GFC White Paper on New Leadership Models for Future Generations 2026

short-term performance to long-term impact can be practically achieved and measured. While the business case remains the tough driver, exploring the inner work that enables leaders to overcome temporal myopia and binary win-lose dynamics, to expand their sense of mastery22 and self beyond an isolated heroic legacy, and to embrace the role of a challenger in the age of both artificial and ancestral intelligence, is one aspect. The other is including voices from the next generation. This helps to adopt a long-term perspective and to cater for intergenerational justice, and uncovering new opportunities thanks to fresh perspectives and approaches. That way, intergenerational leadership is not a moral obligation, but a competitive advantage. Finally, curating new vocabulary and metrics that foster a long-term vision, will help to shift incentives for leaders to leave lasting, positive legacies. SPOTLIGHT 8 What if we profoundly shift leadership incentives and the way we measure leadership success? A new leadership impact scorecard can serve as a valuable stepping stone to prioritize long-term and intergenerational impact. The scorecard would encourage leaders to look beyond immediate financial or political outcomes and prompt them to ask themselves critical questions. Alongside traditional economic, social and environmental indicators, the scorecard could track metrics such as: The high-level long-term trust and legitimacy built (measured through periodic, systematic both individual reflection and collective multistakeholder assessments rather than short-term popularity polls); both the ability to pass the baton and the continuity of key initiatives three, five and ten years after a leader’s term; the representation of women and minorities in leadership pipelines; as well as an organizational well-being index reflecting mental health, engagement and retention – something that Thomas Roulet and Kiran Bhatti have termed as well-being intelligence.23 Crucially, stakeholders themselves – especially younger generations – need to be included in leadership evaluation through participatory mechanisms that enable stronger bottom-up accountability. Restoring leadership credibility that way will also help reduce the growing gap between leaders and the societies they serve. Ultimately, leadership success need not be measured by applause or popularity, not only in what leaders achieve personally, but by the trust they inspire, the resilience they foster in individuals, organizations, and the environment, as well as the positive legacy they leave for future generations. These dimensions can serve as a foundation for refining and piloting the leadership impact scorecard in the global leadership lab.Shifting incentives with a new leadership impact scorecard 15 Next Generation Leadership for a World in Transformation: Driving Dialogue and Action