The Human Leadership Summit 2023 in Bengaluru brought together the organisations that successfully executed human leadership and those who need inspiration and direction.

Organised by the Potential Project, the global research, leadership development, and consulting firm, the event addressed concerns regarding leadership in the unpredictable digital age.

The firm has made its mark in 28 countries by helping make the work world more human.

The aim of the event was to discuss insights and experiences on embracing a new playbook for leadership in these uncertain times – one where leaders balance their results orientation with care and compassion for their teams.

Hosted by the Country Director, Marut Bhardwaj, and Atul Padalkar, Client Solutions Lead & India Director, the event was attended by leaders from diverse organisations – both contributors to and supporters of the cause.

At the event, assessment tests and mindfulness practices were some of the ways suggested to cultivate and experience empathy in order to make leadership more human.

Rasmus Hougaard, Founder and CEO, opened the summit by citing the organisation’s two-year research to explain how compassion (i.e., care for people) and wisdom (performance orientation) when combined lead to extraordinary employee engagement scores.

Parineeta Lakra of IKEA shared the company’s ideology that “children are the most important people in the world” and elaborated that recognising and validating every voice is the future of the workforce. Shalini Nataraj, Maersk; Narayanan Balasubramaniam (Naru), Capgemini and S Sriram, Happiness Coach were panelists in a discussion where they provided solutions for doing difficult things in a humane way.

To prioritise people working for the greater good of organisations across the country, the hosts also launched “The Big Book of Human Leadership”.

Compiled by Marut and Atul, the book highlights stories of challenges, initiatives, successes and reflections from a number of contributors, from HDFC to Lowe’s, making use of real-life lessons that can help leaders invest in collective growth by going beyond appraisals and reviews.