https://hdl.handle.net/2123/31442 2026-06-04T07:37:27Z 2026-06-04T07:37:27Z Peter, Sandra Riemer, Kai Norman, Pat https://hdl.handle.net/2123/34269 2026-01-28T21:36:31Z 2025-09-04T00:00:00Z

The 2026 Skills Horizon Peter, Sandra; Riemer, Kai; Norman, Pat The 2026 Skills Horizon maps the capabilities leaders need to navigate the 'decade of disorientation'—a period of unprecedented complexity and change. This report identifies five fundamental Shifts reshaping business and society (Values, Technology, Accountability, Trust, Energy) and four critical Clashes leaders must balance (Policy vs People, Efficiency vs Expertise, Capability vs Control, Abundance vs Attention). Drawing on interviews with over 150 global leaders—from CEOs to airline captains—the report classifies essential skills into three categories (Amplifiers, Movers, Unexpected Emergers) and four areas of convergence: Speaking the language of tech, Solving problems of scale, Working across difference, and Thinking through complexity. The report concludes with the archetype of the Grounded Leader, offering practical guidance for building resilience and effectiveness in uncertain times. Designed as a strategic tool for leadership development, the Skills Horizon helps organisations prioritise upskilling initiatives and maintain competitive advantage through continuous learning.

2025-09-04T00:00:00Z Peter, Sandra Riemer, Kai Norman, Pat https://hdl.handle.net/2123/32816 2024-08-21T04:47:28Z 2024-07-31T00:00:00Z

The 2025 Skills Horizon Peter, Sandra; Riemer, Kai; Norman, Pat We’re entering a decade of disorientation. As a leader, you’ll constantly be challenged to pinpoint what will matter next. Once you figure that out, then comes the challenge of deciding how to lead through it. There’s no doubt that disorienting times need critical thinking, problem-solving, creativity and the ability to communicate effectively. But there are new skills you’ll need to navigate our messy future. In The 2025 Skills Horizon report, we explore those skills, the benefits they unlock and how you can stay ready for anything. Our agenda for the report is ambitious: - We start by unpacking how the world is changing. Namely, we focus on the five shifts—the values shift, the technology shift, the accountability shift, the trust shift and the energy shift—that will make it more difficult than ever to lead. These shifts will cause fractures, complexity, uncertainty. But they’ll also spawn more ideas, more creativity, more innovation. While the future is messy, it’s also filled with opportunity. - Then we dive into how we built the 2025 Skills Horizon. We looked, we read, we reviewed, we talked, we listened. This is a different kind of report. One of the main differences is that we conversed with more than 70 global and Australian leaders and executives across various fields. And when we say “various”, we mean it: inside, you’ll see insights and wisdom from heads of government and head chefs alike. - After breaking down the numerous practical applications of the report—from using it to create a shared vocabulary across your organisation to citing it at dinner parties as a way to impress guests—we zoom in on the skills themselves. We start by stepping you through the three types of skills that stood out from our research (Amplifiers, Big Movers, Unexpected Emergers). That’s followed by Blobs, which represent four areas of skills convergence that will demand your attention over the next decade. Don’t let the cute name fool you—this section will be key in planning your leadership trajectory. - To close, we explore the traits and habits of The Curious Leader, an archetype for leadership success in 2025 and beyond. The 2025 Skills Horizon is a dynamic guide that’ll help you and your team stay prepared for what’s ahead.

2024-07-31T00:00:00Z Norman, Pat Peter, Sandra Riemer, Kai Garbuio, Massimo Sullivan, Rick https://hdl.handle.net/2123/32161 2026-05-07T01:57:26Z 2024-01-31T00:00:00Z

Reach for the STARS: a framework for unlearning management wisdoms Norman, Pat; Peter, Sandra; Riemer, Kai; Garbuio, Massimo; Sullivan, Rick What if you woke up tomorrow and discovered that your most cherished management wisdoms turned out to be wrong? How would you, how would your organisation, deal with this change? These are questions experts at the University of Sydney Business School have been grappling with, articulating the idea of unlearning. Many of the management wisdoms we see in the daily life of modern organisations have been outdated for some time. The replication crisis in social psychology has highlighted how many of the established theories we rely on in curriculum and in organisations become misappropriated, discredited, debunked, or are no longer context-appropriate as the world moves on. And yet they persist. This report draws on research conducted by the University of Sydney, supported by a CEMS innovation grant. Our team has interrogated a growing collection of conceptual ‘icebergs’ – ideas that float around organisations that look innocent enough on the surface, but which can have deep roots and pose a challenge when not used appropriately. This deep roots comprise the underlying beliefs, values, and assumptions that drive an organisation’s practices. To effectively manage the changing of mental models, it is crucial to explore and modify these concealed elements, as they significantly impact the success of any change initiative. To support organisations in this process, we developed the STARS unlearning framework as a guiding tool for organisational leaders. STARS involves a series of steps you can take in your organisation, in order to identify and unlearn old and unhelpful ideas.

2024-01-31T00:00:00Z Peter, Sandra Riemer, Kai Norman, Pat https://hdl.handle.net/2123/31434 2026-05-05T12:45:47Z 2023-07-06T00:00:00Z

5 trends for the future Peter, Sandra; Riemer, Kai; Norman, Pat In this report we introduce 5 important trends for the future, each underpinned and in some way shaped by particular technologies, but always understood in terms of the changes they bring about for work practices, business models or the broader economy. These 5 trends are shaping the future of business today: assistive thinking, the provenance economy, identity leadership, synthetic reality, and authentic belonging. These five trends for the future are set within broader social forces such as impactful technology, rapid urbanisation, and accelerating individualisation. As we navigate emerging futures, it is crucial for individuals, organisations, and communities to understand and adapt to these emerging trends. Doing so enables organisations to be better positioned for success and capitalise on the opportunities that lie ahead.

2023-07-06T00:00:00Z