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If you think the world is changing faster than ever before, you’re probably right. According to Accenture, the rate of change in businesses has accelerated 183% since 2019—and 33% in just the last year. As the saying goes, change has never been this fast, and will never be this slow again.
Hybrid workplaces, AI transformation, global conflicts, and increased polarization have all contributed to the breakneck pace of change. It’s not surprising many leaders are experiencing whiplash. A staggering 71% of CEOs suffer from imposter syndrome, as they’re being required to tackle challenges they’ve never been trained for.
With so much change in the business world, which issues will rise to the forefront for leaders in 2025? Here are four leadership trends to watch.
Leadership trend: Continue to invest in DEI but call it something else
With the recent election of Donald Trump as U.S. President, many are worried that diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives will come under even more intense fire than they did following the 2023 Supreme Court ruling on affirmative action.
Although these concerns are valid, it’s important to recognize that not all organizations slashed their DEI budgets in response to the Supreme Court ruling. In a 2024 Littler survey, 57% of executives said their organizations expanded their DEI commitments, and 36% have maintained their efforts, while just 1% reported a significant decrease. DEI spending isn’t growing at the same explosive rate as in 2020, but it’s still growing.
Because of legal concerns and political backlash, however, many firms maintaining or expanding their DEI commitments have started calling it something else. For example, “inclusive leadership,” or just good leadership. We predict this leadership trend will increase in 2025, with DEI woven into the fabric of leadership rather than considered a separate concept.
According to the NeuroLeadership Institute’s DEI Impact Case, there are three actions organizations can take to maintain their investments in DEI, no matter what they’re calling it:
- Prioritize diversity by aligning it with specific business goals.
- Habituate inclusion through targeted learning and performance tools that integrate it into daily practices.
- Systemize equity by examining policies and procedures to embed and sustain fairness throughout.
With a science-based approach, leaders can build DEI programs that are legally compliant and strategically beneficial, as well as being the right thing to do.
Leadership trend: Decide on hybrid work
In the past few months, several large organizations have announced that their employees will soon be required to return to the office five days per week. In the third quarter of 2024, 33% of companies required workers to be in the office for five days, up from 31% in the second quarter. Notably, this ends a streak over the previous five quarters, when the rate had steadily fallen.
We think that 2025 will be a year of reckoning for companies to make a long-term decision on hybrid work. After experimenting with flexible remote policies for the past five years, many organizations are going to double down on where and how they want their employees to work—and face the consequences, one way or the other.
Although it may seem logical to go back to the office full-time, research suggests clear advantages to a hybrid workplace. For example, a study published in the journal Nature in 2024 showed that hybrid work at the company Trip.com did not affect productivity or performance—but it did reduce the quit rate by one-third, saving millions of dollars on recruitment and training.
Our research indicates that, although connections among colleagues often increase when everyone’s in the same building, other connections—with leaders, employers, and roles—can suffer, causing return-to-office policies to backfire. That’s one reason we recommend a four-part approach to hybrid work that maximizes the benefits of time together while preserving employees’ sense of autonomy.
Leadership trend: More caution about AI
The first wave of GenAI implementation was characterized by broad enthusiasm and hype. Leaders saw opportunities to revolutionize the way they do business, eliminating monotonous tasks while providing data-driven insights, increasing efficiency, and boosting innovation. In the second wave, they began experimenting with GenAI and implementing it on a wide scale within their organizations.
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