As the demands placed on HR professionals grow more complex, organizations need leaders who can do more than react — they need ones who lead with intention. During a session at SHRM25 in San Diego, SHRM CHRO Jim Link, SHRM-SCP, and Tamla Oates-Forney, CEO of SHRM Linkage, explored how organizations can transform their talent pipelines by cultivating purposeful, intentional leadership.
The duo focused on actionable strategies to empower leaders at every level in today’s climate of uncertainty, disruption, and talent pressure. Grounded in the SHRM Linkage Purposeful Leadership model, the conversation offered three major insights for organizations aiming to build more aligned, resilient, and high-performing teams.
The Strategic Issue of Burnout
No longer a soft issue or an individual concern, burnout is now a systemic leadership challenge with direct implications for performance, retention, and culture. As demands intensify and talent pressures mount, even experienced leaders are hitting their limits.
“I was not working 24/7, but 23/6,” said Oates-Forney, reflecting on her prior tenure as CHRO for a Fortune 500 organization. “Even when I was off work, my mind was constantly racing.”
When organizations rely on leaders to carry the weight of constant disruption without recovery, the risk is not just diminished output — it’s personal crisis.
Oates-Forney’s experience, echoed by many in leadership today, highlights the urgency of equipping leaders not only with tactical skills, but also permission to set boundaries, prioritize well-being, and lead sustainably.
“More than ever, our purpose as leaders is to take care of ourselves,” Link said. “If we’re not leading well, we need to reset.”
Organizations that want to close talent gaps and build resilient teams must start by redefining what leadership requires. Purposeful leadership doesn’t just drive results; it protects the people driving those results. When leaders are supported, self-aware, and values-aligned, they are better equipped to inspire, engage, and deliver lasting impact.
Courage, Clarity, and Commitment
Leading with purpose isn’t about charisma or instinct, Oates-Forney emphasized, but rather about showing up deliberately — especially when challenges are high and certainty is low. This model consists of three anchoring traits:
- Courage to face unprecedented workforce demands and hard decisions.
- Clarity to lead amid ambiguity and drive forward-focused action.
- Commitment to stay values-aligned, even when progress is slow or difficult.
“As a leader, you have to have clarity and be clear on the destination — but you also have to be courageous and honest enough to say that you don’t know how you’re going to get there,” Oates-Forney said. “What purposeful leadership means to me is where my ‘why’ aligns to a company’s ‘what.’ ”
This mindset allows leaders to move from reactive problem-solving to proactive people development. It also creates a foundation for inclusive, psychologically safe cultures where employees feel valued and motivated.
Research supports this: Employees with highly effective managers are more than twice as likely to feel a deep sense of commitment and belonging at work than those who say their manager is not highly effective, according to a 2024 SHRM report, Effective People Managers.
“Begin with the end in mind,” Link said. “If the destination is clear, courage and commitment can carry you through uncertainty."
Purposeful Leaders Don’t Happen Accidentally
Structured leadership development works, research shows, and organizations that are intentional about cultivating values-driven leaders outperform competitors. In fact, employees who have participated in SHRM Linkage’s Accelerating Purposeful Leadership program show nine times greater engagement at work.
Leadership and manager development ranks as the No. 1 HR priority for 2025, per a 2025 SHRM report, CHRO Priorities and Perspectives. SHRM Linkage, with more than 35 years of experience in empowering organizations to develop purposeful, inclusive leaders, has been at the forefront of this mission to build scalable leadership pipelines grounded in data and behavioral science.
The Purposeful Leadership model is designed around five core commitments:
- Inspire: Set a vision that motivates others.
- Engage: Build trust and inclusion.
- Innovate: Solve problems with agility.
- Achieve: Deliver results with integrity.
- Become: Commit to continuous growth.
These commitments support a concrete framework for identifying gaps, personalizing development journeys, and tracking progress over time. The result is not only stronger leadership but also better organizational performance.
“Purposeful leadership isn’t just about who’s in charge,” Link said. “It’s about how we develop, support, and elevate people to drive meaningful impact at every level."
From declining workforce participation to shifting workplace values, businesses are facing a critical moment: Develop the next generation of leaders or fall behind. Purposeful leadership is more than a theory — it’s a scalable, measurable approach to bridging leadership gaps and unlocking individual and collective potential.
As organizations grapple with complexity and change, leaders who act with clarity and intention won’t just perform better — they’ll elevate those around them and build better workplaces for everyone.
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