Good leadership is crucial for any company to succeed, and leadership that creates a learning environment allows organizations to enhance their long-term viability. Everyone at every level should be involved in learning and adapting as the times change. This, however, isn’t always an easy adjustment as many people struggle with changes in routine or procedures. For a company to foster a learning organization, there are 5 key elements they need to address: inspiring and motivating people with a mission or purpose, empowering employees at all levels, accumulating and sharing internal knowledge, gathering and integrating external information, and challenging the status quo and enabling creativity.

The successful transition of Nike leadership proved that they had successfully fostered a learning environment within their organization. Three major leadership lessons became noteworthy at this time.

The first leadership lesson is to implement smooth transitions that consider all stakeholders. These stakeholders include customers, employees, board members, suppliers, and shareholders. Nike implemented a smooth transition by keeping their old CEO onboard as an advisor for several months to minimize any disruptions.

The next leadership lesson is to recognize your company’s current season. Many organizations get stuck in the past, but what worked before may not work for current market needs. It was determined that Nike’s old CEO, John Donahoe, did not have a leadership style that matched the current season for the company. A different season had approached and Nike recognized the need for a different leadership style at the top of the company.

Finally, the last leadership lesson companies can take from Nike is revisiting successful approaches. Sometimes, this concept is overlooked as it’s believed to indicate a lack of ingenuity, a loss of progress, or a failure of leadership; however, if the timing and circumstances are right, revisiting an old strategy could lead to great success. Nike’s new CEO, Elliot Hill, was a former Nike executive who was very successful during his tenure. Hence, he was the top choice when it came to CEO considerations.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/topsievandenbosch/2024/09/24/3-leadership-lessons-nike-ceos-transition-can-teach-us/