GFC White Paper on New Leadership Models for Future Generations 2026

It has become clear that true leadership is not only about delivering results, but about building trust, empowering people, and leaving behind systems that continue to serve societies and the planet long after a leader steps aside. However, leadership success is often measured through short-term, easily quantifiable achievements while overlooking the more profound and enduring impact that leadership can – and must – have. The legacy of leaders has therefore been identified as another systemic leverage point to unlock new leadership futures. The modern concept of legacy is often entangled with an individual’s desire for recognition and immortalization. Thus, driven by temporal myopia, short-term metrics and election cycles, leaders tend to define their legacy as a static monument – a heroic, independent achievement assessed at a given moment in time. This focus on a personal footprint creates profound organizational fragility and may lead to several possible unproductive outcomes: Either the incumbent’s inability to pass the baton or, on the successor’s side, blind repetition or destructive critique. All of which stifle evolution and the opportunity to grow stronger through new perspectives and innovation, whether across schools of thought, political camps, or generations. We must therefore fundamentally redefine “succession planning as an act of leadership” as a recent Harvard Business Review article puts it,20 and legacy itself from a static monument to a dynamic, living process. What is more, seeing legacy as a long-term responsibility enables stewardship. Thus, the goal moves from being a hero to being a good ancestor.21 This approach entails shifting from a rigid, binary logic of right or wrong, win or lose, to a non-dualistic understanding of a complex work. AI amplifies this as it can be viewed as our “ancestral intelligence”, serving as a vast repository of humanity’s collective knowledge and actions. In an era where AI learns as much from data of failure as from success, the leader’s obsessive need to be flawless becomes attenuated. The responsibility shifts to being a challenger – one who contributes valuable learning data through new attempts and critical questions. Equally, a living legacy requires a novel approach to succession. Instead of incumbents holding on to their position and perpetuating existing structures, or successors tearing down the old, this model requires a conscious process of renewal. Here, the ancient Buddhist Kuyō principle may offer valuable guidance, as it encapsulates acknowledging and expressing gratitude for the contributions of predecessors, the mindful assessment of what to carry forward, and the courage to mark a clear turning point. This respectful process allows to leave a wider canvas, empowering successors, organizations, and systems to move forward. Legacy is not only shaped by an individual’s mindset, but also by the organizational structures and incentive systems in place. Effective governance of succession planning involves setting clear expectations for both incoming and outgoing leaders. Institutions having processes and procedures, and society fostering a stronger understanding of long-term stakes and uncertainties, facilitates this. Despite – or exactly because of – the volatility of global systems today, leaders need to think in decades, not in quarters. To achieve this, the global leadership lab may explore how a shift from 2.4 The legacy of leaders SPOTLIGHT 7 Being a good ancestor starts with the question of what we want to leave behind for future generations. In times of endless news cycles and continuous public scrutiny, leaders may fall into the trap of temporal myopia, focusing on their own, individual short-term legacy rather than what positive outcomes they can unlock for generations to come. Being a good ancestor requires cultivating a healthier relationship with one’s ego and, ultimately, the profound and practical awareness of one’s own fallibility. This awareness liberates leaders from temporal myopia, from trying to paint the perfect picture based on limited, individually-driven perspectives. Instead, the goal becomes leaving future generations a wider canvas to paint their own future on – ensuring they have more options and agency. Leaders can work on becoming good ancestors by actively asking: What if I were wrong? What should we keep and what should we let go of for future generations? This practice, which combines humility, open-mindedness, and long-term perspective, can be systematically embedded in leadership development, decision-making, and board-level strategy to ensure lasting resilience and intergenerational justice.Being a good ancestor to become a better leader Next Generation Leadership for a World in Transformation: Driving Dialogue and Action 14