WEF Report｜Next Generation Leadership for a World in Transformation
Driving Dialogue and Action
The World Economic Forum (WEF) has published the White Paper on New Leadership Models for Future Generations on its official website.
Following seven months of intensive and constructive dialogue within the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Councils (GFC), the report has now been released. Shoukei Matsumoto participated as one of the contributing authors.
This white paper examines emerging approaches to leadership in the context of a rapidly changing global environment. It reviews existing leadership models from multiple perspectives, including selection and development, decision-making, incentives, and legacy, with a particular focus on future generations.
Rather than proposing a single conclusion or definitive model, the paper is positioned as a reference framework to support ongoing dialogue and future practice.
Reference to “Spotlight 7”
One of the sections of the white paper, Spotlight 7: Being a good ancestor to become a better leader, to which Shoukei Matsumoto contributed, explores leadership through a long-term, intergenerational lens.
Rather than focusing on short-term performance or individual legacy, this section frames leadership as the practice of asking what kind of conditions we are leaving behind for future generations. It points to the risk of temporal myopia—the tendency for leaders to prioritize immediate outcomes under constant scrutiny—and suggests that overcoming this requires a healthier relationship with one’s ego and a practical awareness of one’s own fallibility.
The section proposes that becoming a “good ancestor” does not mean attempting to design a perfect future, but instead leaving future generations a wider canvas—one that offers greater options and agency for those who come after us. It emphasizes reflective questions such as “What if I were wrong?” and “What should we keep, and what should we let go of?” as concrete practices that can be embedded into leadership development, decision-making, and board-level strategy.
In this way, Spotlight 7 positions humility, openness, and long-term responsibility not as abstract values, but as practical capacities for building resilience and intergenerational justice.
This conversation will continue at the WEF Annual Meeting 2026 ‘A Spirit of Dialogue’ (19–23 Jan 2026).
The full document is available at the link below.
📄 Next Generation Leadership for a World in Transformation:Driving Dialogue and Action
