Leadership Challenges

This book explores the multifaceted challenges facing business leaders in the third decade of the 21st century, as they navigate an increasingly complex, volatile, and interconnected global environment. It begins by situating leadership transformation within the broader context of megatrends such as demographic shifts, technological acceleration, geopolitical turbulence, and the growing imperative of sustainable development. Against this backdrop, traditional leadership models, particularly those rooted in autocratic, transactional logic, are shown to be insufficient in addressing the motivational and ethical expectations of younger generational cohorts and knowledge workers.

This monograph presents a typology of emerging leadership imperatives, including intergenerational management, inclusive leadership, strategic communication, brand construction, and internal meaning-making in the context of Industry 5.0. It emphasizes the strategic significance of business model innovation, scenario-based foresight, and ethical resilience in responding to global disruptions such as war, sanctions, or systemic crises.

Through conceptual analysis and case-based reflections, the book identifies key leadership competences, ranging from communicative agility to paradox management, that are essential for guiding organizations toward long-term competitiveness and legitimacy. Ultimately, it calls for a redefinition of leadership as a value-driven, relational, and anticipatory practice capable of sustaining performance and trust in an era of systemic transformation and sustainable economy.

Author Biography

Rafał Śliwiński is an Associate Professor in the Department of International Management at the Institute of World Economy, Poznań University of Business and Economics, Poland. His academic work focuses on strategic management, competitiveness, leadership, and international business, with particular emphasis on organizational adaptation in the face of geopolitical, technological, environmental and demographic transformations. He has authored and co-authored numerous peer-reviewed articles and book chapters on topics such as international competitiveness, fast-growing firms, leadership and new business models. He serves as a reviewer for several international academic journals and is actively involved in interdisciplinary research projects addressing the challenges of digital transformation and inclusive leadership in the global economy.