Christel Kinning: The leadership qualities we can’t afford to keep ignoring
Christel Kinning: What 40+ years in business taught me about what we need next. These are the leadership qualities we can’t afford to keep ignoring.
Christel Kinning: What 40+ years in business taught me about what we need next. These are the leadership qualities we can’t afford to keep ignoring.
Recently, Future Navigators was named the Best Boutique Business Strategy Consultant 2025 in Sweden by EU Business News, as part of their European Business Awards.
Rapid advances in AI are fundamentally changing how decisions are made, how work gets done, and how trust is built. At the same time, the economic landscape has remained uneven, with easing but persistent inflation pressures and cautious capital allocation.
There is an aspect of strategy that we rarely acknowledge, perhaps because it feels too subtle, too human, or too inward to fit comfortably within the rational language of business. Yet it is this very dimension that determines the difference between strategies that remain conceptual and those that become living, breathing realities.
Every meaningful strategic journey begins long before we start shaping purpose statements or describing who we want to become. It begins by widening our field of vision — from past, to present, and to the evolving future — to understand the deeper story and context that the organisation is part of.
In a world that rewards speed, slowing down can feel counterintuitive — even risky. Yet for you as a leader, it may be the most important strategic move you can make.
Christel Kinning: What 40+ years in business taught me about what we need next. These are the leadership qualities we can’t afford to keep ignoring.
In a world that rewards speed, slowing down can feel counterintuitive — even risky. Yet for you as a leader, it may be the most important strategic move you can make.
The challenges facing leaders today are not just strategic or operational — they are deeply human. The complexity of climate change, societal fragmentation, technological acceleration, and shifting stakeholder expectations demands more than technical expertise. It calls for leaders who can hold paradox, navigate uncertainty, and grow beyond business-as-usual.
Across industries and geographies, senior leaders are sensing the same thing: the leadership capability gap is widening.
The world is changing fast. Technological advancements, shifting consumer expectations, and evolving regulations are transforming the business landscape. One of the most critical concepts in making sense of these shifts is the strategic inflection point—a moment where fundamental change becomes inevitable and demands a new approach.
When we were younger, we were taught that our brains stopped developing at the age of 25. It was simply believed that the brain had a static structure and that, over time, brain cells died and could not be renewed. Today, we know better.
As business leaders, we often get stuck in the operational issues of the short term. Once a year, when we go into the strategy review process, we may look three to five or even ten years into the future.
Change and disruption may seem to be new characteristics related to our modern world but are in fact not new phenomenon. They have been with us since the beginning of time, and some patterns seem to be repeated continuously.
Have you heard about Vertical Leadership Development? It goes beyond traditional executive coaching methods and traditional leadership education
A purpose is the reason for why something is done, created, or exists. A higher purpose is something to strive for that is bigger than you and your company. It often includes an important societal issue, where the company takes a stand.