If you were to emerge from a time machine that originated even a decade ago, you might be completely befuddled by the state of leadership today. Leaders now have to think about big, sweeping ideas in their everyday decision-making: #metoo moments, the looming threat of economic downturn and robots, just to name a few trending issues.

 

But make no mistake - the complexity of leadership also opens up a lot of opportunity. There's an opportunity to further gender equity within your organization, an opportunity to capitalize on the potential of HR and, of course, an opportunity to use artificial intelligence (AI) for powerful, good things.

 

What does "right now" leadership look like for you and your organization? Read on for some ideas.

 

Promote Gender Equity in Your Organization

 

Mentorship is a powerful path to career advancement. But it's not an area with impressive gender parity, unfortunately. As new Harvard Business Review (HBR) data shows, more than half of men surveyed discussed their career with a mentor in the past 2 years, but only 39% of women did. In case you're thinking, "That's gotta be a coincidence," it's probably not. Because another set of research from the Center for Talent Innovation shows that 71% of executives choose mentees whose gender and race match their own. And as we all know, there are vastly more male executives than female.

 

What can you do to change the statistics within your own organization? If you're a man, make a point of choosing women to mentor. And encourage other leaders in your organization to be similarly choosy.

  

Read more about this in HBR:  What Men Can Do to Be Better Mentors and Sponsors to Women

 

 

Economic Downturn? HR Will Be More Important than You Think

 

Chief Human Resources Officers (CHRO) are sliiiiiiightly worried about an economic downturn - 98% of them think one is imminent. And only 12% feel prepared. A scary 93% doubt they have the right people in place to deal with the downturn when it happens. Recessions cause growth in finance, legal and supply chain practices. But HR diminishes in importance during times of economic downturn. CEOs simply stop investing in their HR strategy. And that's a mistake, because keeping HR strong through an economic downturn can be the very thing that gives an organization buoyancy to get through it.

 

These numbers are from the Russell Reynolds Downturn Survey, which surveyed 534 global C-suite executives, including 43 CHROs.

 

You can read more about it on Human Resources.

 

​

Align Your AI Efforts with Your Employees' Needs

 

Businesses and executives embrace the idea of increasing labor productivity by automating certain jobs. Workers fear AI for the exact same reason. Improvements in productivity and cost savings for companies who use AI could be offset by increased worker stress that ironically leads consumers to spend less, in general. McKinsey recently delved into this conundrum with some in-depth research around how companies can hypothetically manage the transition to AI projects. They found that deploying AI to innovate products and services is likely to be more beneficial than using it simply to cut costs.

 

Read more in Your AI efforts won't succeed unless they benefit employees.

 

Leadership in 2019 is more complex than ever before, but the good news is, more data and resources exist to help you find your way and elevate your leadership.

 

We are also here to help guide your leadership future with hiring diligence and intelligence. Contact us today if you're looking to hire bright future leaders.