Automotive and transport stands out as a sector with a leadership culture defined by resilience and adaptability.
While other sectors may lead on areas such as innovation or authority and influence, our global research report, The mid-market maze, shows that automotive and transport leaders appear more focused on operational resilience and navigating complexity.
From supply chain disruption and labour shortages to regulation, rising costs and changing customer expectations, automotive and transport leaders have spent years navigating almost constant operational pressure.
The clearest signal is around leadership capability.
30% of automotive and transport leaders identify problem-solving as one of their strongest leadership qualities, while 39% say it defines leaders across the sector. Both are the highest scores of any industry we surveyed.
That points to a sector that has become exceptionally good at responding to change.
The question is whether that's enough for what comes next.
Quietly confident
That operational mindset appears to underpin a high degree of confidence.
Nearly six in ten (57%) leaders believe their leadership team has the capabilities needed to thrive over the next decade – the highest confidence level of any sector in our research.
Yet that confidence is tempered by realism.
Automotive and transport businesses are more likely than any other sector to say they are struggling to keep pace with changing employment legislation (45%), while 42% agree that constant shifts in regulation and tax policy make long-term planning difficult.
Rather than ignoring these challenges, the sector appears to be preparing for them.
Automotive and transport businesses are the most likely to increase investment in their legal and regulatory teams as compliance demands grow – evidence of a pragmatic, risk-aware approach to change.
These strengths have served the sector well. But they also raise an important question: has the sector become so good at responding to disruption that it risks spending too little time anticipating it?
When resilience becomes a trap
Problem-solving is a critical leadership capability. It keeps operations moving, customers served and businesses resilient when conditions change.
But resilience has a downside.
When the demands of today consume too much leadership attention, organisations can lose the capacity to anticipate what comes next.
Our research suggests many leaders in the automotive and transport sector recognise this tension. Almost half (47%) agree there is simply too much happening in their business today to allow them time to focus on planning for the future.
47% of leaders in the automotive and transport sector believe there is too much going on in their business now for them to focus on tomorrow.
42% say their business cannot make long-term plans due to back-and-forth shifts in regulation and tax policy.
And that’s the real leadership challenge facing the sector, because the next decade is unlikely to become any less volatile.
More than half (54%) of automotive and transport leaders – the highest of any sector surveyed – expect regulation to become more onerous and prescriptive over the next decade. 56% believe the sector will have transformed beyond all recognition within 10 years, while 51% expect industry consolidation to significantly reduce the number of competitors by 2035.
The automotive and transport sector has proven it can respond to disruption. The next competitive advantage will come from anticipating it.
Top five barriers to growth
What stands in the way of automotive and transport organisations’ achieving their full potential over the next 10 years?
High energy costs and energy shortages
Talent shortages
Short-termism in planning / investment
Outdated or inadequate technology
Geopolitical instability / pendulum politics
Explore the leadership capabilities mid-market organisations will need to thrive over the next decade.
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