In episode 3 of The Leadership Shift, Caroline Huffam and Corinne Hollidge continue with theme of leadership transitions and explore why fewer people are choosing leadership.

What you'll learn in this episode:

• Why more leaders are questioning whether leadership is sustainable, rather than simply questioning whether they personally want to lead.
• How the modern leadership role has become more complex, with leaders expected to be strategists, coaches, communicators, change leaders, culture builders and increasingly digitally capable.
• Why working harder isn't always the answer when a leader is struggling.
• How successful leaders can become trapped by the very behaviours that made them successful earlier in their careers.
• Why leaders don't need to have all the answers and why curiosity can be more valuable than certainty.
• Why the environment of an organisation creates can be just as important as the capability of the individual leader.
• Why leadership development is an organisational responsibility, not simply something the individual leader needs to manage themselves.
• Why leadership pipelines are at risk when leadership looks like an exhausting and unsustainable proposition in organisations.
• Why an aspect of the future of leadership will depend on moving away from "heroic leadership" towards communities of inspirational, emotional intelligent leaders.
• Why the answer to successful leadership and leadership pipelines of the future will rely on the redesign of leadership so that people can lead without sacrificing their wellbeing, relationships or sense of purpose.
  
  
  

The key takeaway from Episode 3:

People may not be rejecting leadership itself. They may be rejecting the way leadership is currently designed.

Find us at Synergy for Growth on LinkedIn here.

Connect with Caroline Huffam on Linkedin here.

Connect with Corrine Hollidge on Linkedin here.

Find our Synergy for Growth website here.

If you want to look further at the references from this episode:

References for Episode 3

Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) (2024/2025) Health and Wellbeing at Work Survey. London: CIPD.

Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) (2024/2025) Good Work Index. London: CIPD.

Development Dimensions International (DDI) (2025) Global Leadership Forecast 2025: Ready for What's Next? Bridgeville, PA: DDI.

Development Dimensions International (DDI) (2026) Leading Through Change Research. Bridgeville, PA: DDI.

Gartner (2024–2025) Research on Leadership Transition, Executive Effectiveness and Leadership Development. Stamford, CT: Gartner.

Ibarra, H. (2015) Act Like a Leader, Think Like a Leader. Boston, MA: Harvard Business Review Press.

Keller, S. and Meaney, M. (2018) Successfully Transitioning to New Leadership Roles. McKinsey & Company.

Microsoft (2024/2025) Work Trend Index Annual Report. Redmond, WA: Microsoft.

World Health Organization (2019) Burn-out an "Occupational Phenomenon": International Classification of Diseases. Geneva: World Health Organization.