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A survey of Bower Forum participants found that 57 percent came to the program for personal challenges—including becoming a more human, versatile leader and a stronger leader of teams—a higher percentage than those who came to work on their strategies. (See pages 24647 for more detailed results from our survey.) Becoming a more human leader is a journey often traveled without much help or guidance. Some of the best said they were simply born with those qualities, while others said they were fortunate to meet some great personal coaches along the way, but no one could point to a clear road map to becoming a more authentic and human-centric leader. That is what this book attempts to do—to describe, explain, and codify a leader's inner journey, in essence leading from the inside out. This is the key ingredient to make a lasting impact as you lead your teams and the broader organization.

This journey is nuanced and complex. It calls for personal growth, which means one has to be constantly learning, listening, inspiring, and caring, gradually reinventing oneself as a leader. Leadership is not only about those seemingly endless things you need to do when you're an amazing CEO but also about being aware of who you are as a person and always improving as a human being. It's all about how you change yourself and others. It's about adopting a human-centric leadership approach.

Most executives don't spend enough time thinking about the personal side of leadership. As Dana recalls, "I spent months working with a CEO on their agenda: strategy, execution, and metrics. Over the course of our journey we also touched on culture, what leadership means, and how that should impact the organization. That was a topic, however, that took up only a small part of our formal program. After a year of working together, as we were reflecting on our work, the CEO said, 'Our partnership made a difference on multiple dimensions. But the one thing that made the biggest difference, the turning point that changed how we operated, was that conversation we had on the sidewalk after dinner a year ago, where you suggested I should think more about culture and how I have to change as a person to inspire this cultural journey in the organization. That was the moment my focus shifted, and I knew what to work on."

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When we started our careers at McKinsey, the world was a very different place. Investors, boards, and the business press worshipped the imperial CEO. Larger-than-life leaders such as GE's Jack Welch or Chrysler's Lee Iacocca were household names. These all-knowing, tough-minded, results-oriented individuals made frequent appearances on television talk shows and wrote bestselling business books. Their employees revered them, hung on their every word, and expected them to have all the answers. They and they alone called the plays.

 

The imperial CEO is done. Yes, leaders such as Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg get headlines and have become internet memes, but even they can't go it alone. They have surrounded themselves with superb executives, inventors, and innovators. Today leaders must take up a new mantle. Unlike the authority figures of the past, this new cohort does not pretend to have all the answers. Gone are the days when a leader barks an order or throws out a plan and everyone falls lockstep in line.

The winning formula is for leaders to be aware of all the signals, both verbal and nonverbal, that they are giving, and of the weight they carry—to stay in touch with their emotions, be sensitive to how they interact with others, and ensure the authenticity of their actions. To add value, they listen, experiment, and learn from others, balancing competing commitments and short-and long-term objectives, keeping in mind the demands of their many stakeholders. They enable their teams and colleagues to succeed and contribute with passion and confidence. The best then learn how to balance these human-centric attributes with the hard-nosed skills that helped them win the top job. This is the new model, and sooner or later everyone worth their management salt encounters a moment when they realize that leadership has as much to do with leading themselves as it does with leading others. At that crucial moment, they switch from the traditional leader they thought they should be to one who is adopting a human leadership approach. They start learning and growing to meet the demands of their position and to fulfill their boldest aspirations.

Being a senior leader is a lonely role, and many feel adrift in today's fast-paced and ever-evolving business landscape, which is rife with volatility, complexity, and ambiguity. "The only training for being a CEO is being a CEO," observed Marvin Bower, McKinsey's longest-serving global managing partner, who alongside James O. McKinsey defined and shaped the foundations of the firm in the twentieth century. It's little wonder that a study by Development Dimensions International found that 83 percent of leaders across the world felt they were unprepared for their new leadership roles.

This shift to a more humble and open form of leadership is happening because circumstances demand it. The terrain is shifting rapidly, making the old tried-and-true leadership maps all but useless. Boosting the bottom line is necessary but not sufficient. Today's leaders must master such complex issues as digital transformation, inflation, disrupted global supply chains, scarce talent, a lack of diversity, cybersecurity, and climate change, as well as an awakened search for purpose in employees. This means that no one person, no matter how brilliant or capable, has the experience, knowledge, or temperament to tackle all these challenges alone. Little wonder that the CEO job has gotten more precarious. According to the executive compensation firm Equilar, from 2013 to 2022 the average CEO tenure at S&P 500 companies has decreased 20 percent from six years to just under five years.