Key insights from EAPM’s webinar with INSEAD Professor Gianpiero Petriglieri

What is good leadership really?

Before you continue reading, I would like to ask you to do something.

Pause for a moment. Close your eyes and think back to a good leader you have had throughout your working life.

What characterised that person?

Was it KPIs, control, power or busyness that first came to mind?

Maybe some of those elements were part of the leader you are thinking about. But they are probably not the things that primarily define that person in your memory.

When I think back to the leaders who have made the biggest impression on me, they are often people who created trust, direction and confidence during moments of uncertainty.

Early in my own career, I experienced how much difference a leader can make by believing in someone’s abilities and potential before they fully see it themselves.

These were some of the reflections that came to mind during EAPM’s International HR Day webinar featuring INSEAD Professor Gianpiero Petriglieri, where the discussion focused on leadership, trust, transformation and the human side of change.

Because perhaps the most important part of leadership is the human side of it.

Leadership is not only a position – it is also a relationship

One of the most interesting things about Gianpiero’s perspective is the way he challenges the very traditional understanding of leadership.

When we normally talk about leadership, we often talk about positions, responsibility, strategy, hierarchy and decision-making power. And of course, all of those things matter. Leadership is complex. Leaders carry responsibility. They are expected to create results, set direction and balance people, performance and operations at the same time.

But Gianpiero introduced a different question:
What does it actually feel like when someone leads us well?

His point was that we do not only experience leadership as something abstract or strategic. We experience it through people and relationships.

That is why he said:
“Leadership is not a position. Leadership is a relationship.”

Throughout the discussion, leadership was described less as control and more as the ability to help people feel safe, capable and courageous enough to move forward together during uncertainty and change. Because it is possible to create results through control, perfectionism and power. But perhaps the bigger question is what effect that has on the people who are part of it every single day.

Do people stay because they feel inspired, supported and able to grow? Or do they simply stay long enough to put the experience on their CV before moving on to an organisation with a different leadership culture?

Why does he compare leadership to love?

One of the most surprising parts of the webinar was when Gianpiero started comparing leadership to love.

At first glance, the comparison may sound unusual. But the more he unfolded the idea, the more sense it actually made. Because his point was not that leadership should be romantic or “soft”. It was more that both love and good leadership fundamentally revolve around relationships, human development, trust and psychological safety. About helping people grow.

At one point, he described it like this:
“Leadership is a kind of love.”

Not because leadership is about being nice all the time, but because good leadership often helps people feel seen, safe, motivated and courageous enough to move forward.

Because when we think back on the leaders who have had the biggest impact on our lives, we rarely remember them because of their title. We remember them because of the way they made us feel.

Care is not the same as weakness

One of the things I especially took away from the webinar was his perspective on care.

In many organisations, care is still sometimes associated with something “soft” or less performance-oriented. But Gianpiero turned that idea around.

He said:
“Care is harder than calculating.”
“Care requires courage.”

Another particularly strong reflection from this section was:
“Without ideals we are machines.”

Because while processes, KPIs and performance are all important parts of leadership, it is often easier to focus purely on those elements than it is to genuinely take responsibility for people.

Care requires courage. It requires courage to have difficult conversations, create psychological safety during uncertainty, provide clarity and direction, and at the same time hold on to humanity.

And perhaps that is exactly why leadership is becoming increasingly complex today. Because modern leadership is no longer only about results – it is also about people.

“People need holding before vision”

Another perspective that really stayed with me was his reflection on change and transformation.

Many organisations are currently going through major shifts. AI, new technologies, restructuring and changing expectations around work are creating uncertainty for many people.

And here Gianpiero pointed to something important:
“One of the biggest leadership mistakes organisations make during change is putting vision before holding.”

The discussion reframed leadership not as certainty or perfection, but as the ability to create enough trust and connection for people to continue moving forward together even when the future is not fully clear. Because when people feel uncertain, perhaps what they need first is not a big vision about the future. Perhaps they first need someone who says:
This is what we know. This is what we do not know. And we will get through this together.

And perhaps this is exactly where relational leadership becomes most important.

HR and the future of work

Another important part of the webinar focused on the role HR plays during times of change and transformation.

One of the perspectives that stood out to me most was his description of HR as:
“People who love the future.”

And I think that is such an interesting way of framing HR.

Because it moves HR beyond processes, operations and performance alone. Instead, it positions HR as a function that helps people grow, navigate uncertainty and become more expansive versions of themselves.

That perspective feels particularly relevant at a time where organisations are changing rapidly and where many employees are trying to navigate uncertainty, transformation and new expectations around work.

The webinar also briefly touched on AI and how technology should not only be viewed through the lens of efficiency and productivity, but also through the impact it has on people and working life more broadly.

And I think that is an important reflection as organisations continue trying to balance technology, transformation and the human side of work.

So, what is good leadership?

If there is one thing I take away from the webinar, it is perhaps this sentence:
“Pay attention and have a conversation.”

Because maybe good leadership does not always begin with big strategies and perfect answers.

Maybe it begins with attention, relationships, presence and honest conversations.

Leadership is complex, and perhaps the reflections above do not necessarily make it any less complex. But maybe they can start a few reflections for you, just like they did for me.

I will leave that up to you:
What matters to you as a leader? And what matters to you as an employee?

Maybe that is where we should begin and let that define the way we move forward.

 

Further resources from Gianpiero Petriglieri

Following the webinar, Gianpiero Petriglieri also shared additional resources exploring:

Marie Louise G. Nielsen, Events Working Group Lead at EAPM