We live in the age of ‘permacrisis’, where disruption is no longer the exception, but the rule. Over recent years, leaders have had to navigate a global pandemic, economic shocks, geopolitical instability, cybersecurity threats and more. Many hoped these were temporary storms, but the reality is that the steady conditions leaders once relied upon are unlikely to return anytime soon.

According to our research, 58% of senior executives cite economic uncertainty as their top challenge, followed by geopolitical volatility (44%), shifting market dynamics (37%), cybersecurity risk (29%), and workforce retention (28%). These disruptions are not isolated. They compound, accelerating each other. Wars disrupt supply chains, fuelling inflation, which erodes wages and intensifies social and political strain.

Transformative culture

In this climate, leadership must evolve. The old model, where culture was a static asset to be ‘set’ and aligned with strategy, no longer applies. Culture today must be transformative: values-based but adapting continuously.

Everyone in an organisation walks in from a world already filled with uncertainty. Leadership begins by creating stability and clarity inside that organisation.

In a world where little is fixed, culture can be the constant, even as strategy flexes. Collaboration, for example, is always valuable, but how it’s enacted must evolve with new ways of working. The organisations that flourish in this new era will stay rooted in purpose and fluid in everything else.

So why do some leaders thrive in this chaos while others stall? Our research points to a pattern: leaders who outperform in times of disruption don’t just endure, they transform. I call them ‘connecting leaders’, and they consistently demonstrate three foundational traits: purpose, learning and vitality.

Primary colours

These three elements are like the primary colours of leadership. Leaders who operate with all three in balance can drive performance, build trust, and lead transformation. Purpose is about having a clear ‘why’; while learning is about cultivating a growth mindset and seeing change as opportunity. Vitality is the energy to connect with others, orchestrate ecosystems, and sustain forward motion.

One leader described it to me as having all three in balance, like an internal gyroscope. When conditions shift—and they always do—it allows you to make micro-adjustments to stay on course. Thriving leaders are more likely to drive top-tier performance and to be seen as positive role models for those they lead.

Refounding Microsoft

The clearest example of this model in action is Satya Nadella’s leadership at Microsoft. When Nadella became CEO in 2014, Microsoft was stagnating. Within a decade, he transformed the company’s market cap from $300 billion to more than $4 trillion.

How? Nadella approached his tenure as a ‘refounding’ of the company. He shifted Microsoft’s culture mindset from ‘know-it-all’ to one that was ‘learn-it-all’, built on what he called “extreme empathy”. He understood that to unlock innovation, the company needed not only strategy, but humility, curiosity and inclusion.

It is important to point out that leading with empathy doesn’t mean avoiding hard decisions. It means making them with clarity and care, and recognising what people are carrying with them.

I often think of it like a crowded train station. You walk past hundreds of people, and you don’t know what any of them are dealing with. Great leaders assume that everyone is carrying something, and they lead from that awareness. They start where people are—and take them somewhere better.

We have also seen that the most effective leaders operate with one foot in the future and one in the present.

They’re able to read the signals of what is coming, bring that insight into the ‘now’, and connect their teams to action that makes sense today but prepares them for tomorrow.

Leadership begins within

Effective leaders act with purpose and courage. They create environments where people can learn, grow and safely fail. They don’t just adapt to change: they help to shape it. They don’t lead alone, they orchestrate ecosystems of suppliers, customers, regulators and communities. And they understand that transformation is primarily an inside job.

In one recent conversation, a leader said to me: “We’ve tried everything: big consulting firms, small boutiques, and nothing worked.” When I asked what all those efforts had in common, the answer was simple: the same leadership at the centre. That moment of reflection was the start of something new.

Thriving leadership begins within. If organisations are to navigate the age of permacrisis, their leaders must be willing to evolve. Purpose. Learning. Vitality. Empathy. These are not just traits; they are the ground rules for outperformance.

The world may not settle down any time soon. But that is not a reason to retreat. It’s a call to lead differently and more humanely. Those who answer that call won’t merely weather the storm, they’ll redefine what is possible.

Dustin W. Seale is a partner in Heidrick & Struggles’ London office, managing partner of Heidrick Consulting in Europe, and co-author of the book Lead Through Anything.