The U.S. Chairman of PwC, Tim Ryan, Says Future Leaders Must Have Thick Skin

Tim Ryan, U.S. Chair and Senior Partner at PwC, knows a thing or two about resilience and pushing himself to grow and improve.

Aside from his successful accounting career, Tim is also an accomplished athlete. He has pushed himself to the limit by running more than 25 marathons and maintains a rigorous fitness routine that includes 150 pushups and 1,200 sit-ups a day.

Tim credits his extensive exercise routine for giving him the energy to manage his workforce of more than 55,000 employees. But aside from the physical strength, it also builds mental stamina. And that mental strength and resilience is one of the top skills leaders can have.

I had the chance to talk with Tim for my book, The Future Leader, and he shared with me that the biggest challenge leaders will face over the next decade and beyond is the need to have thick skin. Future leaders may not need to run miles every day to be strong, but they do need to be mentally strong and resilient to lead changing companies.

Tim told me this: “The leader of today has a lot of people looking at him or her. This will be exponentially the case in a world that is becoming increasingly uncertain. Being able to handle change and critics is a skill that is going to become more important.”

Becoming a resilient leader happens by developing strong mindsets and being willing to improve and adapt with feedback and the evolving business world.

Era Of Humble Leaders 

Leadership has undoubtedly changed over the past decades, and Tim believes it will continue to change at an even faster pace. One of the biggest changes will be the movement from dominant leaders to humble leaders who are willing to adapt and change.

“The day and age of the dominant CEO is likely coming to an end, and I think we’re entering the era of humble leaders who need the true appreciation that they don’t have all the answers, that they will make mistakes, that they’ll be rewarded for acknowledging and learning from those mistakes, as long as it’s sincere and genuine,” Tim said.

It used to be that CEOs needed to be the smartest person in the room and have the strongest voice. But instead of being the loudest, future leaders will be chosen because of the vision and humility. Tim believes people will be leaders because of their flaws, their humility, and their ability to listen and truly act on what stakeholders are telling them. It’s a monumental shift to celebrating and promoting people who are humble enough to listen to others and admit that they don’t know everything.

Being humble means being vulnerable and open to change. But future leaders can’t just pretend to be humble—they have to actually be vulnerable enough to put themselves out there and adjust to make improvements. As Tim points out, vulnerability doesn’t always have to be personal about the leader—it can also be willing to transform a business model, implement new systems, or enter new markets as an organization. It’s only when leaders are willing to be vulnerable that they can push themselves and their organizations out of their comfort zones and see real growth.

Welcome Feedback 

Going along with humility and vulnerability, future leaders also need to be open to criticism and feedback. Leaders and CEOs of the future have lots of people looking at them. Tim says he’s seen people throughout his career hit a ceiling because they couldn’t get over the number of critics they had and what those critics were saying.

“You will never please everybody, but you must always listen to people’s views without unraveling, be able to communicate effectively, course correct as needed, and keep moving forward,” Tim said. “Shutting people out will be a barrier for future leaders.”

Most people have experienced a leader who criticizes people they don’t agree with and automatically shuts them down. Many leaders simply aren’t open to criticism, but critics are unavoidable.

Tim told me this: “The best future leaders are going to be the ones who have thick skin, who can’t get unnerved and unraveled if there’s criticism coming their way, but actually have the strength to listen to it even though it comes from a place you may not like, or a point of view you may not like, and make you and the organization better.”

Tim says the best thing people can do to develop thick skin and welcome criticism is to practice and catch themselves in the moment. Most people tend to block out people who give feedback or constructive criticism, but Tim says it’s important for future leaders to recognize their natural reaction as it happens and then practice taking feedback about an idea or their performance and truly applying it to improve without being unnerved. Future leaders have to be the best listeners in the world to be willing to not only listen to feedback, but also apply it to make improvements. It takes practice to overcome your natural tendencies to block out that feedback.

The future of leadership is changing before our very eyes. To keep up with the changes and thrive as a leader in the next decade and beyond, leaders must be resilient and humble. Developing those qualities takes practice and a strong mental capacity.

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