Leadership development often gets reduced to a list of desirable traits. But the organisations we work with don’t need soft-focus concepts, they need measurable, commercial impact. They want to know which leaders can build resilience under pressure, drive stronger outcomes through their people, and set a clear strategic vision that gets delivered. Then they need practical ways to build those capabilities across the business.

That’s what The Leadership Code sets out to do. Developed through in-depth market research, The Leadership Code is a framework we developed to identify the six archetypes leaders need to deliver impact through volatility, complexity and change:

• Growth leadership

• Visionary leadership

• Transformative leadership

• Resilient leadership

• Inclusive leadership

• Empathetic leadership

These archetypes were identified through survey insights from senior leaders across Europe, North America and Asia, who represent sectors including banking, insurance, asset management and financial services.

What we found through this broad cross-section of voices is that these archetypes aren’t just useful labels or abstract personas. They reflect the real behaviours leaders are relying on right now and the capabilities organisations need to build. They’re behavioural blueprints, underpinned by clearly defined skills, supported by real-world development modules, and designed to tackle the most pressing leadership challenges identified by our survey respondents: rapid change, AI disruption, economic and geopolitical volatility, generational complexity, and cybersecurity threats.

The Code is commercially powerful because it bridges behaviour with capability

Where most models stop at ‘what good looks like,’ The Leadership Code continues into how you build it. The framework incorporates a suite of practical skills – like presentation mastery for Visionary leadership, courageous decision-making for Transformative leadership, or the art of inspiring innovation for Growth leadership. All of these can be trained, embedded and evaluated so that leadership capability becomes a measurable, scalable asset.

This is critical because leadership behaviour on paper isn’t enough. If someone can’t, for example, influence key stakeholders effectively, or tangibly encourage a culture of learning, experimentation and feedback, those gaps eventually show up on the bottom line.

How organisations are using The Leadership Code to drive real change

Organisations we work with are now using the Code to:

• Assess leadership potential, using the six archetypes as a diagnostic to spot strengths, blind spots and future successors.
• Target development efforts by pairing behavioural insights with bespoke skills training, helping leaders move from insight to action.
• Shape culture at scale with shared language around what great leadership looks like, how it behaves and a solid framework on how it can be nurtured.
• Build resilience into the system, focusing not just on individuals, but the ecosystems that support leadership performance, wellbeing and innovation.

Crucially, The Leadership Code helps solve a common pain point we hear from clients: how to identify and develop leaders who aren’t just operationally competent, but future-ready. The ones who can influence across silos, inspire innovation in others and lead transformation with conviction. 

To understand the full scope of The Leadership Code, read our report.

From framework to action: Building capability that lasts

Whether you’re building your next executive team, designing an L&D programme or striving to achieve stronger commercial outcomes, Hanover’s Leadership Code gives you a clear, actionable map. We don’t just hand you the framework. We work with you to interpret it in your context, build capability where it counts, and deliver measurable change.

If you’re interested in decoding what great leadership looks like for your business, and developing it at pace, let’s talk.