Here are six leadership truths I’ve learned from 16 years on the Training Industry Top 20
For the 16th consecutive year, Impact has been named one of Training Industry’s Top 20 Leadership Training Companies.
And yes – I’m proud. Of Impact. Of the work we do. Of the clients we partner with. And of the team I’m part of.
But let me be clear: as a Mom who is surrounded by teens, I can confirm that 16 comes with big opinions, high standards, and zero patience for anything fake. You don’t stay on this list for 16 years by just talking the talk. Training Industry looks at scope and quality, innovation and real-world impact, client relationships, and whether you can actually sustain performance over time. In short: you’ve got to walk the walk.
Impact has been around for 45+ years, and on this list for 16. Here are six leadership truths I see play out every single day with our clients.
1. Leadership isn’t a title. It’s what you do when it matters.
If I had a dollar for every time someone waited for “the leader” to act, I’d be writing this from a beach. The biggest shift we see is when people stop treating leadership like a job title and start seeing it as action – noticing what’s going on, deciding what to do and taking action to move something forward. That’s when leadership scales and the bottlenecks stop.
If you’re waiting for permission to lead, you’re already behind.
2. In uncertainty, clarity matters more than certainty.
Our clients are navigating non-stop change – mergers, restructures, AI and tech transformation, economic pressure, geopolitical uncertainty – the list goes on. The best leaders I see aren’t pretending to have all the answers. They’re listening, communicating, clarifying what matters, and naming what’s known vs. unknown. Leadership today is sense-making.
If your team feels less confused after talking to you, you’re doing it right. Do you dare ask them?
3. “Leading change” isn’t a skill anymore – it’s the job.
Across our work globally, leading fast-moving, complex change management is the most consistent leadership challenge organisations bring us. Right now “leading change” isn’t just a module on a leadership journey. It is the day job. It’s how decisions get made under pressure, how resistance gets handled, and how honestly leaders communicate when all the parts are still moving.
If you’re treating change as an initiative instead of a daily reality, your leaders are underprepared.
4. The fundamentals are not basic – they’re decisive.
The organisations who are investing heavily in first-line and mid-level leaders are seeing strategy turn into reality. Skills like setting direction, giving feedback, coaching, making decisions, and collaborating across boundaries aren’t “Leadership 101” – they’re performance drivers. This layer is critical for long-term organisational success.
If you’re treating leadership fundamentals as basic, you’re missing out on the heavyweights.
5. You don’t get performance without human-centred leadership.
Human-centred leadership isn’t a “nice to have”. What we see – over and over – is that performance, culture, trust, psychological safety and wellbeing are not separate systems. Human‑centred leadership isn't soft. It’s how work gets done effectively. When people don’t feel safe enough to speak, challenge, or fail forward, performance doesn’t get a little worse – it erodes. Always.
If your culture makes people feel they need to hide mistakes, manage burnout in silence, or be afraid to ask questions – performance is already leaking.
6. AI is raising the bar for human leadership
AI is everywhere in our clients’ worlds now. And no, the answer isn’t “teach leaders more tech.” We’re working more and more with clients to support their leaders to develop the deeply human skills that machines can’t do: judgment, ethics, sense-making, influence, connection, and meaning. Because AI doesn’t replace leadership – it exposes it.
If you’re expecting technology to do the hard work of leadership for you, you’re missing the point – and the opportunity.
Sweet Six (teen)
So there you have it Sweet Six (teen). I’ll spare you the mega list – as after 16 years on the Top 20, there are at least sixteen leadership truths I could share. But if any of these challenges resonate with you, get in touch.
Here at Impact, we know what these truths look like inside real organisations and we can help you and your leaders respond to them today.
Leadership that lasts is leadership that’s practiced - every day, especially when it’s hard.
If you think we can help you, get in touch