Leadership in 2025: Adapt or Become Irrelevant

News
16/01/2025
Líderes, leaders

We live in an era where leaders no longer have the luxury of leading with experience and titles alone. We are navigating a storm where uncertainty is the only lighthouse and where leadership means getting your hands dirty, making mistakes sometimes and having the courage to change course so that we have antifragile companies.

The problem? Many leaders think they can survive by clinging to the “best practices” of the 1990s. They can’t. And those who insist will join a long list of names that no one remembers anymore.

Um exemplo prático nacional: A Sword Health desenvolveu uma solução de IA que poderia revolucionar as chamadas de emergência em Portugal, processando até 100 mil pedidos simultâneos sem filas de espera. Salvar vidas, cortar burocracias, reduzir stress. Parece impossível de falhar, certo? Errado. Porque as lideranças que ainda vivem nos ‘anos dourados’ de longos pareceres e hierarquias imobilizadoras adiaram a decisão. Dois meses depois, mais de 10 vidas perdidas e uma solução ainda por implementar. Este é o custo real da procrastinação.

Now compare this to what platforms like Shein and Temu are doing. In five years, these companies doubled their presence in markets like Portugal and rewrote the game’s rules. Last Christmas, more than 60% of packages delivered in Portugal came from platforms like these. It wasn’t magic – it was agility. While traditional retailers are busy ‘redefining strategic goals for 2030’, these companies are already in the consumer’s home. Brutal agility. They didn’t ask for permission; they didn’t hesitate. They did.

The truth is this: either you adapt or you will disappear.

Leadership today is learned less and less in books or TEDx seminars with inspiring phrases. You learn when there are failures, stress, and difficult decisions. And here’s the secret no one wants to admit: Leaders who thrive don’t have all the answers, but they are willing to learn the hard way, if possible in contexts that can be safe.

This is where immersive experiences come into play. In our “Defusing V-Bombs”, we put leaders in high-pressure scenarios where they defuse virtual bombs while team communication disintegrates under pressure. They scream, fail, laugh, and – eventually – they learn. Months later, almost all participants report notable improvements in the way they work as a team. Better communication, less corporate bullshit, and leaders more prepared to face chaos.

Another example? We often take teams to lead a chef Chakall’s restaurant, with real customers. What starts as absolute chaos and huge butterflies in the stomach (no one knows how to manage orders or keep the kitchen functional) turns into a practical lesson in leadership, managing expectations, focusing on the customer. At the end of the day, the lesson is always the same: the most effective leaders know when to listen, when to delegate, and when to roll up their sleeves and wash the dishes. The difference is that in these scenarios they feel it on their skin.

These days, if you’re not willing to take risks, you’re out of the game. And to be clear, it’s not just about big, audacious goals [BHAGs as Jim Collins calls them]. It’s about the small moments when you decide to change course by taking a risk, recognizing that you made a mistake and starting again.

James Dyson failed 5,126 times before creating the vacuum cleaner that made him a billionaire. These “failures” were small iterations, decisions to abandon what didn’t work. Our leaders need to adopt the same mentality – learn, iterate, adjust so that Portuguese companies, especially the more mature, historical or state-owned ones, can be “future-ready”.

And, that’s why we insist on methods like Alternate Reality Games (ARG). In one of our games in Sintra, we asked a team to abandon their plans and improvise a new path. During the process, they understood that asking for help was more efficient than insisting on finding all the answers on their own, but first, they spent 30 minutes in frustration and complaining. It seems simple… but it’s for outsiders because when it’s about you it’s more difficult, right? Now ask yourself: how many leaders do you know who really dare to admit that they don’t know everything and genuinely try to improve?

If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that real leadership isn’t clean. It’s not about titles or polite company policies. It’s about being on the front line, facing stress and coming out the other side stronger – even if that means failing five times before getting it right.

So, I leave you with this question: do you want to lead in the future or be just another name on the “has been” list? If your answer is the first, the solution is not in an online course or a corporate retreat with motivational slides. It’s about experiences that test your limits and force you to grow.

Immersis can take you there. But I warn you now: it won’t be easy. It will be uncomfortable, you may even feel like you will be brainwashed. But it will work.

More articles

And Nothing will ever be the same.
Stay up to date with new experiences
Terms*
Website design & development by Quental Studio.
Leadership in 2025: Adapt or Become Irrelevant