Future-Ready Leadership
Building the Capacity of Human Potential to Future-Proof Students
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The Challenge
Key Findings
The Solution
The Evidence
The workforce has changed faster than most school systems have been able to respond. Artificial intelligence is reshaping industries, replacing routine tasks, and accelerating demand for the distinctly human skills that automation cannot match — things like empathy, collaboration, self-awareness, and the ability to lead through uncertainty. Districts have long defined the destination: college, career, and workforce readiness. But the data increasingly shows that students are arriving there unprepared for what employers actually need.
The question is no longer "Will Al take jobs?"
It's: "Are students ready for the jobs Al can't do?"
Employer Signal
89%
of recruiters say lack of soft skills is why new hires fail.
97%
of employers have adopted or are exploring skills-based hiring.
27%
of executives would not hire today's entry-level employees.
By 2030, 60% of new U.S. jobs won't require a four-year degree but they will require demonstrated human skills.
Employer Signal: The Workforce Has Already Moved
<30%
of recent graduates say they were actually prepared — rating themselves only moderately or not at all ready.
50%
of students wish their school had provided more work-based learning opportunities.
77%
say they would have been more engaged if they better understood their aptitudes and career options.
Districts have defined the destination: college, career, and workforce readiness. The data shows most aren't arriving there.
The Challenge: A Growing Readiness Gap
The Scale: Why These Skills Matter Now
Most durable skills (lowest automation risk):
Empathy & Active Listening
Collaboration
Communication
Self-Organization
Creative Thinking
These are the skills most absent in the current workforce and the ones Leader in Me is built to develop.
jobs globally impacted by AI automation by 2030.
300M+
of worker skills will be disrupted by 2030.
44%
of companies reported using Al in at least one business function.
88%
rise in leadership & social influence - largest increase of any skill tracked globally (2023-2025).
+22pts
Digital
11 DELTAs Digital Fluency, Software Development, Understanding Systems
Self-Leadership
17 DELTAs Self-Awareness, Goal Achievement, Entrepreneurship
Interpersonal
14 DELTAs Developing Relationships, Mobilizing Systems, Teamwork
Cognitive
14 DELTAs Critical Thinking, Communication, Mental Flexibility, Planning
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McKinsey & Partners conducted a global study of 18,000 people across 15 countries, using psychometric assessments to identify the 56 Distinct Elements of Talent (DELTAs) — a mix of skills and attitudes — most predictive of success in employment, income, and life satisfaction.
The Study:
Self-Leadership and Interpersonal DELTAs show NO correlation with education level — they must be intentionally taught.
Critical Education Findings:
McKinsey's 56 DELTAs: What the Evidence Shows
Read the Full Report
Achievement
Top Predictors:
Employment
+24%
Coping with Uncertainty
Synthesizing Messages
Achievement Orientation
Work-Plan Development
High Income
+27%
Asking the Right Questions
Self-Confidence
Organizational Awareness
Self-Motivation
Life Satisfaction
+23%
Energy & Optimism
Key Findings: Which DELTAs Predict Success in...
Self-Confidence + Coping with Uncertainty rank in the Top 3 for two out of three outcomes — the highest-leverage skills to build.
245 days
the time it took adults — with consistent coaching and opportunity — to meaningfully develop a new durable skill during pandemic reskilling.
5%+ drop
decline in skills requiring interpersonal engagement during the pandemic- and by 2025, NO human-centric skill had returned to pre-pandemic levels.
13 years
the K-12 window — the only sustained, universal opportunity to build these skills before students enter the workforce.
Schools provide what no other institution can: daily, multi-year exposure to diverse peers and adults in structured interpersonal settings. Families and communities play important roles - but only schools can make this systematic, universal, and credentialed for every student regardless of background.
"Building durable skills requires deliberate practice, ongoing feedback, and chances for real-world application. These competencies are less likely to develop through classroom teaching or online courses alone."
The Gap: Why K-12 Must Own This Work
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The Bridge: From Portrait of a Graduate to Student Capability
Districts across the country are adopting Portraits of a Graduate. Educators understand the intent. The harder question belongs to the adults:
Skills are named. Intent is set. Language is adopted. But awareness alone doesn't build capability.
Creates Shared Awareness
Graduate Profiles
Lessons introduce ideas and frameworks. Students learn what resilience, collaboration, and leadership mean.
Builds Knowledge
Instruction
Repeated application across years, roles, and real-world contexts is what makes skills stick - and demonstrable.
Create Durable Capability
Systematic Practice
Where do students actually practice these competencies until they can perform them reliably?
Empower Potential The ability to encourage others to use their gifts and talents to contribute to the team’s purpose.
Share Purpose The ability to work with others to develop and communicate a compelling vision and actionable plan.
Align Teams The ability to organize people, resources, and systems to successfully execute a plan.
Cultivate Trust The ability to model both character and competence in a way that builds trust and inspires confidence.
Lead Others Competencies Defined
Collaboration The ability to work together in a way that draws on everyone’s unique strengths and ideas in order to find the best solution.
Empathy The ability to understand and respect other people’s thoughts and feelings with the intent to see their perspective.
Communication The ability to reach mutual understanding with others, convey thoughts clearly, and effectively use body language to communicate.
Relationship Building The ability to develop relationships through consistent interactions that build trust and that balance one’s personal needs with the needs of others.
Interpersonal Effectiveness Competencies Defined
Lead Others
Foster Wellness The commitment to consistently grow one’s own capacity through intentional choices that promote balance and resilience.
Acheive Goals The ability to set a focused goal, identify the steps to take, track progress, and accomplish the desired outcome.
Actively Contribute The awareness and ability to connect one’s own unique talents and strengths to a need in the world and take principled action that creates positive change.
Develop Strengths The ability to identify one’s own talents and areas of passion and the determination to develop them.
Lead Self Competencies Defined
Interpersonal Effectiveness
Higher-Order Thinking The ability to evaluate information, reflect on one’s own thought processes, creatively solve complex problems, and lead one’s learning.
Prioritization The ability to plan and allocate one’s time based on goals and values, and to show the discipline to follow through.
Vision The ability to imagine a meaningful future outcome and create a plan to get there.
Responsibility The ability to be aware of one’s actions and their impact, take proactive steps toward achieving goals, and manage emotions effectively.
Personal Effectiveness Competencies Defined
Lead Self
The outer circle of the SLP represents advanced competencies built upon the foundational skills of the inner circle. Mastery of inner circle competencies is essential for success in the outer circle. These advanced skills involve applying inner circle competencies to lead oneself and others. “Lead Self” focuses on personal development and meaningful contributions, while “Lead Others” emphasizes effective leadership and building high-trust teams. Thus, the outer circle signifies the practical application of foundational competencies.
The Outer Circle
The SLP inner circle competencies equip students for both current learning and future success. A student with these competencies possesses the personal and interpersonal leadership skills to make meaningful contributions throughout their lives. Personal effectiveness competencies empower students to create and realize a profound life vision. Interpersonal effectiveness competencies enable them to communicate effectively, build trusting relationships, and collaborate with diverse individuals.
The Inner Circle
Personal Effectiveness
Prepared to Thrive in College, Career, Community, and Life
The Student Leadership Portrait (SLP) is a research-based framework designed to equip students with essential leadership skills for a rapidly evolving world. This framework not only promotes academic achievement but also emphasizes the development of adaptable, future-ready leaders. Our methodology begins with a comprehensive focus on well-being, establishing a solid foundation for personal and interpersonal growth. Through engagement in real-world scenarios, students develop critical skills such as responsibility, vision, and higher-order thinking. This approach ensures that students are not merely learning about leadership but actively practicing it in every interaction, enhancing their empathy, communication, and teamwork abilities.
View Report
Early Learning
Elementary
Middle School
High School
8 Micro-Credential Modules: Design Do Demonstrate projects, peer-facilitated lessons, digital badges Employment-Ready DELTAs | Portable Credentials | Real-World Impact
Life-Ready Leadership
High School (Grades 9-12)
EARLY LEARNING
ELEMENTARY
Big Rocks, Time Matrix, high-trust behaviors, Accountability Partners, career exploration, mentoring Vision | Prioritization | Conflict Resolution | Community
Complex Decision-Making & Leadership
Middle School (Grades 6-8)
The 7 Habits®, Pause Plan, Circle of Control, mission statements, WIGs, scoreboards, service-learning Responsibility | Empathy | Goal-Setting | Teamwork
Self-Management & Collaboration
Elementary (Grades K-5)
ELementary
Play-based lessons using stories, puppets & routines to practice naming feelings and making proactive choices Emotion Regulation | Identity | Leadership Roles
Foundational Self-Awareness
Early Learning (Pre-K)
The System: A Developmental Arc Across the Entire K-12 Journey
Leader in Me isn't a program students dip in and out of. It's an operating system that scaffolds capability from Pre-K through graduation.
Earn all 8 micro-credentials for a FranklinCovey Life-Ready Leadership Certificate by graduation — a portable signal of readiness.
Life-Ready Certificate
Project-based learning: define a real problem, research solutions, take action, reflect on growth, present evidence. Not theory — application.
Design Do Demonstrate
Performance-based, rubric-evaluated credentials portable to Linkedln, transcripts &digital wallets. Verifiable proof of competency for employers.
Micro-Credentials
16 hands-on, peer-facilitated lessons per module with real-world Leadership Projects. Each module targets a cluster of high-priority DELTAs.
Eight Curriculum Modules
The Solution: Leader in Me Life-Ready Leadership (Grades 9-12)
87% of employers have hired at least one candidate holding a micro-credential in the past year.
91% of employers say micro-credential holders demonstrate higher proficiency in essential competencies.
Shared Purpose Aligning Teams Empowering Potential Cultivating Trust
Listening Verbal Expression Creative Cooperation Resolving Conflicts
Problem Solving Global Awareness Service-Mindedness Community Engagement
Abundance Mindset Trust Understanding Courage & Consideration
Passion Cultivation Values Clarification Talent Application Initiative
Emotion Regulation Balance Time Management Renewal
Planning Ahead Goal Setting Perseverance Accountability
Self-Awareness Adaptability Metacognition Continuous Improvement
HOVER TO EXPLORE.
Leader in Me Credentials
Self-Leadership DELTAs
Cognitive DELTAs
Strengthening Wellness
Self-Control & Regulation | Understanding Own Emotions & Triggers
Achieving Goals
Achievement Orientation | Grit & Persistence | Coping with Uncertainty
Finding Your Voice
Self-Motivation | Self-Confidence | Courage & Risk-Taking | Driving Change
Work-Plan Development | Time Management | Structured Problem Solving
Succeeding With People
Active Listening | Storytelling & Public Speaking | Synthesizing Messages
Living the 7 Habits
Adaptability | Creativity & Imagination | Translating Knowledge to Different Contexts
DELTA Alignment: Cognitive & Self-Leadership DELTAs
These are the DELTAs most strongly linked to employment, income, and satisfaction — and they require intentional teaching.
Empathy
High-Trust Relationships
Inspiring Trust
Humility
Sociability
Resolving Conflicts
Succeeding with People
Fostering Inclusiveness
Motivating Personalities
Role Modeling
Leading Teams
Crafting Inspiring Vision
Coaching & Empowering
Win-Win Negotiations
DELTA Alignment: Interpersonal DELTAs
Critical Finding:
Interpersonal DELTAs like Empathy, Coaching, and Resolving Conflicts show NO correlation with education level. More school alone will not develop them. Leader in Me fills this gap through experiential, project-based, peer-faclitated learning.
"Who would you want to perform your heart surgery?" Students explore Integrity, Intent, Capability, and Results as trust foundations.
High-Trust Relationships | Lesson 6
Cultivating Trust
4 Cores of Credibility Jigsaw
Pairs generate 3rd Alternative solutions for real disagreements, then map their communication level on a synergy chart.
Succeeding With People | Lesson 13
Path to Synergy Practice
Leadership Insights rubric self-assessment: students rate themselves on key behaviors, then discuss gaps with a partner.
Living the 7 Habits | Lesson 12
Self-Awareness
Growth vs. Fixed Mindset Charades
Students mirror and retell stories, then vote on who listened to understand vs. listened to reply.
Succeeding With People | Lesson 4
Empathic Listening
Chinese Character + 3-Round Listening
Students adapt to new teams mid-game, then reflect on how adapting to change leads to new experiences.
Living the 7 Habits | Lesson 13
Adaptability
Rock-Paper-Scissors Fan Club
In the Classroom: How Leader in Me Teaches DELTAs - Lesson Examples
How it Works: Preparing Students for What the Future Requires
Even with consistent coaching and opportunity, it took adults 245 days to meaningfully develop a new durable skill during pandemic reskilling. K-12 represents a 13-year window to build these capabilities systemically — an irreplaceable advantage that no adult training program can replicate.
New concepts are introduced through lesson facilitation, stories, and structured inquiry. Students encounter frameworks for understanding themselves and others.
Introduce Ideas
Exposure
Repeated application within lessons and across modules deepns proficiency. Peer facilitation, role-play, and reflection cement the habit over time.
Build Habits
2. Practice
3. Systematic Practice
Design Do Demonstrate projects require students to apply skills to real challenges, produce evidence of impact, and earn a verifiable micro-credential.
Evidence: Engagement Is the Leading Indicator of Readiness
Gallup's 2025 Voices of Gen Z study: When schools prioritize engagement and capability-building, readiness improves measurably.
Leader in Me is built to generate exactly these conditions: students exercise strengths (Leadership Roles), find learning relevant (real-world projects), and are affirmed by adults who model the same principles they teach. Engagement and capability grow together.
who have a teacher who makes them excited about the future
70 78%
of students who say school gives them the opportunity to do what they do best
40 50%
point increase across ALL 8 schools engagement measures in 2025 — highest levels ever recorded
6 10
engaging experiences needed for students to be significantly more likely to feel prepared and thriving
5 of 8
Your Portrait of a Graduate defines the destination.
Leader in Me builds the road.
Explore the Possibilities
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