The Future of Leadership Starts with Inclusion
Today’s most effective leaders don’t just react to change, they shape it. This is the big idea behind my keynote on future-ready leadership: how inclusive leadership builds cultures that are prepared for disruption, innovation, and resilience. Grounded in practice, not just principle, this approach is designed to help leaders thrive in a fast-moving, high-stakes world.
This keynote explores how inclusive leadership helps organizations adapt, perform, and lead through change.
The 7 Sins and Wins of Future-Ready Leadership
Research-Based and Ready for the Real World
Listening: Shut up so they don’t shut down
The future of leadership begins with presence. Listening actively and with humility creates the conditions for trust, safety, and growth.
I first learned this when a student challenged my “lecture of a lifetime” by showing me everything I got wrong - that moment changed my leadership forever. (The Katie Case Story)
Hiring: Hire for the good fit and the good add
Future-ready leaders don’t just look for “culture fit.” They hire for difference - because what’s remarkable is marketable.
When I trusted a student team to compete at a UN hackathon, they didn’t just show up, they won top prize, twice. (The Geneva Case Story)
Decentering: Good leaders decenter and recenter others
Inclusion means making space. Leaders who decenter themselves elevate the ideas, voices, and potential of everyone on the team.
A student once found errors in my PhD dissertation. Our collaboration went on to win top honors and shape global research. (The Randi Case Story)
Holding Space: Don’t sanitize, humanize your workplace
Future leaders embrace the full human experience at work. That includes grief, joy, complexity, and contradiction.
By holding space for a student on the verge of dropping out, I saw her go from crisis to completing her degree and thriving. (The Hanne Case Story)
Trusting: Validate vulnerability
Innovation requires risk. Vulnerability is not weakness, it's a signal of trust. Future-ready leaders know how to foster it.
I was scheduled to fly into wartime Kyiv to support an inclusion project, but it took someone else’s words to remind me I mattered too. (The Kiev Case Story)
Seeing: See the spectrum of the human experience
Being “color blind” is not a virtue. Inclusive leaders practice awareness to understand systems, identities, and bias.
I failed to recognize how a PhD student’s intersecting identities shaped her experience, and I lost the chance to be a good leader. (The Anita Case Story)
Reconciling: Repair or regret
Mistakes happen. Future-ready leaders own them, repair trust, and model accountability.
Blowing the whistle on leadership cost millions, and my job, but it taught me what integrity really means. (Whistleblower Case Story)
Anthony is an outstanding speaker with a commanding presence and a generous spirit. His keynote at our world-class event was nothing short of spectacular: insightful, thought-provoking, and deeply relevant.
Kristin Engvig
Founder President & CEO WIN Global