It is important to make work and leadership aspirational once again

We have recently written a number of pieces over plans for a new leadership hub. One of the fair comments in reply has been that Industry will need to recoup its losses and there will be little appetite to invest in talent. It is a natural argument:and one which was used a lot from the 2008/9 crash and in austerity. However, even when the market did recover back in 2013/14, investment in people did not happen and there has been less upward career mobility to board level in the last decade than ever. Worse still, the increased in stress, mental health and disengagement has never been higher.

History shows that often the more enabled the young are, the more successful an economy is. Look at the recoveries, from recessions, in the 1980s and 1990s and the number of young leaders who came to the fore in those times. Many are still around today.

Over the last week, we have written to over 100 industry players for their thoughts and feedback on the creation of a leadership hub. We are still collating responses but most, so far, seem to agree there is a need for a new approach and that it would be helpful for many emerging leaders to be able to access knowledge and learnings from experts from all across all industries and the globe..

Our aim is simple; to make talent want to aspire to be leaders, to see it as a privilege and to enjoy work once again. It is a slightly mad world when:

• There are reports that many emerging talents do not aspire to leadership roles as they lack respect and trust in leaders
• That over 40% feel lonely at work and lack friends in the work environment
• That the majority of millennials do not believe that business is run ethically
• That the levels of stress and mental health are on the rise.

There is much talk of the need to kick start the economy but to do this, people need to want to return to work and to find work enjoyable. We do need to accept that:

• The stats have been poor and getting worse, regardless of Covid
• Many companies are cutting back on their L&D teams and budgets
• That many emerging talents do carry higher levels of debt and cannot see real upward career mobility
• That business is changing and knowledge is key.
• That relationships are of real value. Networking too.
• That as social interaction declined over the years, so has productivity.
• It is a pretty pointless exercise labelling generations, if the situation is simply becoming worse.

Our aim is to make work and leadership aspirational again, to place relationships first in an open, trusting environment that brings experts together from different walks of life to share their learnings and experiences. We have leading international players from business, law, sports, Hospitality and more all open to working with us to help change the momentum and to support great talent.

Surely we need to reverse the trends and that has to start now, regardless of whether you agree with the above or not?