As you look at your goals for the year, take a moment to discover 10 new insights.

1

Now more than ever, effective leadership development focuses on sharpening leaders' emotional intelligence and nimbleness in adapting to the demands of the present moment. That means your ability to read the room should be a top priority as you grow your skills this year.

2

Dive into Google's five pillars of innovation used to accelerate artificial intelligence and stay quick on its feet in an ever-changing sector: self-organizing agents, simple rules, general intelligence, diversity of input, and plenty of old-fashioned trial and error.

3

McKinsey found that only 15 percent of professionals holding functional leadership positions end up in the C Suite, but they make the case for organizations to start prioritizing the development of CEOs with a keen eye for financial function.

4

Tapping into somatic awareness might be what gives your leadership an edge this year. An organizational intervention technique called Social Presencing Theater (SPT) taught by a senior lecturer at MIT helps leaders expand their capacity for innovation.

5

Neuroscientist and leadership coach Dr. Tara Swart blends science and business to help female leaders overcome the obstacles that stand in their way. Harnessing skills often associated with female leadership enriches cognitive diversity—an especially important factor during the rise of automation.

6

Getting in touch with what inspires you is never a waste of time. According to leaders like Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, inciting awe and wonder are crucial components to engaging audiences and keeping company culture from stagnating.

7

Leadership development dabbles in its playful side, with experiential learning and fun, team-oriented games taking center stage. Business schools like Grenoble School of Management are devoting entire departments to the world of serious games and discovering significant results.

8

What does it mean to be a digital leader? Deloitte identified a gap between the pace that digital disruption and the adaptive leadership skills necessary to keep up. For starters, digital leaders need to better understand how to collaborate across disparate business ecosystems.

9

Stanford leadership development lecturer Allison Kluger stresses curating an intentional leadership presence down to the smallest details. From dressing with authority to learning how to control the flow of communication in a room, the importance of cultivating an executive presence can't be overlooked.

10

As a leader, your word choices might be conveying more than you intend. A new study from Columbia Business School shows that startup leaders who use language focused on industry disruption outperform their peers on a number of levels.