Change today is relentless and no longer something we can manage one project at a time or off the side of our desks. Your leaders and teams now juggle 10 active change initiatives on average, a 500% increase since 2016.
In our 2025 The Roundtable Report on High Potential Leaders research, we weren’t surprised 60% of top leaders indicated leading change and uncertainty was one of their biggest challenges.
It’s not just the volume of change initiatives proving to be problematic for your strongest leaders. Whether it’s navigating the rapid introduction of AI integration to managing hybrid and remote work arrangements, there are layers of complexity being added to already stretched mandates. On top of these factors, they’re missing in their interactions with you, their senior executives and that’s impacting their ability to deliver change.
The Paradox of Change for Top Leaders
In our report analysis, we found high levels of engagement in the leaders who responded, with 77% rating their job engagement at eight out of ten or higher. They also reported being committed to achieving results, with 49% indicating they are motivated by delivering results for their organizations.
When you combine this with knowing high potentials are 400% more productive than average performers, your standout leaders are hard-wired to deliver.
But they also reported frustrations with changing priorities, lack of transparency and infrequent interactions with senior leadership, creating chaos and confusion.
Risks of Burnout or Change Fatigue
Your high potential leaders are starting to wear down. These are the employees who we know can handle higher-than-average levels of change and ambiguity but they’re becoming increasingly frustrated with lack of clear strategy, conflicting priorities, and poorly-defined project scope. High potential leaders who are job seeking reported higher levels of frustration with the lack of transparency and trust from their senior executives than their non-job seeking peers.
More concerning? Your strongest leaders won’t tell you they’re struggling. In our survey, their difficulties with managing burnout and low morale stemming from organizational change were on the list of challenges they find most difficult to share with their manager.
Connection Provides an Antidote
Many high potentials we speak with feel isolated and carry the weight of performance expectations firmly on their shoulders. One way that organizations can change the burnout narrative that’s swirling around is to provide opportunities and forums for key talent to come together, share ideas, build action plans and create strategic connections.
When high potential leaders work with other high potential leaders they create exponential value for the organization by increasing their collective impact. Create space for more group conversations about what they’re struggling with or the experiments they’re testing with their team. Give them the chance to get feedback from their peers and anticipate or remove roadblocks together. And provide more access to you and your senior team members to get the clear direction, insights and data they need to course-correct with their teams to ensure they’re driving the right results. Your best and brightest are motivated to win.
Your strongest leaders need you to be thinking more broadly about change cross-functionally and encouraging leaders to reach out beyond their groups to build creative solutions. Your number one skill building priority in 2025 needs to be training your team to deliver more value beyond their functional group.
The most impactful leaders in your organization want to deliver change, despite the challenges and uncertainty they’re experiencing daily. Create the space for them to be a part of the solution and you’ll unleash the collective impact for your entire organization.
The Roundtable Report on High Potential Leaders is our latest research on understanding a cohort of best and brightest leaders — their challenges and what they hesitate to tell their senior leaders. If you’re dealing with high levels of change and seeing your top performing leaders are struggling, book a call with Liane Taylor, who can share some solutions. Our leadership toolkit and peer coaching programs will start the conversations you need to have and help your best and brightest leaders navigate change together.
