those roles, not just today, but in the future.

Leadership roles evolve as strategies, technologies, and markets change. For example, many leadership positions now require stronger digital literacy, data-driven decision-making, and change management skills. Creating competency frameworks helps organizations clarify:

• Strategic thinking capabilities
• Leadership behaviors
• Operational expertise required for future roles

This clarity ensures that succession planning prepares leaders for future demands rather than past expectations.

Assess Internal Talent and Potential

The next step involves evaluating internal talent to determine who has the potential to move into critical leadership roles.

This assessment goes beyond current performance. Performance measures how well someone performs in their current role, while potential measures their capacity to handle more complex responsibilities in the future. Organizations typically use tools such as:

• Talent review discussions
• 9-box performance–potential grids
• Leadership readiness assessments

Research suggests that organizations benefit significantly from developing internal candidates. An analysis of 1,800 CEO successions found that company performance tended to be stronger when insiders were promoted to the CEO role rather than external hires. These findings highlight why many organizations prioritize building internal leadership pipelines.

Conduct Gap Analysis for Successor Readiness

Gap analysis compares an employee’s current capabilities with the requirements of a future role. This step identifies:

• Existing strengths
• Development gaps
• Leadership readiness levels

For example, a high-performing manager may excel operationally but lack experience in strategic planning or enterprise-level decision-making. Identifying these gaps early allows organizations to focus development efforts and avoid premature promotions that create leadership instability.

Create and Execute Development Plans

Identifying successors is only the beginning. They must be actively developed.

Development plans should focus on experiential learning, which research consistently shows is the most effective form of leadership development. McKinsey notes that strong succession pipelines combine stretch assignments, coaching, mentoring, and cross-functional exposure to prepare future leaders. Typical development methods include:

• Cross-functional projects
• Stretch leadership assignments
• Executive mentoring
• Coaching programs
• Leadership training initiatives

These experiences gradually prepare successors for larger responsibilities.

After the Leadership Transition

When done correctly, succession planning enables organizations to replace leadership roles internally. However, succession management does not end when a transition occurs. Organizational priorities, employee aspirations, and business conditions evolve over time. Regular reviews help organizations:

• Track successor readiness
• Reassess leadership risks
• Update development plans

This ensures that succession planning remains a continuous leadership development process rather than a static plan.

Why Succession Planning Often Fails

Even when organizations implement formal succession processes, leadership pipelines sometimes fail. Understanding why helps organizations avoid common mistakes.

Over-Reliance on External Hiring

One common mistake is relying too heavily on external hires to fill leadership roles.

External executives can bring new ideas and perspectives, but frequent external hiring may weaken internal leadership pipelines. Studies also show that external leaders often require longer adjustment periods and tend to have higher turnover rates.

Research from leadership studies indicates that internal successors typically outperform external hires in operational performance and organizational continuity. Organizations that consistently recruit externally may unintentionally signal that leadership opportunities are limited, which can discourage internal talent development.

Treating Succession Planning as One-Time Exercise

Another common failure occurs when succession planning is treated as an annual HR activity rather than an ongoing strategic process. Many companies conduct succession reviews once a year but fail to update them regularly. When leadership transitions occur months or years later, those plans are often outdated.

This disconnect is reflected in research showing that while most organizations consider succession planning important, only a small percentage believe their leadership pipeline is truly prepared. Effective succession management requires continuous monitoring, development, and leadership involvement.

Tools to Use for Succession Planning and Management

Succession planning is supported by a range of tools that help organizations document talent pipelines, assess leadership potential, and track development progress. These tools generally fall into three categories.

1. Talent assessment frameworks

Tools such as the 9-box grid help organizations evaluate employees based on performance and potential. This visual framework allows leadership teams to identify high-potential talent and prioritize development efforts.

2. Internal succession trackers

Many organizations begin with internal spreadsheets or structured templates that track critical roles, potential successors, readiness levels, and development actions.

3. Integrated talent management platforms

As organizations scale, many adopt digital platforms such as SAP SuccessFactors, Cornerstone, or similar HR systems. These tools integrate talent assessment, leadership development tracking, and workforce analytics.

While technology can support succession planning, tools alone do not guarantee leadership continuity. The effectiveness of these systems ultimately depends on consistent leadership engagement and ongoing development efforts.

Takeaways

Effective succession planning and management are not about filling vacancies at the last minute. At a broader level, they are about building leadership readiness over time. As leadership turnover increases across industries, organizations that invest in strong succession pipelines gain a significant strategic advantage. By identifying critical roles, developing internal talent, and maintaining structured succession systems, companies can reduce leadership risk and maintain continuity even during periods of transition.

When implemented effectively, succession management becomes more than an HR exercise. It becomes a core leadership strategy that protects organizational stability and supports long-term growth.

By Megan Broker and Chris Burton

Leadership no longer operates in two dimensions.

The decisions leaders face today are layered, fast-moving, and deeply human. Geopolitical uncertainty, shifting markets, talent shortages, and rising expectations for both performance and empathy now intersect inside the same leadership moment. At the same time, many organizations have scaled back formal leadership development programs, leaving leaders to navigate growing complexity with fewer structured spaces to pause and think.

In this environment, leadership development cannot remain a flat conversation focused only on goals or performance metrics.

It must become more dimensional.

Consider a senior executive stepping into a newly merged organization. On paper, the priorities are clear: align strategy, integrate teams, deliver results. But the real work quickly reveals itself to be more complicated. Long-standing loyalties remain tied to the legacy organizations. Trust has not yet formed across teams. Meetings carry subtle tensions. Even routine decisions quietly signal something about power, culture, and the future.

The challenges this leader faces are not simply strategic. They are relational, personal, and forward-looking all at once.

Helping leaders navigate that kind of complexity requires something more than a linear exchange between two people discussing goals. It requires a broader lens—something closer to three dimensions.

A Useful Metaphor for Leadership Development

Think about the moment you buy a new smartphone—an iPhone, for example.

Most people choose it for a few clear reasons: the camera, faster processing, better connectivity. You set it up, start sending messages, taking photos, checking email, and within minutes it becomes part of your daily routine.

But here’s the truth: most people only ever use a small fraction of what that device can actually do.

Few explore the focus settings that reduce distractions during the day. Many never fully use the calendar tools that can structure an entire week. Features like habit tracking, automation shortcuts, and customized notifications often sit quietly unused.

The potential is there. We simply don’t access most of it.

Leadership development works in much the same way.

Leaders often arrive focused on the issue they can see: a difficult conversation, a stalled initiative, a team dynamic that isn’t working. But the visible issue is rarely the full story.

The most valuable moments in coaching often emerge when a leader pauses long enough to notice what sits beneath the surface—patterns in how they respond to pressure, assumptions shaping their decisions, or dynamics inside a team that had previously gone unspoken.

Technology can help leaders track goals, capture reflections, and organize priorities. Increasingly, AI tools can assist with those functions.

What technology still struggles to do is notice the subtle human signals inside leadership moments: the hesitation in someone’s voice when they describe a meeting, the tension that appears when a particular colleague is mentioned, or the quiet realization that a familiar leadership habit may no longer serve the situation.

Those small observations often open the door to the most meaningful leadership insight.

What 3D Coaching Looks Like

When coaching expands beyond a narrow focus on goals, the conversation naturally begins to move in three directions.

Inward.

Leaders reflect on their own habits, values, and leadership presence—how they respond under pressure and what shapes their decisions.

Outward.

Attention shifts to relationships, team dynamics, and the systems the leader influences. What is happening around them, and how are others experiencing their leadership?

Forward.

The conversation turns toward the leader they will need to become to meet what is coming next—whether that involves growth, uncertainty, or transformation.

Taken together, these dimensions create a fuller view of leadership than a simple goal-tracking discussion ever could.

For many leaders, the most valuable coaching moments are not dramatic breakthroughs. They are quieter insights—the question that reframes a difficult meeting, the reflection that shifts how feedback is delivered, the realization that a familiar leadership habit may no longer fit the demands of the moment.

Getting More From Coaching

The leaders who gain the most from coaching tend to approach it with curiosity and openness.

They bring real situations into the conversation. They test new approaches. They reflect between sessions and return with new questions.

Over time, coaching becomes less about solving isolated problems and more about strengthening how a leader interprets situations, makes decisions, and leads through complexity.

In a world that continues to grow more interconnected and unpredictable, leaders benefit from spaces where they can step out of the immediacy of decisions and look more broadly at how they lead, how they influence others, and how they continue to grow.

That shift—from a flat exchange focused only on performance to a more dimensional exploration of leadership in context—is what moves coaching from two dimensions into three.

And for leaders navigating today’s environment, that broader perspective is often where the most important growth begins.

Because the future of leadership development isn’t simply about solving the problem in front of you.

It’s about learning to see the full picture around it.

By Wema Hoover

There’s an elephant in the room that many organizations are still reluctant to acknowledge: AI is here, already working alongside your employees and reshaping how business gets done. The question isn’t whether AI will transform your workforce—it’s whether you’re going to lead that transformation or be swept along by it. The extent of this shift cannot be overstated: A recent Gallup study found that the percentage of U.S. employees using AI in their jobs at least a few times per year has nearly doubled in just two years, rising from 21% to 40%. The pace at which AI is infiltrating daily workflows, often without formal direction from leadership, demands a new kind of organizational self-awareness and responsiveness.

There’s a lack of acknowledgement that AI is here, but the truth is that it has been a silent employee, that’s not so silent anymore. The reality is that AI is being highly used across organizations in countless ways, and the individual employee has become the bridge, bringing AI capability into business processes whether leadership formally recognizes it or not.

While supporting organizations to navigate this shift, I’ve observed a fundamental disconnect. Although companies are investing astronomical amounts in AI capabilities, we recently saw tech giants like Meta and Google make record purchases of AI infrastructure, contributing significantly to economic growth; many of these same organizations haven’t stopped to ask the most basic question: How does AI impact the behaviors, performance, and outcomes being driven by our business? McKinsey research reinforces this disconnect, noting that while almost all companies are investing in AI, only 1% believe they are at full AI maturity. The real barrier isn’t employee resistance—which is often assumed—but a lack of leadership vision to strategically steer and align these changes.

The Generational Divide We Must Address

What I see happening in real time is creating a gap that organizations must close. I’ve watched my daughter navigate the college application process where universities have built sophisticated controls around AI use—communicating its use to help the selection process, but they’ve also created behavioral questions and safeguards to ensure student applicants are sharing their personal stories and insights, so their authentic voice shines through.

My daughter’s Gen Z generation sees AI as just another tool, like Snapchat or any other digital companion they’ve grown up with. There’s no fear, no anxiety. Just natural adoption and experimentation. According to Forbes, Gen Z is growing up with AI as a fundamental part of their workflow, considering it as natural as any digital tool in their daily lives. They experiment with AI tools just like they experiment with new social media platforms. This is their companion, their best friend that they’ve lived with throughout high school and college.

For those of us who’ve been in the workforce longer, the adaptation curve looks different. The ways of learning, unlearning and adopting new things looks much different and organizations must understand this. They need to get that level of adaptation and utility across the whole workforce, not just one population that lies in the youth.

Moving Beyond the Threat Narrative

Some will argue that the evolution of AI will result in job displacement but is an antiquated view. If we look at models of business that are in place today that have shifted because of technology, there was never a question like “we’re not going to advance because people are going to lose their jobs.” We advanced, we used the technology, and we freed up capacity to do more innovative, transformative, and groundbreaking things.

There are indisputable examples like the Industrial Revolution, the manufacturing automation, and what was Blockbuster and what now is Netflix. Throughout our modern history of corporations and organizations, there has always been a technology function that has minimized or eliminated certain roles. But what has also happened is that it opened up new doors in terms of capabilities and abilities. This is organization’s greatest challenge and greatest opportunity today.

We must move away from the belief that AI will eliminate roles for people who do certain things. I would say it’s going to free up capacity for us to actually drive more creative people-centered efforts that drive market understanding and business impact. When organizations identify how AI can complement, rather than eliminate, their businesses, it becomes more about organizational change—acknowledging that this technology will help free up workforce capacity to adopt and control new capabilities.

Building the Framework for Success

The organizations getting this right are treating AI as a core capability, just like any other business capability. They’re looking at facets of their business and functional areas, identifying AI as a strength and competitive advantage that allows them to do certain things better. This makes it easier to develop skills around using it in a healthy way and leveraging the time, brain share, and talent of the workforce now that they can supplement with these tools.

But here’s the critical piece that many organizations miss: you cannot implement AI without robust guardrails. AI has real limitations—it’s not 100% accurate. There’s a term now called “AI fallacy” because it will go so far as to make things up. This is where organizations must take a position and understand what AI can be used for, putting guardrails in place and ensuring its use is aligned with their value, behaviors, and purpose so that it doesn’t affect the integrity or impact of the business.

Even the founders of major AI platforms have been warning that AI is a great companion and tool, but not a replacement tool, and must be managed with responsibility and care. Establishing controls for its effective usage, educating on it as a complementary tool and embedding it in leadership and workforce development efforts will ensure it’s used at its highest potential.

Maintaining Values-Driven Integration

Most importantly, organizations need to identify what AI means to their core business—not only what they do, but how they do it. It’s critical to make sure AI is being used with the highest integrity, rooted in an organization’s purpose and values.

When you approach AI integration, you must ask: What do we believe in? What is our why? How are we going to make sure that our use of AI and our ability to accelerate it is not compromised by failing to work with integrity, values, and proper behaviors? These things should be understood, addressed and integrated into the ways of working for all organizations.

The Path Forward

The AI revolution is upon us, and like every major technological shift before it, it will create new opportunities for those ready to embrace it. But the pace of adoption has outpaced the learning and the real inventory of understanding how AI can be used and what benefits it can bring to organizations. As highlighted by McKinsey, the real challenge to scaling AI isn’t employee resistance, employees are ready, but the need for stronger, more visionary leadership to unlock AI’s full value at work.

The moment is now. Companies are tapping into AI’s capabilities and recognize that there will be more reliance on it in the future. Given this, it’s essential for organizations to understand AI as a capability and a strength, with clear frameworks for implementation that honor their mission, values and overall purpose and reason for being.

The future belongs to organizations that can blend the strengths of both humans and AI, creating hybrid workforces that are more capable and more innovative with greater alignment with their purpose to enable better performance. But this requires intentional leadership, thoughtful implementation, and unwavering commitment to maintaining the human qualities that define organizational culture while embracing the transformative potential of AI technology.

By Profiles in Leadership Journal

Every so often, a sentence appears that quietly rearranges how we think about a life.

I recently read a remark by his son, Skip, about the late football coach Lou Holtz. It was short enough to fit in a single breath:

“He was successful, but more importantly, he was significant.”

I stopped when I read it. Success is easy for us to recognize. It comes with statistics, titles, and applause. The business world measures it constantly. Revenue, promotions, growth curves, market share. These things matter, and they deserve respect. They represent effort, risk, and discipline.

But significance is a different kind of achievement. It is harder to measure and almost impossible to display on a chart.

Success is what we accomplish. Significance is what happens to other people because we were here.

That distinction may be one of the most important questions a leader can ask.

Many years ago, when I began publishing what is now Profiles in Leadership Journal™, the goal was never simply to produce another business publication. The deeper intention was recognition. To notice people inside organizations who were doing something meaningful and say to the world, “Look at this person. Their leadership matters.”

Over time, thousands of leaders have been recognized through the awards and profiles we have published. Women Worth Watching^®. Emerging Leaders. Veterans. Leaders across many communities and industries.

Something interesting happens when a person is recognized. Confidence rises. A career changes direction. A family sees their parent or spouse through a new lens. Sometimes a young employee in the same company reads the story and quietly thinks, “Maybe I can become that kind of leader too.”

That is the moment when recognition stops being about success and begins to move toward significance.

The truth is that many highly successful people are forgotten quickly. Their accomplishments were real, but the influence stopped at the edge of their own achievements.

Significant people leave something behind that continues to move through other lives. A habit of generosity. A standard of integrity. A belief that others can rise higher than they imagined.

In leadership circles, we often talk about legacy as if it were something carved in stone. In reality, it is more subtle than that. Legacy is simply the collection of effects we leave on the people around us.

A mentor who took time when others were too busy. A manager who opened a door that changed someone’s career. A leader who noticed potential and said the words that allowed someone else to believe in themselves. Success may build the résumé. Significance builds the human story.

As I grow older, I find myself thinking about that difference more often. Many people chase success with extraordinary energy. Fewer pause long enough to ask whether their work is also creating significance for others. Perhaps that is the quiet question worth asking from time to time. When the work is finished and the titles are long gone, what will remain in the lives of the people we touched?

Success is visible. Significance is felt. And if we are fortunate, the second one may matter far more than the first.

By Samina Bari

In the venture capital world, a stark reality persists. Only 2% of VC funding goes to women-led startups. This statistic isn’t just disappointing—it’s an economic missed opportunity of staggering proportions. Meanwhile, women in the US alone control approximately $34 trillion in investable assets, with McKinsey & Co. projecting this figure to represent roughly 38% of all investable assets by 2030.

The disconnect between women’s financial power and their access to venture funding represents not just inequity, but a fundamental failure of the existing system. Rather than continuing to push against this entrenched bias, it’s time for a paradigm shift: women creating their own investment ecosystems.

BEYOND BIAS: UNDERSTANDING THE GAP

The venture capital ecosystem wasn’t built with women in mind. As I’ve witnessed throughout my career, the entire system was created by men, with inherent biases that manifest in both subtle and overt ways.

Take the pitch process, for example. Research shows that women founders face disproportionately skeptical questions focused on potential losses and scrutinizing their business fundamentals. Meanwhile, male founders receive questions that invite them to paint ambitious visions of growth and opportunity. When male-founded startups pitch, they receive funding nearly 40% of the time, compared to just 2% for women-founded ventures. This fundamental difference in approach creates a playing field that is anything but level.

But rather than fixating on moving the needle from 2% to 3% within a system designed against us, why not redirect our energy toward building our own ecosystem?

LEVERAGING COLLECTIVE POWER

With women controlling $34 trillion in investable [SB1] assets, we possess untapped potential that could transform the business landscape. Studies reveal that startups with at least one female founder generate 78 cents of revenue for every dollar invested, compared to 31 cents for male-only founded companies, making women-founded companies more than twice as capital-efficient. This isn’t just about financial returns—it’s about creating the future we want to see.

The wealth women hold represents power waiting to be exercised. By educating ourselves about investment opportunities, particularly in ventures led by other women, we can simultaneously generate returns and create a more balanced business ecosystem for future generations.

Too many women don’t recognize the power they already hold. We’ve made money for corporations, male executives, and shareholders throughout our careers. It’s time to redirect that wealth-generating capability toward us and each other.

BUILDING NETWORKS THAT ELEVATE

A critical component of this new ecosystem is creating and nurturing networks dedicated to supporting women in business and investment. There are many organizations available to women that provide spaces for connecting and fostering relationships based on mutual support rather than competition.

These communities offer more than networking—they provide education, mentorship, and connections to investment opportunities that might otherwise remain hidden. Unlike many traditional business environments, these spaces are intentionally designed for women to lift each other rather than tear each other down.

My involvement with these networks has provided not just professional opportunities but personal fulfillment through genuine community and camaraderie. In a world that has grown increasingly isolated, these connections remind us that we’re meant to be part of something larger than ourselves.

OVERCOMING INTERNAL BARRIERS

Beyond external obstacles, we must acknowledge the internal barriers that sometimes hold women back from investing in each other. The imposter syndrome that affects so many women professionals doesn’t just limit how we see ourselves—it can influence how we perceive other women.

Unconsciously projecting our own insecurities onto female founders or business leaders creates a cycle that perpetuates underinvestment. Breaking this cycle requires recognizing these biases and actively working against them.

The data supporting women-led businesses is compelling. When women overcome these psychological barriers and invest in ventures led by other women, they’re not making charitable contributions—they’re making smart business decisions backed by performance metrics.

CREATING LASTING IMPACT

The ripple effects of women investing in women extend far beyond individual returns. As more female-founded companies receive funding, we’ll see more women in leadership positions, more balanced boardrooms, and greater progress toward closing persistent wage gaps.

Women’s leadership tends to bring greater empathy to business decisions, creating environments where diverse perspectives are valued. Most importantly, this shift provides strong female role models for younger generations, demonstrating that there are no limits to what women can achieve.

While systemic change may take decades, we don’t need to wait. By creating our metrics for success instead of measuring against a biased yardstick, we can build momentum that eventually transforms the entire investment landscape.

THE PATH FORWARD

For those ready to begin, the first step is simple: seek out communities specifically designed to support women’s professional and financial growth, connect with others who share the same mission, and help open doors to knowledge and opportunity.

We can create investment ecosystems that reflect our values and priorities by believing in ourselves individually and applying that faith to our collective power as women. The traditional venture capital model may have been built without us in mind, but the future of funding doesn’t have to follow the same pattern.

Women have the financial power to reshape the business landscape. It’s time we stopped asking for permission to have a seat at the table—and started building tables of our own.

PLJ Recognizes our
2025 INNOVATION LEADER
Award Winners

Profiles in Leadership Journal is honored to present the recipients of the 2025 Innovation Leader Award. This esteemed accolade recognizes visionary leaders within organizations who are at the forefront of advancing cutting-edge strategies, programs, and practices. These distinguished individuals are committed to fostering innovation, enhancing efficiency, streamlining workflows, and ultimately elevating organizational productivity. By forging new pathways and nurturing a positive work environment, these Innovation Leaders significantly contribute to the overall performance and success of their organizations. Discover more about these exceptional individuals in the following pages.

2025 Innovation Leader Award Winners

• Epiq Global – Abbas Najarali – Senior Director of Digital Transformation
• Knobbe Martens – Shannon Lam – Partner
• Latham & Watkins LLP – Haim Zaltzman – Global Vice Chair, Emerging Companies & Growth Practice
• Momentus Capital – Kimberly Dorsett – Chief Human Resources Officer
• New York Life – Dylan Sapienza – AI Product Manager
• Orbital Engineering, Inc. – Robby Frantz – Senior Vice President, Utility Services
• Orbital Engineering, Inc. – David Timczyk – Chief Technology Officer

By Christine Sakdalan

Despite significant efforts to diversify corporate leadership, women still face substantial hurdles in securing public board seats. In 2024, women hold only about 28% of board seats across Fortune 500 companies. Boardrooms face rising pressure to reflect the stakeholders they serve, and these numbers underscore the gap between progress made and progress still required. As a senior pharmaceutical executive actively pursuing board opportunities, I’ve learned that board service is not an overnight achievement but rather a deliberate journey requiring patience, persistence, and purpose.

Purpose Beyond Corporate Leadership

For me, board service represents more than just a prestigious addition to my resume – it’s a purposeful extension of my career journey.

I see board roles as an opportunity to broaden my impact beyond my current executive responsibilities, allowing me to contribute meaningfully to organizations while continuing to grow as a leader. This isn’t about changing what I’m doing now; it’s about continuing to make meaningful contributions while stretching myself to be intellectually challenged beyond my day to day. Board service offers the perfect avenue to leverage my experience to help organizations while continuing my own leadership journey.

Building a Board Portfolio: My Three-Pronged Approach

Securing board seats requires building a comprehensive portfolio showcasing your readiness. My approach focuses on three key areas:

1. Refining My Personal Brand and Value Proposition

The competition for board seats is intense, particularly for women. Through my work supporting senior leaders, I’ve learned to narrow down my extensive experience into a clear sense of the value I bring – unique to me and also unique in the marketplace.

My particular strength lies in taking something ambiguous, something that doesn’t exist in an organization, and building that capability from the ground up while infusing the right culture. This ability to create structure from ambiguity and build effective teams represents a differentiated skill set that adds distinctive value to boards.

2. Leveraging My Executive Role and Advisory Positions

I’m currently pursuing board opportunities while still active in my executive role, ensuring my perspectives remain fresh and relevant. This dual positioning enables me to offer insights that are current and directly informed by real-time leadership demands. My current executive position offers a platform to develop board-relevant skills. I approach this strategically by viewing my responsibilities through an enterprise lens.

I don’t just think about my current focus area; I think about my position as an enterprise leader and learn from what I see around me. This broader perspective—understanding challenges across multiple functions—builds precisely the strategic outlook boards seek.

I also actively participate in advisory capacities across various forums, including the Pharmaceutical Executive Advisory Board, the Google Health Advisory Board (previously), and startups seeking commercialization guidance. These advisory roles allow me to help others while gaining valuable governance experience that strengthens my board candidacy.

Leading the board of MVP, the non-profit I founded, has given me practical, real-world board experience. We recently brought on a 30-year-old board member, and the fresh energy and perspective they bring have been invaluable. They ask different questions, challenge assumptions productively, and bring innovative thinking that elevates our discussions. This experience has confirmed for me that intergenerational perspectives are not a “nice-to-have,” they’re core to effective boards and healthy organizations.

Most recently, I’ve been appointed to the private board of a small healthcare company where I can apply my pharmaceutical industry expertise in a governance capacity. This appointment represents a significant milestone in my board journey—validating the strategic approach I’ve taken while providing invaluable hands-on experience in corporate board dynamics. The role allows me to contribute directly to strategic decision-making in the healthcare sector while further developing the governance skills that will strengthen my candidacy for additional board opportunities.

3. Expanding My Network with Purpose

Perhaps the most crucial element of a successful board journey is purposeful networking. Board appointments still largely happen through connections, with existing board members discussing who they know when seats become available.

The key insight I’ve gained is the importance of being forthright about aspirations. You have to raise your hand. People need to know you’re interested. This directness may feel uncomfortable, but it’s essential for activating your network.

I didn’t initially realize you had to be so direct. I thought it was just about networking and waiting for opportunities to open. This revelation transformed my approach. Now, I deliberately schedule networking conversations, asking contacts to review my board resume, give me feedback and make introductions. I’m branching beyond my immediate industry, connecting with leaders from varied backgrounds who offer different perspectives and connections.

Starting Early: A Message for Younger Professionals

One of the most important lessons I’ve learned is that board preparation shouldn’t wait until later in your career. Younger professionals—those in their 30s and even late 20s—should begin building board-relevant experience now. There’s no need to wait until you’ve reached senior executive levels.

Start by seeking advisory roles, joining non-profit boards, or volunteering for governance committees in professional organizations. These experiences build the strategic thinking, fiduciary responsibility understanding, and governance skills that translate directly to corporate board service. The earlier you start developing this expertise, the stronger your eventual candidacy will be.

My experience with our young MVP board member demonstrates that age brings valuable perspectives that complement experience. Organizations increasingly recognize that diverse age representation strengthens decision-making and helps boards stay connected to evolving market dynamics and stakeholder expectations.

Staying Motivated: Celebrating Progress Along the Path

The journey to board service can be lengthy and discouraging, particularly for women and people of color who face additional barriers. What keeps me motivated is remembering the value I bring and the opportunity to pave the way for others.

I remind myself that I have tremendous value to offer organizations seeking board members. I also find motivation in the challenge itself. The harder something is to achieve, the more motivated I become, especially knowing that my success can open doors for others.

Recognition of incremental progress is equally important. Creating a board-focused resume, receiving interest from startups, or becoming more direct in expressing my aspirations—these steps represent meaningful progress deserving acknowledgment. Each milestone, from advisory roles to actual board service, builds credibility and demonstrates readiness for the next opportunity.

The Path Forward: A Call to Persistence

As women leaders contemplating board service, we must remember how hard we’ve worked to reach our current positions. That same determination serves us well on the board journey.

We cannot forget, especially as women leaders, the value we bring to a board. This self-belief, coupled with our responsibility to pave paths for younger generations of leaders, provides powerful motivation to persist.

The journey to board service may be longer and more challenging than anticipated, but the destination remains worthwhile. Persistence pays off, and the strategic approach I’ve outlined can yield tangible results. For those of us sharing this journey, I encourage you to keep going. Keep refining how you articulate the value you bring, leveraging your executive experience, and purposefully expanding your network, and you will build a compelling case for board consideration. Board service isn’t a finish line; it’s a path toward influence with purpose. Each step, each conversation, and each connection helps build a legacy of leadership others can follow.

A practical guide for emerging executives who want to lead with empathy without sacrificing results.

By Shweta Maniar

Why do aggressive leadership styles capture headlines while empathetic leaders quietly deliver exceptional results? The answer might surprise you: leaders who prioritize trust, empathy, and genuine human connection aren’t just surviving—they’re thriving. And the data proves what many of us have suspected all along. Being “too nice” isn’t a weakness. It’s your secret weapon and especially important as retention crises plague organizations, multi-generational workforce shifts demand new approaches, and AI-driven change creates unprecedented need for human-centric leaders.

Quick Facts on Trust & Performance

• High-engagement organizations show 18% higher productivity and ~50% reduction in turnover
• High-trust teams have 76% more engagement and 40% less burnout
• High-trust cultures outperform competitors by 20% financially
• Employees in high-trust environments experience 74% less stress

The Trust Advantage: The Numbers Tell the Story

Here’s what happens when you lead with trust instead of fear: Gallup research shows that organizations with high employee engagement—often the result of high trust—see up to 18% higher productivity and can reduce turnover by up to half, which is transformational for business outcomes. That’s not just good for morale—it’s transformational for business outcomes.

But the benefits run deeper than spreadsheets. When trust becomes your foundation, you’re not just managing people, you’re unleashing potential and positioning yourself as the kind of leader organizations revere.

When Crisis Meets Compassion: A Real-World Test

Picture this. You’re leading a team tasked with building a complex new feature under an impossible deadline. Multiple teams are working in silos, stress levels are through the roof, and bottlenecks are multiplying faster than you can count them.

The old-school playbook says you should apply pressure, demand longer hours, and push harder.

I chose a different path—one built on trust and psychological safety.

Instead of micromanaging, I listened. Instead of assigning blame for inevitable mistakes, I acknowledged the pressure everyone was feeling. Most importantly, I made transparency about challenges not just acceptable, but essential.

The breakthrough came when one team member, someone who had been struggling with a crucial component for days, finally felt safe enough to say, “I’m stuck, and I need help.”

In a culture without that psychological safety, this person might have hesitated, worried that asking for help would damage their reputation. But because we had built trust, they reached out for a fresh perspective.

Within hours, colleagues jumped in. Through open dialogue about different assumptions and approaches, they discovered a solution more elegant than anyone could have developed alone. The project didn’t just meet its deadline—it exceeded expectations.

This outcome reflects what research consistently shows: high-trust teams demonstrate 76% more engagement and 40% less burnout, creating conditions where breakthrough thinking becomes possible even under pressure.

The Magic of Unscripted Moments

Some of the best breakthroughs don’t happen in formal meetings. They happen in hallways, during coffee runs, in those spontaneous “Do you have two seconds?” conversations that feel almost accidental.

These unscripted moments are gold. In formal meetings, people come prepared and polished. In hallway conversations, they’re authentic and unguarded. That’s where real insights live. The genuine frustrations, the brilliant passing thoughts, the honest concerns that never make it into status reports.

This is precisely why in-person time remains irreplaceable in our hybrid working world. While video calls can replicate structured discussions, they can’t manufacture serendipity. You can’t bump into someone virtually or catch the subtle shift in energy when two people realize they’re solving the same problem from different angles. The best breakthroughs emerge from the unplanned collision of ideas when we’re face-to-face.

I recently witnessed this during a high-stakes executive meeting where an unplanned question revealed critical insights we would never have uncovered through our structured agenda. The spontaneous nature of the interaction, combined with reading body language and tone, provided nuances that would have been lost in emails or formal presentations.

The power of these informal moments is backed by data. Teams with strong informal communication networks show 106% more energy at work and generate innovative solutions to complex problems more consistently, exactly the kind of results that have fast-tracked careers.

Redefining What “Tough” Really Means for Your Leadership Brand

Let’s address the elephant in the room. There’s a persistent myth that effective leaders must be aggressive or intimidating to be taken seriously or get results.

This thinking isn’t just outdated—it’s counterproductive. True toughness isn’t about instilling fear. It’s about resilience and strategic clarity.

Being nice doesn’t mean avoiding difficult conversations. It means having them with respect and focus on solutions. It takes more skill and sophistication to engage in thoughtful, respectful dialogue than to shut down questions through intimidation.

Strategic clarity emerges when you provide clear expectations and accountability while maintaining psychological safety. Your team performs best when they understand what needs to be done, why it matters, and how their work connects to the bigger picture.

The results speak for themselves: organizations with high-trust cultures outperform competitors by up to 20% in financial metrics, while their employees experience 74% less stress, creating a sustainable competitive advantage built on human connection rather than fear.

The Authenticity Factor

In today’s fast-moving business environment, where someone recently joked to me that “every week is like the equivalent of a year with how fast AI is moving”—authenticity becomes even more critical for leaders at every level.

Teams can spot inauthentic leadership from miles away. There are always side conversations, always back-channel communications where people share their real thoughts about effectiveness.

Genuine empathetic leadership requires understanding what I call “professional love languages,” how individual team members prefer to be recognized and motivated. Some thrive on public acknowledgment, others prefer private feedback, and still others are energized by increased responsibility or new challenges.

Effective leaders invest time in understanding these preferences and tailoring their approach accordingly. It’s not about being soft—it’s about being smart.

The Strategic Choice That Changes Everything

For too long, conventional wisdom suggested that being nice—especially for women and leaders of color like myself—might be perceived as weakness. It took me more than a decade to recognize that my empathetic approach wasn’t a limitation. It was a sophisticated strategic choice that consistently delivered superior results.

This approach builds stronger teams, fosters innovation, and creates the trust necessary for high-performance collaboration. In an era where technology advances at breakneck speed, the human elements become even more valuable.

The future belongs to leaders who can seamlessly blend cutting-edge technological capabilities with deeply human, empathetic collaboration.

Your Competitive Advantage in Tomorrow’s Workplace

The workplace is shifting beneath our feet. Gen Z employees—who will comprise 30% of the workforce by 2030—don’t just reject aggressive leadership; they actively flee from it. Meanwhile, Millennials are stepping into senior roles carrying expectations shaped by psychological safety and authentic connection. The old command-and-control playbook isn’t just ineffective—it’s actively repelling the talent you need to win.

Being “too nice” isn’t about avoiding accountability or difficult decisions. It’s about recognizing that sustainable high performance emerges from environments where people feel valued, heard, and psychologically safe.

Implementing Empathetic Leadership

Start tomorrow by asking one direct report how they prefer to receive feedback. Replace your next “urgent” email with a two-minute conversation. When facing a difficult decision, lead with curiosity before judgment. These aren’t grand gestures—they’re daily choices that compound into exceptional leadership.

Respect and results aren’t mutually exclusive—they’re synergistic. The leaders who will thrive in tomorrow’s multi-generational workplace understand that kindness, trust, and genuine human connection aren’t soft skills. They’re the hardest skills to master and the most powerful tools for attracting top talent, reducing turnover, and driving results that actually stick.

In a business world that often rewards aggression, choosing empathy isn’t the easy path. It’s the strategic one. And here’s the unvarnished truth: “Nice” isn’t just a leadership quality; it is your ultimate, undeniable, and most disruptive competitive advantage.

By Amanda J. Felkey, PhD

INTRODUCTION

Effective leadership is fundamentally about people. Yet many leadership practices still assume that those being led will engage, contribute and perform in similar ways. Research across education, psychology and organizational science shows the opposite: Individuals vary widely in how they prefer to interact, problem-solve, collaborate and grow. When leaders recognize and respond to these differences, engagement and performance improve.

Engagement is not a fixed trait. It is shaped by context and leadership behavior. When people feel that their preferences and perspectives are understood and respected, they are more motivated, more persistent and more willing to contribute. Conversely, when leaders overlook these differences, even highly capable individuals may disengage.

This article presents a dual-pathway model explaining how leaders who take individual differences into account enhance engagement and outcomes. The direct pathway operates through perception: People are more engaged when they experience respect, autonomy and belonging. The indirect pathway operates through design: Leaders structure work, communication and problem-solving in ways that allow different people to engage effectively. Together, these pathways explain why inclusive, responsive leadership consistently outperforms one-size-fits-all approaches.

ENGAGEMENT AS A DRIVER OF PERFORMANCE

Engagement is a powerful predictor of performance across domains. It encompasses multiple dimensions, including cognitive, emotional, behavioral and agentic engagement. These dimensions describe not only whether people show up, but how fully they invest in their work.

Cognitive engagement reflects mental effort. It is thinking deeply, problem-solving and applying expertise. People who are cognitively engaged are more likely to innovate, make sound decisions and adapt to complexity.

Emotional engagement includes interest, connection and meaning. Positive emotional engagement supports motivation and resilience, especially during periods of change or challenge.

Behavioral engagement refers to observable effort like participation, persistence and follow-through. High behavioral engagement is associated with reliability, productivity and consistency.

Agentic engagement captures proactive contribution, for example, offering ideas, asking questions and shaping processes. Agentic engagement is especially valuable in leadership contexts because it fuels continuous improvement and shared ownership.

Research consistently shows that engagement across these dimensions predicts better performance, well-being and retention. For leaders, engagement is not a “soft” outcome, rather it is a core mechanism through which leadership effectiveness is realized.

THE DIRECT PATHWAY: BEING SEEN AND VALUED

The first pathway linking leadership behavior to engagement is direct and psychological. When leaders take individual differences into account, they send a powerful signal: you are seen and valued as an individual.

This recognition fosters trust, belonging and motivation. People are more willing to invest effort when they believe their strengths and preferences matter. They are also more likely to take risks, like sharing ideas, challenging assumptions and learning from mistakes, when they feel respected.

Importantly, this pathway does not require full accommodation of every preference. Rather, it depends on acknowledgment. Even when constraints limit flexibility, people respond positively when leaders listen, explain decisions and demonstrate consideration.

However, the direct pathway can work in reverse. When leaders solicit input but ignore it, or impose uniform approaches without regard for differences, engagement declines. Perceived indifference undermines trust and reduces discretionary effort.

UNDERSTANDING PREFERENCES BUILDS SELF-AWARENESS AND OWNERSHIP

Leaders who help people understand their own preferences further strengthen engagement. When individuals gain insight into how they communicate, learn, or contribute best, they become more effective and self-directed.

This awareness supports cognitive engagement by helping people choose strategies that align with their strengths. It increases confidence by reframing challenges as manageable when approached in the right way. Emotionally, it validates identity and reduces unnecessary frustration.

Most importantly, self-awareness fuels agentic engagement. People who understand their preferences are more likely to speak up, advocate for what they need and take responsibility for their development and performance.

From a leadership perspective, this creates leverage: rather than managing every interaction, leaders enable people to manage themselves more effectively.

RESPONSIVENESS IS THE CRITICAL MODERATOR

The impact of acknowledging differences depends heavily on responsiveness. People pay close attention to whether leaders act on what they learn.

Research on motivation and leadership shows that perceived support, such as listening, explaining decisions and adjusting where possible, predicts engagement and trust. When leaders demonstrate responsiveness, people feel respected even if not every preference can be met. When leaders fail to respond, especially after inviting input, disengagement increases.

Effective leaders close the loop. They communicate how input shaped decisions, clarify constraints and signal where flexibility exists. This transparency preserves trust and reinforces a culture of mutual respect.

THE INDIRECT PATHWAY: DESIGNING WORK FOR DIVERSE ENGAGEMENT

The second pathway through which leaders account for differences is structural. Leaders shape how work gets done by styling how meetings run, how decisions are made, how problems are solved and how success is evaluated.

When leaders design these structures with differences in mind, engagement increases.

For example:

• Offering multiple ways to contribute (spoken, written, asynchronous) broadens participation.
• Varying collaboration formats supports both reflective and interactive contributors.
• Allowing flexibility in how goals are achieved respects differences in working styles.
• Providing choice in how work is demonstrated increases ownership and accountability.

These design choices do not reduce standards; they expand access to high performance. People engage more deeply when structures allow them to contribute effectively.

ENGAGEMENT ACROSS ALL DIMENSIONS

When leaders acknowledge and account for differences, engagement increases across emotional, behavioral, cognitive and agentic dimensions. People are more motivated, more persistent, more thoughtful and more proactive.

Over time, this creates a virtuous cycle. Engagement drives performance, performance reinforces confidence and confidence fuels further engagement. Teams become more adaptive, inclusive and resilient.

CONCLUSION

Leadership effectiveness depends not on treating everyone the same, but on treating people fairly by recognizing meaningful differences. This article presented a dual-pathway model explaining why leaders who take preferences and engagement styles into account consistently achieve better outcomes.

Directly, acknowledgment fosters trust, motivation and belonging. Indirectly, thoughtful design of work and interaction creates environments where diverse people can engage and perform at their best.

In a world of increasing complexity and change, leaders need people who are engaged, agentic and resilient. Recognizing and responding to differences is not an optional leadership skill, it is central to leading well.

PLJ Recognizes our
2025 BLACK LEADERSHIP
Award Winners

In this edition, we proudly present the sixth annual Black Leadership Awards, celebrating outstanding Black leaders. Nominated by their employers or colleagues, these individuals exemplify confidence, determination, and high performance. They are purpose-driven professionals who add significant value to their coworkers, customers, communities, and the organizations they serve. These team members have emerged as leaders through their advocacy, perseverance, legacy, and professional achievements. We invite you to explore the stories of these exceptional individuals in the following pages.

2025 Black Leadership Award Winners

• New York Life – Cheryl James – Senior Vice President, Deputy General Counsel
• Norton Rose Fulbright US LLP – Natasha A. Robertson – Partner