Critical Leadership Competencies in the Financial Services Industry

Today’s financial services organizations find themselves navigating a period of unprecedented disruption and uncertainty, meaning certain critical leadership competencies are a must for success. A host of new technologies, regulatory requirements, and market factors have upended long-held business models and how financial institutions operate.

In this brave new world, it’s important to know just what critical leadership competencies will ensure success in the financial services industry, and how the industry’s current leaders stack up.

To shed light on the leadership challenges of this industry, the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL®) research team analyzed data from Benchmarks® — our 360-degree assessment tool. This cumulative database reflects years of research and feedback involving thousands of leaders around the globe. Benchmarks uses 130 behavioral questions to measure how each leader stacks up against 16 leadership competencies shown by multiple studies to be most vital to success on the job.

In this paper, you will see what our analysis uncovered about the greatest leadership challenges and opportunities in the financial services industry.