Working across very different cultures, sectors and systems has shown me that the challenges executives face are remarkably consistent beneath the surface. The context changes: a global brand in the Gulf, international finance, food manufacturing, education, an NHS health system under intense public scrutiny. The underlying questions stay the same.

Leaders are expected to deliver results and certainty in conditions that offer neither. They carry responsibility for people, performance and purpose, often while managing competing demands from boards, regulators, shareholders or the public. Many are highly skilled at analysis, strategy and evidencing value, and those strengths are essential. Yet the most effective leaders I have worked with have something more. They pair sharp intellect with self-awareness, they are willing to stay with uncertainty, and they can build trust and lead people through change with humanity.

I recognise this because I lived it. For years I relied on being the “intellectual warrior”, the one with the rationale, the data and the answer. It served me well, and it took me a long way. But I came to see that the leadership our organisations need now asks for more than what we already know. It asks us to bring the whole of ourselves to the role. Sound familiar?