Multi-Hyphenate Leadership: Why Future-Focused Organizations Need Versatile Leaders
I remember the moment I realized that being a "multi-hyphenate" wasn't just about doing multiple things – it was about seeing the world differently.
It was 2021, and I was standing at Finisterre – literally "the end of the world" – on Spain's Atlantic coast. I'd just spent weeks walking the Camino de Santiago, processing how the pandemic had transformed both my business and my understanding of leadership. Like many consultants, I'd been forced to reimagine everything about how I worked. But standing there at the edge of the continent, I realized something deeper: the future of leadership itself was changing.
The notion of work has shifted away from simply doing a job to building a career, and the hyphen has become shorthand to conflate personal identity with professional capability.
The rise of the “multi-hyphenate” has ironically eliminated the need for any specificity at all, instead implying a complex creative identity grounded in a jack-of-all trades ideal that conflates production potential with individual worth.
Everyone you know is a multi-hyphenate, The Outline, Nov 2019
The Rise of the Multi-Hyphenate Leader
Today, when people hear "multi-hyphenate," they often think of celebrities like Paris Hilton describing herself as a "CEO-entrepreneur-artist-DJ-model-actress-singer-humanitarian-activist-artist-investor-boss babe." But in my work with senior leaders across industries, I've discovered that this concept has profound implications for how we lead organizations through transformation.
The data backs this up: By 2021, 64% of US millennials were running side hustles alongside their full-time jobs. But this trend isn't just about multiple income streams – it represents a fundamental shift in how successful leaders operate in an increasingly complex world.
Why Traditional Leadership Models Are Breaking Down
Recently, I was working with the CEO of a global technology company who confided something striking: "For the first time in my career, I don't know what the right answer is. And maybe that's okay."
This vulnerability captures something I'm hearing from leaders everywhere. Traditional corporate structures were built on the assumption that leaders should have clear answers and stay in their lanes. But in today's rapidly evolving business environment, this model is becoming obsolete.
As Deloitte's 2024 Global Human Capital Trends Report notes, "We're operating in a world where work is no longer defined by jobs, the workplace is no longer a specific place, many workers are no longer traditional employees, and human resources is no longer a siloed function."
The question isn't just how to lead through this transformation – it's how to imagine and create better futures for our organizations.
The Multi-Hyphenate Advantage: Creating Future-Focused Organizations
The true power of multi-hyphenate leadership lies not in doing multiple things simultaneously, but in using diverse perspectives to imagine and create better futures. This is where the practice of Backcasting becomes crucial.
Backcasting is an innovative framework that starts with imagining a desired future state and then works backwards to determine the steps needed to achieve it. Multi-hyphenate leaders excel at this because:
They bring multiple perspectives to future visioning
They can identify cross-functional opportunities and challenges
They understand how different parts of an organization can work together to achieve transformational goals
Five Essential Qualities of the Future-Focused Multi-Hyphenate Leader
1. Visionary Experimentation
Rather than being tied to traditional planning methods, successful multi-hyphenate leaders use frameworks like Backcasting to envision multiple possible futures and experiment with paths to achieve them.
2. Cross-Functional Facilitation
These leaders excel at bringing diverse teams together, facilitating conversations across silos, and helping organizations move beyond "the way we've always done things."
3. Comfort with Ambiguity
In a world of constant change, multi-hyphenate leaders thrive in uncertainty, viewing it as an opportunity for innovation rather than a threat to stability.
4. Boundary-Breaking Mindset
They actively seek out new perspectives and experiences, understanding that innovation often happens at the intersection of different disciplines and viewpoints.
5. Narrative Intelligence
Multi-hyphenate leaders excel at crafting and communicating compelling stories about the future, helping teams and stakeholders envision and embrace transformational change.
Moving from Concept to Action: Implementing Multi-Hyphenate Leadership
The journey to becoming a multi-hyphenate leader isn't about adding more tasks to your plate – it's about fundamentally reimagining how you approach leadership and organizational transformation.
For example, when a global technology company needed to reimagine their product development process, they didn't just need a leader with technical expertise. They needed someone who could:
Facilitate cross-functional collaboration
Envision multiple possible futures
Create compelling narratives about change
Guide teams through uncertainty
Break down traditional silos
Through a Backcasting approach, they were able to not only improve their current processes but create entirely new possibilities for their future.
The Future Belongs to Multi-Hyphenate Leaders
As organizations face unprecedented change and complexity, the ability to think and lead across boundaries becomes increasingly crucial. The multi-hyphenate approach, combined with future-focused frameworks like Backcasting, offers a powerful path forward.
Want to explore how multi-hyphenate leadership could transform your organization's future? I offer workshops and consulting services that help leaders and teams develop these crucial capabilities. Learn more about my approach to future-focused leadership transformation or contact me to discuss your organization's specific needs.
Jordan Bower is a transformational storytelling consultant who helps leaders and organizations create meaningful change through strategic narrative development. Through workshops, consulting, and keynote speaking, he helps clients move beyond surface-level communication to create authentic narratives that drive real transformation.
