Mike Pelfini — 07 May 2025
The multidimensional business leader is the future of leadership. Learn five key changes to make the shift to the new mindsets, skills, and ways of working.
To succeed in an age of accelerating change, leaders need to think in new ways, develop new skills, and embrace new ways of working. Welcome to the world of the multidimensional business leader. In today’s world, adaptation marks the difference between mere survival and sustainable growth.
The multidimensional leader needs to reimagine everything from how business operates to what success looks like. They must lead their organizations to greater teamwork, innovation, and growth. They need to become coaches and collaborators as much as decision makers.
This article offers five keys to becoming a multidimensional business leader, prepared to meet the future head on.
Focus on vision, values, and purpose
To be a multidimensional business leader, pay attention to the organization’s vision, values, and purpose from the start. These should be the first reference point for any new initiative, but they can be easily overlooked in the excitement of the moment.
Going deeper, creating a sense of purpose and a meaningful mission are key ingredients for sustainable success. Becoming a “purpose-driven” organization isn’t just a feel good measure. According to a Deloitte study, purpose-driven organizations grow three times faster and are far more innovative than their competitors.
To create a compelling vision for the workforce, the multidimensional business leader must become clear about his or her individual purpose and how it aligns with the organization’s mission, vision, and values.
- Create an AI innovation strategy
With vision and purpose in mind, the multidimensional business leader can move to the second key to success: Creating an innovation strategy.
Begin with artificial intelligence (AI), the biggest technological change since the worldwide web – and it’s just getting started. The multidimensional business leader must develop a comprehensive AI strategy.
Leaders should ask broad questions about how AI can help their organization seize new opportunities. The most successful AI adopters use technology to create new value, rather than to cut costs. They develop broadly integrated uses, rather than isolated or disconnected ones, according to Deloitte.
Prioritizing human capital is critical to the successful adoption of AI. Leaders must communicate the benefits of AI to augment, rather than replace, the human connection. They must be cheerleaders for growth and development, tolerating failure as part of the learning process.
Foster collaboration and cohesiveness
The days of strict hierarchy and vertical “silos” have passed. Multidimensional business leaders need to meet the future by embracing collaboration, teamwork, and shared responsibility.
Teamwork is the foundation for future success. To set the conditions for great teamwork, leaders should focus on three enabling conditions:
Compelling direction: Leaders must set a clear direction with well-defined goals. Equally important is to motivate team members to answer the “why” question: Explain how the organizational direction meets its values and goals.
Strong structure: A team needs structure to thrive. These “rules of the road” should govern how the team is formed, how it functions, and how team members are expected to treat each other.
Supportive context: Here is the multidimensional leader’s opportunity to shine with adaptive leadership. In contrast to command and control models, adaptive leadership emphasizes individual growth, people skills, and a sense of purpose.
To boost teamwork, leaders need to focus on cohesiveness by building trust, encouraging open communication, and ensuring a sense of fairness prevails in the workplace. Cohesive teams consistently outperform less closely knit groups.
Boost innovation with learning and development
Constant change means organizations never stop innovating, and innovative thinking thrives in a culture of learning. The multidimensional business leader can foster innovation by becoming the “head coach” that drives learning and development.
Growth mindset. The foundation for learning and development is a growth mindset. It holds that personal qualities are changeable and can be improved through effort. Talent isn’t just inborn, it is the result of dedication and effort. Organizations can develop a growth mindset by promoting development, collaboration, and experimentation.
Learning culture. If a growth mindset is the foundation, a learning culture is the cathedral of innovation. Organizations that emphasize learning are far more likely to produce innovations and report significantly higher profits and productivity, according to Deloitte. Yet most organizations don’t devote sufficient resources to learning. It needs to become a core value and receive both material support and the strong endorsement of leadership.
Create connection and a sense of belonging
The fifth key to becoming a multidimensional business leader is to create a culture of belonging. People need to feel engaged, motivated, and appreciated. They must be encouraged to express their passions, curiosity, and enthusiasm.
Leading with “people skills.” The metric that separates great leaders from good ones can’t be found in spreadsheets, credentials, or titles. Motivating the workforce of the future requires “people skills,” a bundle of related competencies centered on emotional intelligence and relationship building. Developing people skills requires leaders to become more self-aware, more empathetic, and to act with integrity.
Creating a sense of belonging. Building a shared culture creates a sense of belonging in the workplace. Forging stronger connections improves employee performance, retention, and even lowers the use of sick time, says the Harvard Business Review. Leaders can improve a sense of belonging by establishing fairness, flexibility, and inclusion as core values. When people are encouraged to be their best selves, organizations thrive.
If you would like to learn more about developing the skills to become a multidimensional leader, please contact us.
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