What if this is a landmark moment for leadership transformation?
A new report explores the futures of public and nonprofit sector leadership in 2030.
In 2030, will co-leadership models be the new normal for public and nonprofit sector organizations? Or is it possible that we will have no leaders at all? Across Canada, leadership philosophies are evolving, responding to tremendous changes happening globally and locally. To better understand these emerging changes, and what they could mean for leadership approaches in 2030, Creative Futures and the Leadership Lab at Toronto Metropolitan University collaborated on a new research project, Embracing Our Future: Social purpose leadership in 2030.
To say the last few years have been difficult, would be an understatement. Expressions like “unprecedented change” doesn’t adequately articulate how much people have weathered since March 2020. Within organizations, we look to leaders to solve these issues, to support their teams, and to help society recover. Some leaders have thrived in this moment of change, while others have struggled to adapt to the shifting environment. It is therefore unsurprising that a June 2022 study found 70% of C-suite in the private sector were seriously considering quitting for a job that better supports their well-being. The last few years have indeed been difficult for all sectors, but do we understand the lasting impact it may have on leadership in the public and non-profit sectors who are working to make a better world through social change?
To explore this question, Creative Futures and the Leadership Lab at Toronto Metropolitan University teamed up to explore what the futures of public and nonprofit leadership might look like in 2030. This project involved interviewing 31 leaders across a range of sectors - CEOs, Executive Directors, elected officials, Directors, and Managers working in the arts, environment, healthcare, post-secondary, government, social services and public policy-related organizations or fields.
We asked leaders to tell us how their leadership philosophies had changed since COVID, and how they imagined it may look in 2030. With admirable vulnerability, they shared their biggest challenges, and their biggest hopes. Embracing Our Future outlines what we heard, distilled into 13 emerging trends impacting the future of leadership. To spark new thinking, we developed three deeply optimistic future scenarios in 2030, based on these trends. We hope that the scenarios demonstrate how the challenges leaders are facing today could lead to possible and positive change in the future.
Overall, this research demonstrated a tension leaders feel between the past and future. Many leaders are embracing the changes underway, feeling energized to create new leadership approaches. On the other hand, some leaders are finding it difficult to manage such a complex and uncertain environment when their past tried and true leadership approaches no longer seem to be working. For these leaders especially, we hope this research can shed light on some new approaches, and inspire a shift from leading based on the past, to leading based on the future.
More broadly, the intent of Embracing Our Future is to activate all formal and informal leaders to reflect on their own future and what actions need to be initiated today to embrace this landmark moment of leadership transformation. As Peter Druker famously said, “The best way to predict the future is to create it.” We look forward to continuing to work with leaders across Canada to create a future where social purpose leadership is thriving.
Contact: If you have any questions about this research, please contact Jessica Thornton at hello@creativefutures.studio
Creative Futures Studio Inc. helps public, nonprofit, and socially-minded leaders plan and prepare for their future. Using applied futures research, we help organizations navigate complexity and embrace uncertainty, arming them with the tools to think beyond present-day issues and imagine, prepare for, and navigate multiple potential futures. When Creative Futures was founded, we made a commitment to take time from our paid work to generate useful research on important emerging topics (such as this) that would be valuable to the broad range of public and nonprofit organizations. Thank you to the folks at the Leadership Lab for joining us on this adventure.
The Leadership Lab is an action-oriented think-tank at Toronto Metropolitan University that develops leaders and solutions to make progress on our most pressing civic challenges. Through leadership development and policy and research activation, we are building a new generation of skilled and adaptive leaders and change-makers, at all ages and stages, to build a more trustworthy, inclusive society. As the Leadership Lab plans to expand its leadership training to reach more emerging leaders across Canada, this project was an exciting opportunity to gain invaluable insights into the skills that leaders will need to be effective in the coming years. Find out more about the Lab’s work at www.ryersonleadlab.com.