It is hard to dispute that we are living through the worst economic crisis since 1929 and that it is much more than just a trade cycle downturn. The global financial system has changed fundamentally and we do not yet know what the new paradigm will look like. We do know, however, that leadership is more important than ever. Organisations that are well-led have a much better chance of surviving these turbulent times. This is not the occasion to take your eye off critical processes of leadership development – and smart organisations know this.

Perhaps the most significant contribution of good leadership is the provision of meaning and purpose. As the writer Studs Terkel famously observed: “Work is about daily meaning as well as daily bread; for recognition as well as cash; in short, for a sort of life rather than a Monday through Friday sort of dying…. We have a right to ask of work that it include meaning, recognition, astonishment and life.”