The Future of Leadership Survey: 2024

The Seton Hall University Stillman School’s Department of Management research team presents the results of the 2024 edition of its annual The Future of Leadership Survey. The results highlight a generation that is inclusive, yet uncertain, and seeking trust in their leaders.

Background

Congruent with its mission to be a thought lead0er in the field of leadership, the Department of Management research team launched groundbreaking research in 2021 in the field of leadership. This longitudinal study, now in its fourth year, continues to obtain the insights and foresight of those entering their professional lives. When the team began this endeavor, it recognized that previous leadership research tended to center on C-suite executives, and then either on their own behaviors or as observed by those who report to them or by other stakeholders.

There was a significant gap in the literature on how the next generation viewed leadership and how best to develop the leaders of tomorrow. This, we believed, was a serious omission in research for two reasons. First, the absence of research did not help guide organizations on how they may want to respond to the leadership aspirations and expectations of tomorrow’s professionals. Second, there was a dearth of guidance on how to develop the leaders of tomorrow based on their own motivations.

Further, the nature of work — both its time and its physical place — has markedly changed since the survey began. It has become much more compelling to unearth trends in leaders and leadership development.

The groundbreaking results from the 2021 survey revealed several notable shifts in the future of leadership from broadly perceived norms. We saw a move to widen the aperture of “who can be a leader” and a shift toward accepting diversity in the ranks of future leaders. The survey also showed that how the most influential leaders are perceived in their formative years — when they are still at home or at school — does not appear to predict the persona of a midlevel leader in the workplace.

The survey results also showed an increased desire for engagement from employers —whether it is in dealing more effectively with crisis and failure, in preventing worker alienation, or in managing work-life balance.

The 2022 findings built upon the results of the first survey and added insights. We added a question to understand if Gen Z has experienced a lack of leadership development because of remote work. Unfortunately, the answer was yes, with 76 percent of the respondents saying so.

The research also indicated that if firms manage to keep remote work to less than 50 percent, there was a slight positive uptick in leadership growth. However, if employees experience more than 50 percent of their work remotely, a negative impact on leadership development was observed.

The results also affirmed that future leaders are looking for ethical and adaptive leaders who can inspire and lead organizations through change, as the business environment becomes even more volatile and uncertain. They are open to diverse leaders, but still expect them to be healthy, well-attired and with well-groomed hair, as indicated by their responses to the question about physical traits. Gender, race and ethnicity-related physical characteristics do not rank as high for this generation.

The findings from the survey allowed the team to contribute to the national discussion on the CROWN Act of 2022 (Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair Act of 2022) and the Future of Work.

Recognizing the connectedness of organizations around the world, in 2023 we took an important and critical step in expanding our research globally. In addition to Seton Hall University students and alumni, the survey was distributed across the United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, the European Union, China, Japan and Singapore. We undertook the first step in understanding leadership from colleagues on the African continent by surveying a small subset of leaders in Nigeria.

We also broadened the age group of target respondents from 18- to 25-yearolds to those 18 to 30, to get insights not only from the generation getting ready to enter the workforce but also from those who have already gained some work experience.

We concluded that we are looking at a global workforce that is more similar than not. At a macro level, this workforce was open to new ideas, but short on extraversion and emotional stability, as gathered from the responses to the personality traits question. Respondents still wanted leaders to be well-attired, well-groomed and healthy. They wanted leaders who have a learning mindset and can deal with constant change with empathy. And they seemed to have adapted well to remote work, which was not excessive in the first place, based on the respondent set.

Employees also saw their employers as the source of leadership development, and wanted them to invest more in the same. Employees indicated that employers were doing many things right — providing meaningful work that is impactful and investing in development opportunities — but they wanted more.

However, the fact that 70 percent of respondents reported that they considered leaving their job the same amount or more in the last year is an area of concern because an unhealthy, disengaged workforce cannot be good for any organization. Salary, burnout and mental health concerns were the reasons given for considering new jobs. We advised employers to take these insights to heart and orient their human capital strategies accordingly, and issued a news release cautioning them on issuing broad mandates for return to office.

2024 Research Design

In 2024, the global nature and overall objectives of the survey remained consistent:

• Better understand the expectations of college students and entry-level workers regarding the leaders they seek to work with or want to become; and
• Develop insight and foresight on values, competencies and preferred models of leadership development for the future

The survey started with a reflection on leadership traits as noted in leadership literature. We again asked about the relevant physical traits, nested in the prior research. The next set of questions focused on the values, character and competencies of mid-level leaders, and the challenges they face.

These questions were posed to obtain a form of leadership trajectory for young leaders. In other words, we wanted to learn the competencies and values important in a leadership position they envisioned 10 years or so into their own future, as well as the competencies and values they would be seeking from their own bosses. There was also a series of questions posed on how best to develop the leaders of tomorrow.

The survey again probed the impact of remote work on leadership development. The team surveyed the respondents on their job satisfaction to understand what leadership dimensions influenced this the most. Further, we surveyed the respondents to assess their sentiments on artificial intelligence.

In February 2024, target survey respondents across the globe were sent electronic copies of the survey instrument through collaboration with our partner, Atheneum. The survey was translated into local languages for global respondents. Several reminders were also sent. Over 4,000 completed surveys were returned, with a distribution of respondents highlighted in Figure 1. The results were tabulated in the aggregate at global and regional levels.

Insight #1

Attitudes toward physical traits converge globally.

Yet again, respondents overwhelmingly ranked controllable attributes of physical appearance — such as attire, health and hair — as key leadership qualities. Genetic traits like height and voice were deemed less important. This trend is consistent both globally and regionally, with South America placing slightly more emphasis on these attributes.

In contrast, respondents from Asia ranked attractiveness as the second most important trait, following attire. Additionally, females tend to prioritize controllable traits more, whereas males show a slight preference for genetic traits.

With four years of survey data yielding consistent results, we can affirm that the emerging workforce’s expectations of a leader’s appearance are not a passing trend but a significant aspect of their perception of leadership. Skeptics may argue that these are surface-level factors and do not address the deeper competencies that make a leader truly effective.

We did notice that the importance of physical traits as a mark of a leader diminish with respondents who have more work experience. However, these findings affirm the old saying that first impressions matter, and adhering to these traits can place one on the path to leadership positions.

Our message to future leaders is loud and clear — dress appropriately for the role you are in. Keep yourself healthy — physically, mentally and emotionally — and keep your hair well-groomed while avoiding unconventional styles. Overall, respondents expect organizational leaders, those that represent them, to be the figureheads of their firms.

Insight #2

The ability to instill trust is the most significant predictor of effective leadership.

When surveyed on what the respondents look for when hiring their immediate supervisor, we notice convergence in the values and character traits expected from a leader at the global level.

This year, “instills trust,” “is a continuous learner” and “admits mistakes” ranked as the top three. In 2023, “admits mistakes,” “recognized the dignity of employees” and “is a continuous learner” were ranked at the top. We did not find differences at geographic level, other than the fact that in South America, these traits were ranked even more prominently.

We drilled down further to understand the attributes of a leader who “instills trust,” finding that to be someone who creates an environment where employee work is valued. Males communicated preference for environments that are organization- and performance-focused, while the female preferences centered on experience and what leaders can do to develop them.

Surprisingly, similar to last year, “driven by higher purpose” again ranked the lowest across all geographies, except for Asia. This continues to be in stark contrast to the significant emphasis on purpose in leadership literature today, and the narrative that Gen Z prioritizes purpose over profit.

Our hypotheses: one, increased volatility in the job markets is making Gen Z nervous about their financial futures; and two, it could be that Gen Z knows they will not be employed by a given company for a long time, so it is best to extract as much as they can to develop themselves.

A review of key challenges faced by leaders confirms our hypotheses, that “dealing with crisis and failure,” “creating an environment where employee work is valued,” “creating an adaptive organization” and “managing work life balance” are the key challenges facing leaders today.

For females, managing risk and inclusive culture emerged as more significant challenges. No significant differences were inferred at a regional level, or whether work was done remotely or not. Overall, survey respondents agree that the ability to deal with challenges makes for effective leaders, and that leadership development is essential to build skills required to do this. Interestingly, one’s physical traits do not matter to this population insofar as dealing with challenges.

Looking back at the data from the previous three years of the survey, “dealing with crisis and failure” and “managing work-life balance” have consistently ranked in the top two challenges of a leader. These findings are most likely indicative of a generation that sees crisis and failure as center to their life and in that context seeks control over their life.

It should therefore not come as a surprise that the respondents want leaders to be competent in “finding and implementing creative solutions to problems” and to “have a positive attitude and outlook on life.” The fact that “dealing with problems” has consistently ranked among the top three findings of the survey over the last four years sets the standard for it to be a competency companies should look for in any leadership hires.

Insight #3

Remote work has limited impact on leadership development.

Last year, we reported that more than 75 percent of respondents reported being in the office more than 50 percent of the time. According to the current data, the number has increased slightly over last year, with three times as many employees working in an office at least 50 percent of the time, compared to working remotely. Of those in the office, most believe that there has been no impact or positive impact on leadership development. We also notice an overall perception that working remotely has had a positive impact on leadership development.

That said, we see a clear demand for leadership development opportunities. Overall, 74 percent of the respondents favor leadership development opportunities, with only 67 percent expressing satisfaction with availability of such opportunities.

Delving deeper into where there is the most need for leadership training, every topic surveyed scored high. Training to help improve ability to manage risk, manage change and advance workplace well-being scored the highest, which is in line with the leadership challenges and competencies identified by this cohort. Interestingly, in contrast, only 61 percent of the respondents indicated a need for training to manage the impact of AI.

Insight #4

AI a mixed bag?

When asked about the impact AI has had on the respondent’s productivity, the majority, 60 percent, noted no impact. Only 25 percent responded that it had a positive impact, and 9 percent noted a negative impact.

When asked about the impact of AI on their jobs five years from now, one-third of the respondents foresee no impact, 029 percent expect that less that 25 percent of their job will be restructured, 25 percent foresee 50 percent restructuring, and only 9 percent foresee a 100 percent restructuring of their jobs.

Said another way, two out of every three respondents (67 percent) indicated that AI will influence the workplace over the next five years, as seen in the response to the restructuring question noted in figure 8b. Further, respondents whose work tends to be more remote are reporting more significant impact of AI on their jobs.

Looking at the respondent demographics, most of them have an undergraduate degree or higher and 24 months of work experience (Figure 8c), which would imply that most of them are or will enter the “white collar” professions. Their response presents a stark contrast to the current narrative on AI — which portrays jobs and the human race at risk because of the advances in AI.

We can only offer two conclusions here. Either the respondents are not well-versed in the potential of AI and are underestimating its impact on their futures, or the AI innovators are overestimating the application of AI. This tale will be an interesting one to follow as it unfolds.

Insight #5

Not all is well on the future-of-work front.

Even though the impact of AI may be underestimated, we sense a general malaise as we look deeper into the data. Only 36 percent of the respondents are confident in their skills to adapt to the future of work over the next five years. Further, only 55 percent of respondents report being satisfied with their jobs.

Combined with their sentiments on crisis and failure and work-life balance, we are looking at a generation that is uncertain about the future. No wonder that they are looking for leaders who can instill trust.

Conclusion

Based on our work, trustworthiness and adaptability are the most critical traits for effective leadership in the modern workplace.

This raises the question — how does one instill trust? To effectively do this, leaders should focus on three key areas: becoming adept at giving and receiving feedback, building high-performance teams, and managing risk effectively. These insights are equally valuable for business leaders, employers and consultants, as investing in training for these attributes promises a high return on investment by fostering trust and enhancing leadership capabilities.

---

This article originally appeared in the Fall 2024 issue of In the Lead magazine, from Stillman School of Business’s Department of Management and the Buccino Leadership Institute. The bi-annual magazine focuses on sharing leadership perspectives from the field, with content that is curated from leaders across industries.

Categories: Business