18 Years of Leadership Lessons: What's Actually Changed (and What Hasn't)

The biggest shift in 18 years of leadership is the move further away from a strict, top-down hierarchy toward more participative, human-centred leadership built on trust and psychological safety. What hasn't changed is that people still follow leaders who are honest, consistent, and genuinely care about them.

What did leadership look like when I started, in 2008?

I registered Incredible People in late August 2008, fresh off finishing my coaching certification. Around that time, someone significant in my life told me, "You'll never make a business out of this." It stung, and it also lit a fire under me. Truth is, they weren't entirely wrong to doubt it, Incredible People wasn't my full-time gig for a long time, mostly because of a lack of confidence belief that I could actually make it work. Looking back, I'm proud I didn't let the naysayer, or my own limiting beliefs, win.

What's the biggest shift in how we lead teams today?

The old hierarchy is dissolving in favour of more participative, collaborative leadership. We've gone from long hours and celebrating maxed-out leaders to flatter structures and outcomes measured by trust, clarity and engagement – thanks in no small part to COVID reshaping how we all think about work. We've gone from centralised offices with rigid boundaries to distributed, hybrid teams, and some even working fully online. And we've gone from need-to-know communication to genuinely valuing people as a source of ideas and opportunity.

There's also a legislative side to this shift here in Australia. Since the 2020 changes to work, health and safety legislation brought psychosocial hazards and psychological safety more firmly into scope, human-centred leadership has gone from a nice-to-have to an expected norm – legally as well as culturally. Workplaces are now expected to be places where people feel safe, valued, and able to do work that matters. That's a genuinely different leadership standard than what most people of my generation experienced.

Why does employee engagement matter more than ever?

Engaged employees go the extra mile. They stay longer, speak up, contribute ideas, and help build the kind of culture that makes a team worth being part of. Disengaged employees, by contrast, quietly cost a business far more than most leaders realise, through turnover, lost knowledge and a drag on everyone around them. The leaders getting the best out of their people today aren't the ones with the most technical expertise; they're the ones who make people feel like what they do matters, and that they matter. Talk about a 180o shift!

What hasn't changed about good leadership?

For all that's shifted, some things haven't changed a bit. People still appreciate plain speaking, transparency and integrity. A rotten apple still smells like a rotten apple - no amount of new tools or hybrid work policies changes that. All of this means leaders with people skills, emotional intelligence and empathy are winning out over those with technical skill alone, which is exactly why I'm so committed to helping technically brilliant operators step into leadership. We need their skills and their experience from working on the tools, but they also need new skills to be effective and to actually enjoy life, in more senior roles.

What's the leadership lesson that took me longest to learn?

Letting go equals freedom. I built my skills and my client relationships over many years, and it was hard to believe anyone else could do things as well as I did. That's a self-limiting belief. Until you accept that your job as a leader is to develop others to be as good as you are, you'll always cap your business and your team. It's the same shift I coach leaders through inside LEAD LAB®, moving from being the person who does the work best to being the person who helps everyone else do their best work for your clients. Giving honest feedback on growth and performance gaps is an extension of that same lesson - it's not criticism; it's kindness that helps someone be the new expert, just like you were.

The client story that changed how I coach

One of my early coaching clients was a business owner and a mum of two, frustrated by high staff turnover and a team that didn't seem to care. Coaching showed her something hard to hear: it wasn't her team; it was how she was showing up, a bit too controlling for a group of experienced staff. Once that shifted and she implemented some new systems and ways of working, so did everything else. Turnover slowed, customers got happier, and she spent less time firefighting and more time leading. That was the moment I understood the ripple-in-the-pond effect: a happy, effective leader means a happier team, which means happier families and communities too.

Frequently asked questions

Has leadership become "softer" over the past two decades?

No, it's become more accountable, not softer. Human-centred leadership actually demands more self-awareness and consistency from leaders, not less. Which is the opposite of “soft” – catering to people’s individual needs while delivering outcomes is definitely not easy.

What's one thing every leader should do differently now compared to 2008?

Replace command-and-control habits with regular, honest conversations about direction and expectations, and treat psychological safety as core to engagement and performance, not an extra.

Where can I learn these leadership skills?

Incredible People runs LEAD LAB®, a 12-month leadership development program for team leaders and managers who want practical tools, not just theory. We also offer in-house tailored leadership programs and coaching for new leaders through to CEOs.

Eighteen years in, I'm still building the vision for this business, now with a bunch of supportive, amazing people alongside me.

If you'd like to talk about where you're at in your own leadership journey, book a free 20-minute chat with me.