Building Future-Ready Leadership in a Polycrisis World

ChapmanCG was delighted to return to Bangkok for our HR Leaders Roundtable hosted by Siriwan Thongluang and her team at FWD Insurance, in partnership with Diana Khaitova from the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL).

Diana’s highly engaging and thought-provoking presentation on CCL’s research, Future-Ready Leadership: Navigating the Polycrisis Challenge, set the tone for a rich exchange among senior HR leaders. The discussion explored how organisations can reshape leadership capabilities, foster a future-ready culture, and build the resilience required to grow and adapt in an increasingly complex and interconnected world.

The New Leadership Imperative

As organisations face an era defined by overlapping crises, from economic volatility to geopolitical tension, digital acceleration, and workforce transformation, leaders are being tested on multiple fronts. Traditional models of leadership are no longer sufficient; what’s needed is a collective capability to navigate uncertainty, learn fast, and respond with empathy and courage.

Diana highlighted that future-ready leaders are those who can manage paradoxes, empower teams to act autonomously, and create environments of psychological safety where innovation and adaptability can thrive. This shift also requires HR to reimagine leadership frameworks and development pathways, ensuring they are not only relevant but truly dynamic.

Key Themes from the Discussion

Participants reflected on the realities of managing talent and succession in an environment where change is constant and leadership challenges are multifaceted. Key insights included:

• Rethinking Talent and Succession – Moving beyond traditional succession models to address the shifting realities of a polycrisis environment.
• From 9-Box to Potential – Transitioning away from static frameworks and focusing instead on potential, learning agility, and the ability to thrive in ambiguity.
• Dynamic Succession Planning – Redefining succession as a transparent, “live” process that is continuously reviewed and accessible to key stakeholders.
• New Leadership Pathways – Exploring innovative role-based and job-sharing models as ways to accelerate leadership growth and diversify experience.
• Strengthening Leadership Culture – Building collaborative leadership teams and fostering a culture of shared accountability to enhance collective decision-making.

Building the Capacity to Adapt

Throughout the conversation, one message was clear: resilience and agility must now sit at the heart of leadership development. Organisations that cultivate leaders who think systemically, act inclusively, and lead with authenticity will be best positioned to thrive through disruption.

The roundtable also underscored the importance of cross-functional collaboration, breaking down silos and encouraging shared ownership for leadership pipelines and capability building across the enterprise. HR’s role is shifting from custodian of processes to architect of adaptive capacity, helping leaders continuously evolve as the world around them changes.

Continuing the Conversation

Across ChapmanCG’s global community, we see HR leaders stepping up to redefine what leadership looks like for the next decade, balancing human-centred approaches with business agility, and ensuring culture remains the anchor through change.

Our heartfelt thanks to Siriwan Thongluang and the FWD Insurance team for their warm hospitality, and to Diana Khaitova and the Center for Creative Leadership for sharing such powerful insights.

As we continue these conversations around the world, one thing is certain: building future-ready leadership is no longer optional, it is an enterprise-wide capability that determines long-term success.