Trends, Fads or “Flash in the Pan!”—What’s Going On in the World of Business?
It’s already the end of 2025.
If we believed the “trends” of the 1960s, then by 1999, we should have had an international, functional moon base. Or at least by 2001, the US and Russia should have had operational moon bases (note the plural). And the reality is that no person has set foot on the moon for more than 50 years.
Closer to home, we’ve gone through RPA, then we had ESG, and then there was DEI. All of these initiatives have something in common—they require people and are about people. They require people to drive them and make them work.
And that brings us to today and the world of AI. In the early 1990s, as PCs were becoming popular in Poland, many managers and company leaders thought, “Ah! Now we have a computer…that will fix everything.” But computers are only as good as the people using them. Again…it’s people.
Reading the headlines about AI is like “déjà vu all over again”. “AI will solve all our problems!” I was on a webinar back in the spring of this year (2025), and someone said that AI psychologists/therapists were now an integral part of the mental health industry. Yet we now have data that shows using AI as a therapist can be life-threatening. Who hasn’t heard of “AI hallucinations”? And reports generated by AI need to be vetted…by whom?
Over the last 70 years, what we have discovered time and time again is that machines are useful tools (or can be useful tools). But just like flint knives or plows or hydraulic presses, they require people to run them. And that brings me to the next “trend”…leadership development.
I stopped counting the number of articles (and the number of years I’ve seen these articles) that say, “We have come to a time where we need to re-think leadership” or “This means that we have to fundamentally change the way we lead.” And then proceed to write an article about the same leadership principles that I was taught 40 years ago! And if we can trust the literature, it’s the same principles for the last 300 years (or, in some circles, 2000+ years).
And here are some key points regarding leadership:
- Focus on people and on developing people.
- Have a vision you believe in and work to make it happen.
- Communicate your vision clearly, so others can join.
- Develop skills in critical thinking and problem solving.
- Learn to differentiate strategic issues from tactical and operational issues.
Being a leader is like being a parent. What is a successful parent? The primary job of a parent is to raise children who are responsible and accountable, who can take care of themselves, are life-long learners, and can get into a relationship with another person…to raise children who are responsible, etc. Society and culture can only function in this manner. If this process breaks down, then society ceases to exist.
So, the primary job of a leader is to develop responsible and accountable employees, who can do their jobs (and support others in doing theirs), are life-long learners, and are able to develop responsible and accountable employees, who can do their jobs, etc….
In the 1990s, there was a leadership collapse in the West. There were people who had become CEOs of large corporations in the 1960s and 1970s and made those companies successful. But very few of them invested the time and energy into making new leaders. When they were ready for retirement, they looked around at the people immediately below them in the organization but didn’t see anyone to take on the mantle and lead the organization. They had failed to reproduce themselves…to make disciples who would take over after they had left.
As a result, they turned to very young people, 25–30 years old and promoted them to senior VPs and groomed them to take over the organization. The result? A group of CEOs who didn’t know how to work with people, treated people as “resources,” and maximized profit and “shareholder value” over long-term strategic success and employee development. To be fair, that’s how people think at that age (25-35), and as they matured, they came to understand the real issues of people and strategy, but at what cost?
Out of this chaos, the value of “servant leadership” became apparent. Servant Leadership, popularized in the 1970s, became the buzzword for the late 1990s and 2000s as these young CEOs (now more mature CEOs) rediscovered the value of age and wisdom. Yet, anecdotal evidence suggests that we are going to repeat this cycle….
So, we know what skills our leaders need. Do we have a map for developing them? For the last several years, the American Chamber of Commerce have been running a program, “30 under 30” for young, up-and-coming managers and leaders of American companies. Something we discovered is that the skills of leaders and the skills of followers are largely the same.
So, here’s a “new” map for leadership development:
– New Joiner (develop Followership skills)
– Team Leader (develop basic People Skills and Critical Thinking Skills)
– Manager (develop advanced People Skills and Problem Solving Skills)
– Young Leaders (develop Strategic Thinking Skills)
And in all of these is the need to develop the communication skills needed to understand others better.
And so here we are. Is it a trend? Is it a fad? AI, hybrid working, or whatever the “new” thing is. Whatever comes in the future, there is something that is pretty certain, and it’s not a trend or a fad—it’s been the constant of human achievement for as long as there has been history.
We need to develop our people. We need to learn to communicate effectively. We need to learn to solve problems, analyze data and draw conclusions, listen to understand rather than reply, and think critically about what we learn and hear. And we need to learn to follow before we lead others—because even leaders have role models they follow.
Written by John Held
