Resilience, flexibility and agility are among the top 10 core skills for the future, according to The Future of Jobs Report 2025 from the World Economic Forum.

“Adaptability” is an all-encompassing word to describe these skills, and Andrea Clarke this week spoke to Growth Faculty about her new book on the subject "Adapt: Mastering Change in 4 Steps."

Clarke’s book emerged from a successful adaptive leadership program she developed for Rio Tinto, which had such positive outcomes that she felt compelled to share these frameworks more widely.

Below is a summary of how you can develop an "adaptive spirit" from the insights shared in “Adapt.”

According to Andrea Clarke, we're facing unprecedented levels of change that make many of us uncomfortable:

"We are quietly stepping back to a safe and neutral place when there has never been a more dangerous time to be neutral on change."

This retreat is understandable but problematic. Clarke explains that when we step back to that "quiet and safe place," we take with us "the ability to exercise creative leadership and to promote innovation." She warns that by avoiding change, we may actually start losing our ability to adapt at all.

Clarke introduced the concept of "AQ" or adaptive quotient:

"IQ has traditionally landed us the job, EQ (emotional intelligence) has traditionally helped us get along with people, but it's AQ that gives us staying power. It's AQ that's our adaptive quotient. That is what helps us stay relevant, competitive, and understand what is changing around us."

She cited research conducted by a Harvard professor who studied 1,000 American leaders over 20 years. The findings revealed that the most successful leaders weren't distinguished by charisma or technical skills, but by their ability to adapt to new situations.

In "Adapt," Andrea Clarke outlines a 4-step framework for developing adaptive leadership through four key principles:

1. Engage with Signals of Change

The first step is actively looking for early warning signs of change:

"The earlier we identify a signal of change that is either going to disrupt us or bring an opportunity, the more time we give ourselves to respond to what that change will end up being for us."

Clarke used the analogy of seeing brake lights ahead on a rainy highway - you don't wait until the last moment to respond. Similarly, we need to identify signals of change early to have more options for response.

Some examples of change signals to watch for:

• Shifts in your own behaviour (like a news reporter who stops buying newspapers)
• Emerging workplace trends (like the anti-hustle “slow productivity” culture)
• Changes in how customers interact with your products
• New technologies affecting your industry

2. Accept What Is Changing

Many of us get stuck in what Clarke calls "the waiting place" (borrowing from Dr. Seuss):

"We need to be very conscious about how long it takes us to accept what is changing around us. We all know someone in our circle or in our family who, for example, refuses to upgrade the software on their phone or their iPad."

What’s important here is recognising that nothing is permanent. The longer we delay accepting change, the more opportunities we miss to influence how that change affects us.

3. Activate Your Response

Once we accept what's changing, we need to activate our energy and optimism for change. Clarke recommends using the "explore versus exploit" principle:

"Every morning I write down what am I going to spend 80% doing today? I'm going to triage email, I'm going to return phone calls. I'm going to do the daily tasks that need to be done. But then in the other column, what am I going to spend 20% of today exploring?"

This exercise ensures you:

• Complete necessary daily tasks (exploit) while still making time for growth
• Create space to explore new tools, techniques, or strategies
• Build mental flexibility into your daily routine
• Adapt more easily to change by constantly learning

Clarke suggests teams should set aside 20-30 minutes weekly for "looking up and out" discussions about signals of change they're seeing and how to respond.

4. Release What's Holding You Back

The final step involves identifying what you need to let go of to create space for new growth:

"What do we need to let go of in order to free up the very valuable brain space that we are going to need for that energy to move forward?"

Clarke recommends creating a simple "let go list" of three things that might be holding you back, whether it's an outdated mindset, belief system, or something no longer aligned with your direction.

One of the most practical takeaways from our conversation with Andrea Clarke was how to begin building adaptive capacity through small daily choices:

"High AQ habits start small. Start really small. I bet everyone here orders the same coffee every day. So, start ordering a different coffee every day. That helps us be better mentally flexible and better prepared for change."

These small disruptions to routine help rewire our neurons and prepare us for bigger changes. They train us to see change as an adventure rather than a threat.

Finally, Clarke says that managing energy is critical for adaptability:

"Managing, placing and protecting our energy is the number one concern for most people."

She discussed how understanding your personal "energy curve" and knowing what both drains and recharges you is essential for sustainable performance. This becomes especially important during periods of change, which require additional mental and emotional resources.

By engaging early with signals of change, accepting reality, activating our response, and releasing what no longer serves us, we can master change rather than being mastered by it.

As Clarke once asked herself when she saw early changes in how consumers received their news (moving from traditional media to online): "Do I want to be disrupted or do I want to disrupt myself five to eight years before I can see that hitting the mainstream market?"

The choice, ultimately, is ours.

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