The Always Job Searching Workforce, Healthcare Coverage Shift, and Why Present and Consistent Leadership Drives Performance


News Spotlight

Workers seek new jobs constantly. Most employees are actively searching for new job opportunities during their current work hours, highlighting widespread dissatisfaction and a shift in work-life balance perceptions, particularly influenced by the rise of remote work (Newsweek).

Employers shift the health coverage burden. More employers are transitioning away from traditional group health plans, instead providing workers with funds or assistance to purchase their health coverage directly from the market (US News).

Personalized employee experiences define the future. The future of work hinges on businesses delivering highly personalized employee experiences tailored to individual needs and preferences (Fast Company).


Stat of the Week

A new study finds that 66% of employees are somewhat or extremely positive about the effectiveness of AI on their work, yet 67% have never used AI in their role.

This statistic presents a significant opportunity and a clear directive for HR leaders: employees are inherently optimistic about AI's potential to positively impact their work, but a substantial disconnect exists between this positive sentiment and actual AI adoption. The primary takeaway is that HR's immediate focus should not be on convincing employees of AI's value, but rather on enabling its practical integration into daily roles. This means providing accessible training tailored to specific job functions, ensuring employees have the right AI tools, fostering a supportive environment for experimentation, and communicating how AI can be leveraged to enhance productivity and streamline tasks, ultimately bridging the gap between positive perception and active utilization.


Deep Dive Article

Why Present and Consistent Leadership Drives Performance

In today's rapidly evolving professional landscape, effective leadership is more critical, yet arguably more complex, than ever before. Organizations grapple with unprecedented challenges, from managing hybrid workforces to fostering genuine connection in an increasingly digital world, all while navigating generational shifts in employee expectations. Understanding what truly constitutes impactful leadership in this dynamic environment requires deep insight from those on the front lines of executive education and organizational development.

To shed light on these pressing issues, we recently sat down for an illuminating interview with two distinguished experts from the Management Department at Bentley University: Jeff LeBlanc and Susan Vroman. Both bring a wealth of academic knowledge and practical experience to the conversation, offering unique perspectives on the qualities and strategies defining leadership excellence today. Their insights are particularly valuable given their direct engagement with both aspiring and seasoned leaders across diverse industries.

Jeff LeBlanc, a Lecturer and the visionary Creator of the Engaged Empathy Leadership Model, provided a nuanced perspective on the strategic role of compassion and understanding in modern leadership. Complementing his views, Susan Vroman, a Senior Lecturer and an accomplished Consultant/Coach, offered practical wisdom on navigating common leadership blind spots and fostering accountability. Together, their expertise forms a comprehensive framework for understanding the intricacies of contemporary leadership challenges and the transformative approaches required for sustained success.

Susan, in your work with executives across various industries, what do you consistently identify as the biggest leadership blind spots in today’s rapidly evolving workplace, and how do these blind spots typically manifest?

Susan: Responsible leaders hold their team members accountable. A lot of leaders seek to be liked by their teams by establishing an easy-going rapport or removing “red tape” and formal SoP’s, and but this approach often leads to huge blind spots. Letting things slide for the sake of harmony, tolerating repeat issues without holding difficult conversations, and simply not establishing acceptable standards for task completion or appropriate team behaviors leads to bigger problems.

In a related topic, “transparency” is a valued element in today’s workplace. In terms of performance, employees say they genuinely want to know where they stand. Here again, leaders may fall into a trap. It is one thing to have open books or glass conference room walls, but when it comes to explaining what is propelling advancement or holding some people back, leaders find it difficult to be objective. And in all honesty, I don’t blame them. So few companies have clear metrics for performance and behaviors, fewer invest time or energy to preparing managers to hold coaching conversations.

It is hard to manage your friends, but when you’re given a formal management position, this is necessary for their and your success. Strong performers who perceive there is a “good-old-chum club” culture will question their fit if they see the boss giving friendly breaks. They may ask: Why should I do the right thing if others are not? Why change if my boss can’t tell me what I should be doing? Your star performers will even question why they stay if peers are not pulling their own weight? Leading people means looking at the situation, the players, and the goals in concert. When you’re the boss, you need to establish clear standards and manage to them. Unless there are tools in place, this is nearly impossible sometimes.

Jeff, you've emphasized that empathy matters more than ever. Can you explain your "Engaged Empathy" model, why it requires structure to be truly effective, and what Gen Z is specifically asking for from their leaders when it comes to empathetic engagement?

Jeff: Empathy is essential, but it is not enough on its own. That is why I developed the Engaged Empathy model—a leadership approach grounded in research and classroom practice. It centers on three key pillars: kindness, fairness, and structure. These are not soft skills. They are strategic tools supported by behavioral research and real-world application that help leaders earn trust, set clear expectations, and build resilient teams.

Too often, empathy gets reduced to being “nice” or avoiding hard conversations. But the research is clear: real empathy is not about sugarcoating reality. It is about understanding what people are going through and leading them through it anyway. That is where structure becomes essential. Without clarity and follow-through, empathy can become performative or even chaotic.

My research with Gen Z students and young professionals consistently reveals that they are asking for this balance. They want leaders who care about them as people but still respect their time, energy, and goals. They value mental health and flexibility, but they also crave feedback, transparency, and a sense of purpose. They are not anti-authority. They are anti-uncertainty. When leaders show empathy without direction, it feels vague. When they give structure without care, it feels cold. Engaged Empathy fills that gap.

I have seen this play out firsthand with students, early-career professionals, and even seasoned managers struggling to connect with younger teams. The most effective leaders are not the ones who avoid conflict. They are the ones who communicate hard truths with compassion, follow up with fairness, and model consistency. That is what builds trust across generations.

Engaged Empathy is not about making everyone feel good all the time. It is about creating a workplace where people feel seen, heard, and motivated to do their best work. And right now, that is exactly what Gen Z, and most of us, are looking for.

Based on your observations working with organizations across diverse sectors, how has the very definition of "good leadership" evolved over the past decade, and what are the most significant changes you believe are still necessary for leaders to thrive in the future?

Jeff: From my perspective, and especially when it comes to younger generations, leadership today is less about authority and more about authenticity. Gen Z, in many ways, is leading the broader conversation around what effective leadership should look like. They are not asking for perfection. They are asking for clarity, fairness, and leaders who follow through on what they say.

Susan: Without trust, there is no leadership. We can sense when someone is being inauthentic, and we don’t trust them. Prior to the pandemic, good leaders were ideal workers: they put personal agendas to the side and towed the company line towards organizational goals. In the years since, many employees have brought their whole heart to work. They trust leaders who they can sense are human: those who are not stoic, but who understand why situations may be troubling, and react to them with an authentic, grounded heartbeat. Leaders who enact emotional intelligence are good leaders.

Moving beyond common buzzwords, what does "good leadership" truly look like in real-world terms? Can you share concrete examples of leadership behaviors or strategies that consistently drive positive outcomes for both employees and the organization?

Jeff: A blue-collar supervisor I worked with shared how his leadership style had to shift with younger employees. He found himself repeating instructions more often and getting frustrated. But instead of labeling them unmotivated, he leaned into structure and clarity.

He started using the company handbook more intentionally, pointing to clear expectations rather than just relying on memory or tone. He also began checking in more casually asking how things were going before jumping into corrections. The shift was simple but powerful: kindness, fairness, and structure. Productivity went up, and trust improved. He did not become “softer.” He became more effective.

Susan: A leader who knows what team members do on weekends, who the names of their direct reports ‘spouses, or who can say “a project is coming up that aligns to your goals,” these are all good leaders. They listen to their teams.

I coach a manager who inherited an exhausted HRIS remote team. While the work had to get done, she invested time in her first month to schedule 1:1 meetings with each member of the team to simply get to know each other. Employees were welcome to take the meeting on Zoom, or the leader offered to drive to meet them if they preferred. Most of the team members had never met their prior boss, this simple act established a new level of trust and personal rapport.

Considering the shifts you've seen and the blind spots you've identified, what is the single most critical, yet often overlooked, skill or quality leaders must develop to successfully navigate the complexities of the modern workforce and adapt their leadership style for sustained impact?

Jeff: The most overlooked skill, in my view, is empathy—but not the surface-level, smile-and-nod version. I mean real, engaged empathy. The kind that listens, sets expectations, follows through, and holds people accountable with respect. It is not about being nice. It is about being present and consistent. When done right, empathy is not soft—it is sharp. It cuts through confusion, builds trust, and gives people a reason to care about their work.

Susan: Leaders in today’s workforce brave many frontiers: Where are their teams working from? What work is being performed by AI? What sources of information can be trusted? Full transparency of expectations coupled with holding team members accountable builds trust. To enable sustained impact, however, the single most important competency is knowing when to press pause. I cannot overstate the importance of getting to know your team so you can sense when they are engaged, when they are confused, and when they need a break. Whether they need more clarity or just need to vent before they can continue, to thrive in todays workforce leaders need to manage with a heartbeat.

Thanks for reading — be sure to join the conversation on LinkedIn and let me know your thoughts on this topic!


Quote of the Week

“There is not one big cosmic meaning for all; there is only the meaning we each give to our life, an individual meaning, an individual plot, like an individual novel, a book for each person.”
Anais Nin


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