African businessleaders are currently navigating intense geopolitical and global economicshocks, while feeling the pressures of deploying emerging technologies all amidstgrowing demands for a different kind of corporate leadership. Change has alwaysbeen a constant, not an event or an episode. While the processes, protocols andtactics of change management still apply, they have become insufficient as theorganisation’s sole response to disruptive times.
According to Dr DotsNdletyana, Faculty Lead for the GIBS MPhil in Change Leadership, experiencedmiddle and senior managers need to develop and evolve. She says, “We mustrecognise that there is no sustainablestrategy without humane leadership, no performance withoutpeople and noorganisational change without personal change.Leaders must be capable of anticipating change, not merely reacting to it.Furthermore, leaders must understand key organisational development principlesto understand what is required to make organisations effective and sustainable.To meet the moment in times of complexity, uncertainty and turbulence,leadership needs to be inclusive,adaptive and ethical.”
African organisations who will succeed in disruptiveenvironments are not those who seek to control change, but those who canhumanise it with leaders who can integrate self-awareness with business acumen,complexity and systems thinking, and empathy with execution. What we can expect isthat disruption will continue to intensify. The question is not whetherorganisations will change, but how they will change and at what cost? Currentmodels have proven ineffective, especially for employees. The answer lies in anew approach to leadership.
Why developing the self is foundational to developing others
To grow as managers who can anticipate,navigate and lead complex change across individual, team, organisational andsocietal levels, today’s leaders need new and expanded ways of thinking about, andseeing the world. This demands enhanced emotional intelligence, authenticity, acoaching style of leadership, human-centred leadership skills.
“It’s about becomingthe kind of leader who can hold complexity, honour humanity and mobilisemeaningful transformation in a disrupted world,” says Dr Ndletyana. “You leadtransformation by working deeply with self, compassionately with others andintelligently with systems and complexity. This kind of profound engagementinto what shapes you as a leader, shifts your understanding of leadership frombeing invested in your position or authority to it being rooted in yourauthentic identity.”
Why human‑centredleadership works in tumultuous times
At the core of human-centred leadership is recognitionthat organisations are social systems before they are economic ones, and that performancecannot be separated from human experience.
Buildingthis capability positions African businesses to navigate complexity anddisruption more effectively. An organisational culture of trust andpsychological safety is not merely ‘nice to have’ – it actually strengthensorganisational resilience and enables faster adaptation to change. Leaders whocoach rather than tell create the conditions for proactive problem-solving,making organisations more responsive to fast-changing and complex challenges.Innovation and decision-making improve as people are empowered to contribute.
Africanleaders who are human-centred are also better equipped to meet the currentchallenges of integrating AI and emerging technologies in ways that augment,rather than replace, human capability. This is so because they start with adeep care for people, and because they understand it is not about thetechnology. They know it is about the people. So, they invest in creating trulyhumane organisational cultures founded on psychological safety, collaboration,autonomy, experimentation, performance, accountability, shared leadership andwellbeing. This aligns with a recognition that talent, which increasinglyprioritises purpose and well-being, is more likely to be attracted to, and stayengaged with organisations that put people first. This strengthens strategic executionand supports long-term strategic delivery.
DrDots Ndletyana concludes, “This means that human-centred leadership is astrategic necessity that turns complex, unpredictable challenges intoopportunities for growth, connection, competitiveness and sustainability byleveraging the full potential of an engaged workforce. Ultimately,leading through disruption without losing one’s humanity is not about choosingbetween performance and people. It is about recognising that the two are intricatelyconnected.”
The MPhilin Leading in Change Leadership is part of the GIBS’s suite of research-ledand practically applied Masters degrees designed for senior managers andexecutives in corporate, government and non-governmental organisations thathave no option but to succeed while navigating complex challenges. It enablesleaders to understand their roles in business differently to conventionalconceptions and practices of management and leadership. Graduates of theprogramme see organisations not as machines, but as complex adaptive systems,employees less as assets, and more as humans with an unparalleled capacity tooutperform the most ambitious strategic objectives, provided their leadersbuild, nurture and support the humans who build organisations. The programme drawsfrom a variety of disciplines: systems thinking and complexity science;strategic management and organisational theory; organisational behaviour andpsychology; change leadership and innovation; applied management research andcritical inquiry; ethics and newer forms of leadership including human-centred,adaptive, contextual ethical, transformative leadership. With research forminga core component of the qualification, studentsapply evidence-based approaches to leading innovation, sustainabletransformation and change.
Applications for the 2026 academic year are open now, and close on the 16thof April 2026.
