GFC White Paper on New Leadership Models for Future Generations 2026

Driving dialogue, collaboration and action: A global leadership lab3 As has become clear, traditional leadership models built on linear planning, centralized control, individual heroics and short-term gains can no longer suffice to address current and future challenges. What emerges instead is a demand for morally grounded leadership that is distributed, adaptive, and building on dialogue – capable of listening deeply, learning continuously, and acting collectively, thus helping to build cohesion and trust in and across societies. Thinking next generation in this process, including youth and emerging leaders, will help to inject fresh, intergenerational perspectives. The World Economic Forum convened the GFC on Leadership to explore the evolving role and nature of leadership – also seen from a next generation perspective being anchored with the YGL community. Through this report and the proposal for a new global leadership lab, the GFC seeks to facilitate innovation at the core of leadership: What must change in how we define, develop, and deploy leadership to not only stay abreast with today’s challenges, but to shape the future we want – for ourselves and for future generations? The lab will facilitate an ongoing and participatory exploration of how leadership must evolve to meet current and emerging demands, serving as a tool for leaders to enhance their own perspectives and skills, thereby becoming more effective leaders. The lab spans generations and sectors, cultural and regional contexts, integrating perspectives from business, government, academia, civil society, and the next cohort of leaders – all united by a shared recognition that the future of leadership must be adaptive, while being anchored in shared purpose and a carefully crafted moral compass. The global leadership lab, therefore, is envisioned as an open, collaborative and dynamic platform. Its mission is to translate insights into action through four pathways:Convene: Create a space for dialogue on the evolution of leadership in an age of acceleration and transformation, and carefully feed into what a future-proof leadership compass may look like. Such dialogues may take place through the World Economic Forum’s platform and communities, as well as online to sustain and shape intergenerational, cross-regional multistakeholder conversations. Curate: Develop an interactive, digital repository of global research, publications, case studies, and leadership innovations that explore the changing nature of leadership and trust in times of disruption, offering both inspiration and practical insight. Cultivate: Provide regularly updated, essential tools for leaders to enhance their competencies and impact towards long- term value creation. This includes innovative training frameworks and development opportunities as well as leadership assessments and impact scorecards. Catalyse: Partner with government, business, academia, and civil society to pilot new leadership frameworks and projects that drive progress across the four key systemic leverage points and unfold real-world impact. Ultimately, the global leadership lab is both a platform and an invitation to reimagine how leadership can be exercised as a vehicle for collective progress. It further explores the principles and practices of future-proof leadership: One that moves from linear to intergenerational leadership, from control to co-creation, from individual authority to shared agency, and from short-term performance to long-term impact – strategic shifts that need to take root both in leaders themselves and in organizations. 16 Next Generation Leadership for a World in Transformation: Driving Dialogue and Action