The landscape of 2025 tested leaders across industries with heightened demands for reinvention, inclusivity, and customer-centric clarity. The leaders who stood out did not merely manage operational complexity, redefining what effective leadership looks like under conditions of structural disruption. Three case studies: Thyssenkrupp, L’Oréal, and Lyft. Clearly illustrate lessons with lasting relevance.
Adaptive Reinvention: Thyssenkrupp and the Demands of Transformation
Thyssenkrupp, Germany’s largest steelmaker, confronted mounting pressure in 2025 to address climate transition, financial strain, and organizational complexity. CEO Miguel López embarked on a restructuring strategy that involved closing inefficient plants, reducing workforce levels, and reallocating resources into green technologies. At the same time, the company invested in growth areas such as its Marine Systems division, positioning itself to supply the defense sector with strategic technologies.
Coverage from PwC observed that companies pursuing sustainability often face “reinvention” that is difficult but essential, reframing environmental and social responsibility as a driver of long-term resilience and growth even when short-term resistance exists internally (https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/issues/esg/sustainability-compliance-to-reinvention.html).
In Forbes, commentary on evolving leadership models argues that adaptability demands more than small tweaks and thereby, requires rethinking organizational structure itself so it aligns with future realities and rapidly shifting environments. https://www.forbes.com/sites/benjaminlaker/2023/08/10/redefining-leadership-the-rise-of-new-organizational-structures
The lesson for executives is that reinvention is not optional when legacy structures constrain progress. Leaders in other sectors face parallel imperatives, automotive manufacturers accelerating the shift to electric mobility, energy companies pivoting toward renewables, and financial institutions digitizing legacy operations. The risk of inaction is not stagnation but ostrich-like induced obsolescence. Adaptive reinvention requires making politically difficult choices, plant closures, divestitures, workforce reductions, while simultaneously investing in the technologies and markets that will define future relevance.
Emotionally Resonant and Inclusive Strategy: L’Oréal’s Coach-Like Leadership
L’Oréal under CEO Nicolas Hieronimus, illustrates how leadership rooted in emotional intelligence and inclusivity can create resilience and growth. Hieronimus reframed beauty as a stabilizing and emotional need, rather than a discretionary indulgence. His leadership style, described as “coach-like”, prioritizes empowerment, development, and inclusivity within the company’s vast brand ecosystem.
According to L’Oréal’s 2024 annual results, the company achieved 5.1 percent comparable growth and reached record operating margins of 20 percent, illustrating that purpose-driven leadership can generate both cultural resonance and strong financial performance. https://www.loreal-finance.com/eng/news-release/2024-annual-results
This approach reflects a larger shift in leadership expectations across sectors. Employees and consumers alike increasingly demand authenticity and values alignment from corporations. ESG commitments, diversity and inclusion, and emotional well-being are no longer side initiatives; they are central to organizational legitimacy. Hieronimus’s model shows that leaders who operate like coaches—supporting, guiding, and empowering teams—build organizations that are agile and aligned. Yet while this narrative has gained traction, current administrative and policy shifts have made less certain the foundation upon which many of these commitments rest. The durability of values-driven leadership will increasingly be tested by how well organizations can uphold these priorities when the broader institutional environment grows less predictable.
The lesson extends beyond beauty. In technology, companies such as Microsoft under Satya Nadella have also emphasized empathy and inclusivity as leadership anchors, reshaping culture while driving innovation. The strategic implication is that emotionally resonant leadership does not conflict with performance; it strengthens it by ensuring alignment between internal culture, customer expectations, and societal demands. https://publishing.insead.edu/case/enhancing-innovation-through-organisational-learning-and-a-culture-empathy-microsoft-under-ceo-satya-nadella
Mentorship-Informed, Customer-Centric Leadership: Lyft and David Risher
Leadership at Lyft under CEO David Risher demonstrates the enduring value of mentorship and customer obsession as guiding frameworks. Risher has openly acknowledged the influence of two key mentors: Bill Gates, who instilled competitive discipline during Risher’s tenure at Microsoft, and Jeff Bezos, whose philosophy at Amazon emphasized relentless customer focus.
Reporting from NBC New York highlights how Lyft CEO David Risher explicitly draws on lessons learned from his time under Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos. From Gates, Risher says he internalized the discipline of competition, the ability to position a company strategically and withstand pressure in contested markets. From Bezos, he absorbed the philosophy of relentless customer obsession, the idea that long-term success rests on building loyalty and trust through user-centric design and service. At Lyft, these dual lessons translate into a leadership approach that balances market competitiveness with an unwavering focus on the rider and driver experience. Under Risher’s direction, the company has implemented initiatives such as lowering prices, raising driver pay, and introducing new safety and inclusivity features. The strategic implication is clear: for Lyft to sustain relevance in a highly competitive mobility landscape, competitive rigor must be matched by cultural and customer resonance, an alignment of internal discipline and external expectations. https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/business/money-report/lyft-ceo-i-worked-for-both-bill-gates-and-jeff-bezos-here-are-the-most-important-lessons-i-learned/6258156
This dual influence provides a framework for navigating one of the most competitive mobility markets in the world. On one hand, Lyft must guard against competitive threats from Uber and emerging players. On the other, it must ensure that riders and drivers experience reliable, trustworthy service. By integrating Gates’s strategic rigor with Bezos’s customer obsession, Risher is building a leadership model that fuses competitive awareness with executional clarity.
The broader lesson for leaders is that mentorship is not only about personal development but about building durable frameworks for decision-making. Customer-centricity, meanwhile, remains the ultimate anchor for sustainable growth. Industries as diverse as retail, healthcare, and finance have demonstrated that organizations prioritizing customer needs outperform peers who treat customer focus as rhetoric rather than strategy.
Lessons Learned
The leadership lessons of 2025 converge around adaptability, inclusivity, and mentorship. Thyssenkrupp demonstrates that reinvention, however painful, is essential to future relevance. L’Oréal proves that emotional intelligence and inclusivity can fuel both cultural legitimacy and financial growth. Lyft shows how mentorship and customer-centricity can shape competitive clarity in complex markets.
As 2026 begins, leaders who embrace these lessons will be positioned to navigate volatility, build trust with stakeholders, and sustain relevance in industries where change is no longer episodic but continuous.