Seven Leadership Trends for 2025

2025 is bringing a massive shift in leadership. From the end of traditional DEI to the resurgence of accountability, these trends will define how leaders think and act. 

The grand question every leader must answer are you ready?

So the 7 trends…

• End of DEI

• Resurgence of Accountability

• Vulnerability, Authenticity, and Empathy

• The Return to In-Person Work

• Culture is King

• Multigenerational Leadership

• Resilience and Mental Health

Trend 1: The End of DEI

In the second half of 2024, organizations such as Tractor Supply, John Deere, Toyota, and Walmart abandoned their corporate DEI programs.

In education, institutions in Idaho, Texas, Florida, Kentucky, and North Carolina ended or signed resolutions to end their DEI programs.

Traditional Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives are losing traction as organizations focus on results-driven inclusivity rather than performative efforts.

Data

• A 2023 Deloitte survey found that 41% of leaders believe DEI efforts have become ineffective due to a lack of tangible results.

I doubt I have to explain that the way organizations rolled out and instituted DEI didn't work.

The solution to the problem was not to ask the bouncer at the door to select different people.  It was telling the bouncer he no longer had a job. (as told to me by Gil Winch)

Most people I interact with and discuss DEI with say it causes more frustration and confusion, and the feeling that the people instituting DEI make it seem ‘we are out to get even.’  That doesn't work, and the stat above in some way proves it to be so.

We need to replace DEI with Values.  I believe and have experienced that when organizations and leaders focus on values, not the container that holds them, they build vibrant, diverse, and exceptional cultures.  See Gil again!

Trend 2: The Resurgence of Accountability

While I hate to jump right into politics, the recent election verified a trend: the need and desire for major accountability.  We have spent years, bordering decades, where the solution for problems is placing the blame somewhere else. i.e., blaming cows for the pollution.

In a recent training segment I conducted for my friend Jenni’s upcoming virtual summit (Culture Matters Summit, January 23rd), I discussed how a lack of accountability is an unwillingness to be vulnerable.

Accountability is ownership, ownership is responsibility, and responsibility leads to trust.  Leaders who take action build and enhance trust.  The moment we tell ourselves it is better not to address an issue is the day we tell everyone that the behavior is acceptable.

Leaders struggle to hold others accountable because they often struggle to hold themselves accountable. Leaders who struggle with accountability also struggle with vulnerability. They don't want to fail, so they admonish accountability.  

Accountability is coming, and leaders who embrace vulnerability will benefit their bottom line by holding themselves and others in their organizations accountable.

Data:

• Harvard Business Review (2024) reported that teams with strong accountability systems improved their productivity by 22%.

• Accountability is increasingly linked to trust, with 80% of employees valuing clear, consistent feedback.

Emphasis on Results-Oriented Leadership: Post-pandemic, there's a renewed focus on accountability, with leaders and employees held responsible for outcomes. This approach reduces tolerance for disengagement and emphasizes clear expectations.

Trend 3: Vulnerability, Authenticity, and Empathy

The need for leaders to be more vulnerable, authentic, and empathic goes hand in hand with accountability (going back to DEI).

Society has requested and rewarded vulnerability and authenticity; when properly displayed, they manifest as empathy.

But beware, not all vulnerability is authentic yielding healthy empathy.

Leaders who dump on others, choosing to be “real,” or the ones who scream, speak with extreme profanity, and all the -isms are no more authentic than the fat guy who climbed down your chimney last week.

Those leaders are just a-holes.  Sure, you can be the nicest guy and help old ladies cross the street and give millions to selective charities..but the moment you decide to attack an entire gender of public servants and try to justify yourself because you are being authentic, you are just a toxic a-hole! #iykyk

Real, healthy, authentic vulnerability encourages and lifts others.  

It lifts the once-discarded quarterback to the top of the entire profession. (#Goff - Go Lions)

It lifts the pastor of a megachurch who committed adultery to a place where he can encourage and show true grace, the grace only he can fathom, to encourage others not to make the same heartbreaking mistakes.

Data:

• A Gallup study (2024) found that 70% of employees are more engaged when their leader demonstrates empathy.

• Authentic leaders improve team morale by 33% on average.

Modern leadership increasingly values vulnerability, authenticity, and empathy, recognizing their role in building trust and enhancing team dynamics.

In 2025, we will see and expect more human-centered leadership approaches in all organizations and levels of leadership.

Trend 4: In-Person is the Way

Author John Maxwell teaches a principle in many of his lessons and books: The Proximity Principle.  It qualifies that leadership is caught not taught.

We learn by observing and modeling ourselves from others.

While many organizations thrive and wholly exist with remote workers and staff, leadership expands greatly when people work in close proximity.

Since COVID, leaders, workers and organizations have ridden the teeter-totter of remote and in-person workplaces.

At one time or another, each end of the spectrum has been the only way, often oscillating back and forth, and the same butt-crushing pain occurs when someone jumps off the teeter-totter.

Hybrid workplaces (in-person and remote) were en vogue for many pre-COVID. Those companies that did it well had figured out to some extent that they needed to schedule and have regular in-person experiences to solidify their culture.

Data:

• McKinsey (2024) reported that 62% of employees feel more productive in a hybrid model with regular in-person interactions.

• Offices focusing on collaboration spaces saw a 40% improvement in creativity and problem-solving.

2025 will set the record straight for so many organizations.  It won't be right or wrong, but who we are defines the work environment.

Those with hybrid styles will embrace the benefit of in-person retreats and situations to leverage the benefit of proximity fully.

Trend 5: Culture is King

By now, you might see a pattern.  The End of DEI (more encouraging culture), Resurgence of Accountability, Vulnerability, Authenticity and Empathy, In-Person is the Way.  One begets the other, and each points toward this culmination that Culture is King.

The days of ping-pong tables and local beer on tap in common spaces of the early 2010s are long gone.

While it was great for the burgeoning Millenials when things got busy, those things got left in the cobwebs when organizations grew, and the demand for output overshadowed the time to partake in a nice IPA.

Gen-X, which only knew the overtime type of work hours, saw Millennials take days off just because, forgo double pay, and embrace maternity and paternity leave.

Those aren’t wrong, and please don’t read as such. You’ll see their place in the final two trends.

However, employees now expect a culture to embrace those choices. They expect meritocracy and values-based environments. People want their leaders to be accountable, vulnerable, and empathetic. They value relationships and connections more than dollars, trinkets, and swag.

People have choices. We have a historically low unemployment rate, and their choice has less to do with pay and benefits than it does with culture.  And who drives the culture…the leader.

Data:

• A LinkedIn survey (2024) revealed that 65% of employees prioritize culture over salary when choosing a job.

• Companies with strong cultures see 4x revenue growth compared to competitors. Source: LinkedIn Talent Solutions

Jake Thompson, Speaker at IDL 2024, shared this with me.  There is no strong or weak culture; they are all equal.  There are positive and negative cultures.  Positive cultures people love to be a part of and invite others to join in.  Negative cultures have people pointing fingers and leaving as fast as Oregon Fans did after the Rose Bowl! (Go Bucks)

Trend 6: Multigenerational Leadership

I mentioned politics with accountability.  I didn't choose it, but the national election showed and chose accountability via the election.

President Trump is doing something many other organizations will do in 2025.  He is compiling a multi-generational cabinet.

He has three generations represented in leadership: Boomers, GenX, and Millennials. 

Data:

• Pew Research reports Gen Z will make up 27% of the workforce by 2025, with Millennials leading at 40%.

• Companies embracing generational diversity are 35% more likely to outperform competitors.

The knock on so many leaders over the last decade is that they have yet to pass the baton.

Life is a relay race; if you make it a solo expedition, everything you do dies when you do.

You must pass the baton. Relay races have exchange zones marked for runners to run side by side and pass the baton from one to another.

Unfortunately, businesses and organizations don't have such clearly defined areas, which means it happens by choice or chance—either by deciding to bring along the next generation or by chance because some external factor has forced it.

In 2025, we will see an increasing number of leaders pass the baton, and they will do so by choice or chance.

Trend 7: Resilience and Mental Health

Rounding out the trends for 2025 is an ideology and awareness that has only continued in the last 5 years.  We will never have a day where mental health is no longer a concern.

We may get better at dealing with the factors and indicators, but it will never go away.

Leaders must embrace well-being and yet as well encourage resilience.

Taking a day off because life is hard is not the solution, no more than popping pain pills for a broken arm.  It might reduce the pain, but it won't fix the problem.

Data:

• A WHO report (2024) estimated burnout costs $1 trillion in productivity annually.

• Resilient teams outperform others by 24%.

Resilience and mental health are much like the IDL Roundtable Community; we have to do it on our own, but we don't have to do it alone.

I wish I had a community where I could learn and grow earlier in life. I wish I had had others to encourage me when I felt beat up and defeated. I wish I had had people who were walking the walk with me.

So, I started that community for myself and others.

The Roundtable

I want to offer you the same opportunity. The Roundtable is the signature offering of the Impact Driven Leader Community.

In this community, we sit with each other and grow with each other.

This group meets weekly from February through November via Zoom. In the first year, we focus on the Awaken the Leader Within course, where we identify how to Awaken, Grow, and Lead.

Want to see it in action? Join us for an open house next Thursday, January 8th, at 1 p.m. EST/10 a.m. PST. Respond to this email to get the Zoom link.

Applications to join for 2025 are now open.

Lastly, Roundtable members get a free VIP ticket to the Impact Summit.  I can only imagine it will be just as magical as John described again in 2025.

Did you catch this podcast? If not, listen to it here.