3 Business Leadership Skills You Need to Hire in 2024
Hiring

3 Business Leadership Skills You Need to Hire in 2024

In the fast-paced and ever-changing business landscape of 2024, hiring the right leader is critical to organizational success.   As Deloitte found, businesses with a culture led by great leaders were 12 times more likely to have high business performance.   But you’ve got to know what to hire! And that can be difficult to […]

May 2nd, 2024
*

Abby.

Founder

A search expert making key hires for over twenty years.

In the fast-paced and ever-changing business landscape of 2024, hiring the right leader is critical to organizational success.

 

As Deloitte found, businesses with a culture led by great leaders were 12 times more likely to have high business performance.

 

But you’ve got to know what to hire! And that can be difficult to pinpoint. Not a bad place to start though would be looking at the challenges that businesses are having to face up to and working back from there. This will then help with identifying the business leadership skills you need to hire.

 

So, let’s dive in!

 

 

The challenges all businesses face

 

Every year PwC take a global temperature check of CEOs to see what it is that’s keeping them up at night.

 

This year, top of mind came changing customer demands and preferences (56% said this was the biggest challenge), followed by changes in regulation (53%), and then changes in needed skills and labour shortages (52%).

 

With what CEOs are worrying about in mind — as well as using our working knowledge of the senior recruitment market as well as knowledge of what our partner clients need — at Yellow Bricks, we came up with three skills (by no means a conclusive list, but an important one) of what leadership skills and characteristics businesses need to hire in order to drive success.

 

Read on to find out more about what skills you need to be looking for in your next leadership hires.

 

 

Resilient leaders = resilient business

 

Resilience should be a key leadership trait you’re looking to hire in the next 12 months.

 

In simple terms, it means leadership hires should be adaptable, goal-focused, have good emotional intelligence, have a positive outlook, and are able to maintain productivity in their teams.

They are likely to be great strategic thinkers effective communicators and have a growth mindset.

 

On a business landscape defined by change — changes in customer demands, changes in needed skills, changes in regulation — those who are most resilient will be able to drive success.

In fact, a recent study by the University of Pennsylvania found that resilient leaders are more likely to drive better performance outcomes.

 

As such, hiring leaders who possess personal resilience and can foster resilience in their team members is essential for success in 2024.

 

 

Lateral thinking leadership

 

Lateral thinking, also known as “out of the box” thinking, is also a critical skill for leaders in 2024.

 

Firstly, it’s important to know what lateral thinking looks like in business leaders. It usually means being able to adapt to business problems, generating innovative solutions to issues to continue to drive business growth, and adapting new models and structures to approach a new situation.

 

With change the only certainty — at least as the CEOs see it — it will be lateral thinkers who will be able to overcome hurdles presented by rapidly transforming markets, workforces and legislative playing fields.

 

In fact, so important is lateral thinking that McKinsey found that 70% of executives rated building innovation as one of their top three strategic priorities.

 

And in a 2023-published Stanford University survey of almost 7,000 global leaders, which looked at companies, leaders and their ability to innovate, found that leaders who were willing to think outside the box, and even reconceive what their company was about, were the ones able to deliver to customers and get market share.

 

As such, your next leadership hires need to show these lateral thinking and innovative attributes.

 

 

Data literacy and capability

 

With it being 2024, data capabilities are another key leadership skill that cannot be overlooked.

 

As a recent article in MIT’s Sloan School, one of the biggest business schools in the world, stated: “Leaders need to trust and understand data well enough to make good decisions, and they must also drive literacy efforts throughout the organization and create a culture of trust in data.”

 

Indeed, if a leader is presented with data on where a market might be evolving, or with employee engagement and skills fade, and what that might mean in terms of talent management strategy options, they’ve got to be able to understand the trends and numbers in front of them.

 

Whilst this might not mean becoming a data scientist or analytics practitioner in earnest it might mean that a good data-savvy leader is good at creating a strategy from data, are receptive to using data and analytics alongside their own intuition, is able to communicate using data, and is an advocate of good data practices within a business.

 

The importance of this is born out in the numbers.

 

Research from IBM

 

One IBM study found that companies that use data analytics are 2.2 times more likely to outperform their peers whilst a 2023 study of Chief Data Officers at some of the world’s biggest firms found that so important is data that a staggering 94% are planning to increase investments into data this year.

 

And, one of the biggest areas for improvement, they found, was getting leaders who were ready to drive data cultures.

 

Meaning it’s a clear place you can get the edge over your competitors if you hire a data whizz in.

 

 

Finding 2024-ready leaders

 

Of course, there are more leadership traits than resilience, lateral thinking, and data capabilities that make up a rounded, effective, 2023-ready leader.

 

But finding the right hire can be difficult — especially when resources are stretched and HR teams are often firefighting or strategising in several areas at once.

 


 

Who We Are

Yellow Bricks hires exceptional temporary and permanent professionals for growth organisations. To find out more, click here.

 


 

Connect with us

 

Want the latest people news? Join our newsletter.

 

Need to hire? Book a call with one of our hiring experts.

 

Looking to bring on temps? Here’s how we can help. // Book a temp with us today.

 


To find out more about how to focus on your brand, get in touch today.
Want to hear about our other articles?
Looking to hire your next superstar?
Keen to explore our latest vacancies?
Yellow Bricks is a female-owned and led executive search firm hiring predominately for software companies with diversity and inclusion at the heart of our offering. To learn more, click here.
Related posts
How to Give Your CV the Edge

How to Give Your CV the Edge

Taking the time to craft your CV has never been so critical.   A CV is often the first glimpse of you that a company has to decide if they want to consider you for a new job opening – standing out as a good match for their organisation is important.   Getting your CV […]
The Future of Recruitment is Workforce Planning Partnerships

The Future of Recruitment is Workforce Planning Partnerships

Why Workforce Planning Partnerships Matter Workforce planning partnerships are the future of recruitment. By placing workforce planning partnerships at the heart of business strategy, organisations can anticipate needs, align people decisions with growth objectives, and avoid the costly cycle of reactive hiring. Recruitment is changing. The days of agencies competing to fill vacancies faster and […]
UK Visa Sponsorship: Explained

UK Visa Sponsorship: Explained

Employing a motivated, overseas worker: Not hard, not expensive   Immigration Law is often considered procedurally complex, expensive, and bureaucratic. I’ve omitted those parts to show employing an overseas worker doesn’t have to be a burden.   The following attempts to simplify a path for the employment of overseas nationals in the UK. To do […]
4 Eating Habits of Highly Successful People

4 Eating Habits of Highly Successful People

What do the world’s most successful people eat on a day to day basis?   Food is fuel, and these leaders make a point of choosing what they eat wisely.   Here are the eating habits of some highly successful people:   Being Predictable 💡 Many leaders are famous for being highly predictable in when […]
Supercharge Your Pipeline: 5 Tips for Quality Candidate Feedback

Supercharge Your Pipeline: 5 Tips for Quality Candidate Feedback

Want to Grow Your People Pipeline? Here’s How to Give Interview Feedback to Candidates The most common complaint from job seekers is a lack of constructive feedback. Considering that each candidate has invested time, energy, and hope into your organisation, it’s only fair and smart to understand how to give interview feedback to candidates in […]
The Benefits to Hiring a Temp or Contractor

The Benefits to Hiring a Temp or Contractor

You have big ideas.   However, these ideas come with the need for an increased level of niche skill or time that your employees may not have.   What can you do?   Hire a temporary worker or an interim contractor:   What is a temporary worker / interim contractor?   An interim contractor is […]
The Benefits of Team Lunches

The Benefits of Team Lunches

When it’s time for lunch, do you eat at your desk? 🥪 For most people, this is the case. Over 60% of workers say that they eat lunch at their desks. A lunch break should be a break from work to have lunch. Some of us are still not allowing ourselves or feeling able to […]
Employee Engagement and the Human Connection

Employee Engagement and the Human Connection

The Crucial Role of Human Connection: Strategies to Enhance Team Dynamics, Employee Engagement and Productivity The significance of employee engagement and the human connection cannot be overstated in an era where the workplace is continuously reshaped by technology and shifting employee preferences. Understanding the balance between remote work and in-person collaboration is crucial for business […]
8 Habits That Will Make You a Better Leader

8 Habits That Will Make You a Better Leader

It’s the start of a shiny new year ✨   Your people will be looking to you for guidance and reassurance as we enter more uncertain times.   Building strong foundations by adopting helpful habits will help you to be the best leader you can be.   Here are our top 8 habits that will […]
How Should Employers Respond To Strikes?

How Should Employers Respond To Strikes?

Travel disruption is expected in the next few weeks. Train strikes are due for the end of July and middle of August due to rows over jobs, conditions, and pay. In the August strikes alone, 40,000 workers across Network Rail are expected to walk out. With trains being a popular mode of transport for workers, […]

People. Culture. Growth.