World needs a new generation of global leadership talent

Amid unprecedented global challenges, the international community is facing a growing need for a new generation of global leadership talent, calling for coordinated efforts in training and development, experts and officials said at an international symposium.

Siddharth Chatterjee, the United Nations resident coordinator in China, emphasized that in this era of profound transformation, including climate change, technological advancement, and geopolitical shifts, the cost of inaction is mounting.

"Leadership does not emerge in isolation; it is forged through partnerships. We need robust collaboration among the UN, the public sector, and the private sector," he said.

The symposium, held on Thursday at the Renmin University of China in Beijing, gathered voices from academia and the public sector under the theme Global Governance and Leadership Talent Development for 2050.

A report co-authored by the university's School of Global Leadership and the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies was also released at the event.

Fabrizio Hochschild Drummond, former UN under-secretary-general and researcher at the Geneva Centre for Security Policy, said today's global trends demand increased international awareness and competence. A mindset of constant learning and agility must be cultivated, he added.

"The competencies that artificial intelligence cannot easily replace include ethics, empathy, social and emotional intelligence, lateral thinking, and original creativity," he said.

Monica Bruckmann, a professor at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, noted that the rise of Global South powers underscores the need for a new kind of leadership. "It's important for us to recognize our shared values and what we can contribute together to the future," she said.

Wang Wen, head of both the school and the institute, stressed the urgency of developing global leadership talent to address what he described as a "leadership deficit".

The newly released report identifies several key structural mismatches between the supply and demand for global leadership talent. These include a shortage of strategic talent in conflict prevention and global security governance, as well as a gap in transitional talent capable of bridging intergenerational value shifts and navigating the digital era.

The report also highlights China's potential to play a major role in cultivating global leadership talent in the years ahead, citing its conceptual, institutional, and cultural strengths, along with its openness to global engagement.