| Abstract: |
The contemporary business landscape, marked by digital disruption, climate imperatives, and accelerating AI adoption, has placed strategic leadership at the centre of organisational transformation across industries. This study examines how strategic leadership practices drive organisational performance, foster innovation, and enable sustainable growth in cross-sectoral contexts, with a particular lens on Indian and global firms during 2020–2025. The objectives are to assess the influence of strategic leadership on transformation outcomes and to identify enablers of innovation-led sustainable growth. The methodology adopts a descriptive-analytical research design, integrating secondary data from PwC Global CEO Surveys, McKinsey Global Surveys, the WIPO Global Innovation Index, and peer-reviewed studies, supplemented by a structured review of 27 empirical articles. The hypothesis posits a significant positive association between strategic leadership and transformation performance. Results indicate that 63% of CEOs globally have repositioned value-creation; firms led by digitally savvy executives are 50% more likely to meet transformation targets; and India's GII rank rose from 81 (2015) to 39 (2024). The discussion situates these findings within dynamic capability and upper-echelon perspectives, concluding that strategic leadership is an indispensable lever for sustainable, innovation-driven competitiveness. |
