Crisis in Leadership Underscores Global Challenges

Oliver Cann, Director, Public Engagement, Tel.: +41 79 799 3405; E-mail: Oliver.Cann@weforum.org

• The World Economic Forum’s Global Leadership Index says 86% of experts believe the world is in the midst of a leadership crisis
• Civil society emerges as the most trusted stakeholder, as confidence slumps in religious leaders and government
• Global Leadership Index reveals wide disparities of opinions across age, gender and region on what qualities it takes to make a good leader
• Download the Outlook on the Global Agenda 2015 here

Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 10 November 2014 – A fundamental lack of confidence in global leadership is posing a serious challenge to prospects for tackling the world’s most pressing and dire challenges, according to new research published today by the World Economic Forum.

The Global Leadership Index, based on a survey of over 1,200 experts from the Forum’s Network of Global Agenda Councils, says that 86% of the respondents agree that the world is facing a leadership crisis. The index also says that there are lower levels of confidence in leaders from religious organizations than any other sector. Over half of the respondents (56%) doubt religious leaders’ ability to play a constructive role in addressing global problems.

Leaders from government rank second lowest among the eight sectors surveyed, with 58% of respondents saying that they do not have confidence in members of their government not to abuse their authority and power. Business respondents cite dissatisfaction with governments’ ability to deal with economic crises.

However, leaders from the non-profit and charitable sectors inspire the greatest confidence, followed by those in business and education.

The Global Leadership Index also offers insight into the perceptions of leaders in individual regions. Experts in sub-Saharan Africa, for example, express greater confidence in business and religious leaders than any other region, while Latin American experts are the most enthusiastic about the abilities of leaders of international organizations. North America-based experts, meanwhile, have the lowest confidence in business leaders, while those in Asia are most sceptical of the non-profit and charitable sectors.

A global perspective and the ability to collaborate are the two most frequently cited qualities for good leadership. However, perceptions of leadership skills vary. Male respondents rank courageousness and inspiration, and female respondents cite social justice and high morals. There is also a difference between young and old: the 20-29 age group put empathy and collaboration in their top three; the 70+ bracket select experience and courageousness.

“This research reveals a massive shake-up of traditional values, which is underlined by civil society emerging as the most trusted stakeholder. To reclaim leadership status, politicians need to be seen to be serving the greater good again, while international organizations must find new models of governance to demonstrate that they are capable of meeting expectations,” said Martina Larkin, Senior Director, Head of Global Knowledge Networks, World Economic Forum.

The Global Leadership Index uses methodology based on the National Leadership Index, created by the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard Kennedy School. In addition to measuring confidence in individual sectors, the index also offers insight into experts views of leadership within their own country. Among a sample of 15 countries, the index finds that Switzerland enjoys the highest rates of confidence, and Pakistan the lowest.

The Co-Chairs of the Summit on the Global Agenda 2014 are Sultan Bin Saeed Al Mansoori, Minister of Economy of the United Arab Emirates and Sami Dhaen Al Qamzi, Director-General, Department of Economic Development of the Government of Dubai.

Notes to Editors

The Host broadcaster for the Summit is Dubai Media Corp.

Everything about this year’s Summit: http://wef.ch/gac14
Download the Event App for Summit on the Global Agenda 2014 with GAC14 as password
View the best pictures of the Summit on Flickr at http://wef.ch/gac14pix
Follow the Forum on Twitter at http://wef.ch/twitter and key quotes from the Summit http://wef.ch/livetweet
Twitter users, please use the hashtag #globalagenda for all tweets about the event and #WEF about the Forum
Follow tweets from participants on our twitter list at https://twitter.com/wef/lists/gac-14
Live stream of sessions: http://wef.ch/live
Become a fan of the Forum on Facebook at http://wef.ch/facebook
Follow the Forum on Instagram at http://wef.ch/instagram
Follow the Forum on Google+ at http://wef.ch/gplus
Watch sessions on demand on YouTube at http://wef.ch/youtube
Read insights from our guest bloggers on the Forum:Blog at http://wef.ch/blog
Subscribe to our News releases: http://wef.ch/news