6 Ways to Build Leadership That Drives Transformation

In my previous article on Vertical Leadership Development, we explored how growing leaders for the future isn’t just about adding more skills, but rather about evolving how they make meaning. This shift is what sets truly future-ready leaders apart in a world where AI changes at lightning speed.

So, how do we build leaders who can thrive in ambiguity, difference, and complexity? It happens through developing six leadership transformational capabilities that shape not just what leaders know, but how they think, decide, and show up.

Let me introduce these six capabilities and offer practical ways to cultivate them.

1. Inquiry based experimentation

Outstanding leaders are tireless explorers of self, others, and systems. They consciously weave action and learning together.

Try this:

• Create space to pause, reflect, and simply notice what you notice
• Ask good questions, of yourself and others, and listen deeply to understand why people think and act the way they do
• Consciously design small or even dramatic experiments with curiosity, passion, and detachment

Ask yourself:

• Where’s my focus now?
• What question could move me (or us) forward?
• What new thing could I try that I’ve never done before?

2. Courageous use of power

Leadership is inseparable from power. The question is how you use it - whether to protect your own interests, or to benefit the larger whole.

Try this:

• Act with courage in the face of authority or peer pressure, even at the risk of displeasure or disadvantage
• Before using your power, clarify: whose agenda am I truly serving?
• When under stress, use your power with calmness and dignity

Ask yourself:

• What manifestation of power is holding me back?
• What’s the worst that could happen if others disapprove? And then what?
• What do I deeply believe in, and what will become possible because I acted on it?

3. Positive use of language

Speaking is the primary tool of leadership. It’s how we shape collaboration and possibility.

Try this:

• Look for what’s working, what has value, or what might become possible - even in difficulty
• Be intentional with your words, aiming to move towards what is generative
• Hone your skill in asking powerful, impact-driving questions

Ask yourself:

• Even when I disagree, what 10% of what the other person says could be true?
• Who could I approach to test and enrich my ideas?

Read: Leading With a Moonshot Mindset: Lessons from Waymo

4. Passionate detachment

This is a beautiful paradox: leaders must care deeply, yet also let go. When everything becomes about “my way,” trust evaporates.

Try this:

• Develop acute and continuous awareness of your own motivational states. If you feel bored or cynical, experiment with changing something
• When you feel passion, follow it wholeheartedly. Then practice stepping back, creating room for others to contribute. Try letting go and watch what else emerges

Ask yourself:

• What’s driving me right now?
• How do I know when to step back and create space for others’ contributions?

5. Exercising systems leadership

Today’s challenges live in systems, not silos. Leaders who see and influence systems amplify their impact.

Try this:

• Map out what’s beneath the surface - tensions, patterns, energies
• Have conversations inside and outside the system to see through others’ eyes
• Take ownership as a strategic player; look for leverage and “nudge” points for change

Ask yourself:

• What am I noticing in the current web of relationships?
• Where are my levers for change?
• How can I involve others?

6. Enabling differences

Diversity isn’t just demographic, it’s cognitive, emotional, and experiential. Leaders who invite differences widen their field of solutions.

Try this:

• Speak with people you rarely engage. Discover what they value
• When disagreements recur, explore the other’s perspective until they say, “Yes, that’s exactly what I mean.”
• In groups, spot who’s quiet. Actively invite them in. Notice your own biases: who do you instinctively value most?

Ask yourself:

• Who am I hesitant to seek feedback from, and what might I learn?
• Where might my biases be shaping what I see as valuable?

Closing thought

These transformational capabilities aren’t “nice to have". They are the mental muscles of vertical leadership development. They help leaders grow their “operating system”, so they’re not just effective in today’s complexity, but ready to evolve ahead of tomorrow’s.

If this resonates, I invite you to keep exploring how you, your team, or your organisation can cultivate these capacities. Because the future won’t be led by the best trained in yesterday’s logic, but by those who think differently.

Step into the room where Asia’s future leaders connect. Register for ELC 2025 today.