The leadership leap: Shaping future-ready organisations | Atlassian

[intro jingle] So, every time I step into a room like this, I'm really reminded of just how amazing it is to bring a diverse mix of thinkers, builders, and leaders from various industries, disciplines, and even corners of the world, unified by one thing, all together in this room to shape the future of software. It's not lost on me, and I really do appreciate the privilege to be able to speak to you today. My name is Jacques, I lead up Atlassian's global function for solutions engineering, specifically around our enterprise strategy and planning product portfolio. Before I joined Atlassian, I spent the most part of my career working with teams to help create new operating models, new ways of working, and really try to unleash the potential of these teams. But through that working with our delivery teams, I really found that we struggled mostly with the operating models of our leadership teams. Which is where I started to spend most of my time. And my passion really lies in helping leaders build better models for connecting strategy and execution, where we can really bring ambition into action and really clarity and momentum together. So, I'm really interested in helping leaders find new ways to evolve the way that we lead. How do we create alignment and complexity? How do we empower teams to make better decisions? And how do we create connected organisations that truly thrive in what's coming next? So, that's what I'd like to explore with you today. I really want to explore with you what leadership of the future looks like, what needs to change for us to be able to get there, and how technology can help us do things in an entirely different way. This is, however, not a tech-heavy talk. It's going to be about culture, leadership, and systems. So, if you have a really, really urgent deployment that needs to go out there to deliver your value to customers, I won't feel completely offended if I don't meet your expectations of a tech-heavy talk. But I hope that you stay and that we can have some fun together. So, I really love this quote. And I think it really captures something that we all feel but often struggle to articulate. We are not in an era of change. We are in a change of era. Expectations for leaders have completely shifted. And it's because change is no longer linear, it's exponential. And to be honest, it's almost happening faster than most of us can comfortably keep up with. The truth is that most of our leadership practices are from an old playbook that no longer holds true. It was built for a world where systems were predictable, slower, and far less interconnected than the world we live in today. And so, we face a choice. Do we retrofit these old systems to survive in a new world? Or do we find the courage to actually reimagine leadership itself and thrive in a world that's actually radically different? But before we can look at what leadership would look like in the future, I think it's important for us to understand where we came from. Because so often where we come from has shaped the way that we are today. And traditionally, companies were built around hierarchies and silos and long, rigid planning cycles. Strategy was set at the top. Execution was handed off below. And success was measured in efficiency and in output. Many consultants have actually called this the machine model of management, a system designed for predictability and not necessarily adaptability. And to be fair, it worked. Well, at least in a world where change was linear, where execution, at least in a world where change was linear and things didn't have to change as fast and as rapidly as they did. But as we look to today, we will actually keep asking these questions. So, I want to leave you with this thought. The job of leadership isn't to predict the future. It's to shape the systems that adapt to it. What separates great leaders, I think, from the rest isn't foresight, it's their ability to create systems that adapt to continuous change. So, this isn't about Agile, it's not about tools, and it's not even about AI. It's really about redesigning how we lead, how we build organisations that thrive for the future. And so, when we talk about the future of software, we are really not just talking about developing better code or productivity improvements or developer experience or enhancements or optimised pipelines. We are talking about the kind of leadership required for the future of software. One where conditions of clarity, alignment and adaptability emerge at scale. And this is where we're all here today, is to shape that future together. So, I want to thank you for the time and space that you've given me to explore this with you. As you go back to your teams, ask yourself, how many of you are operating with those characteristics in mind? Are you a sense maker? Are you a system shaper? Are you an outcome orientator? Are you an alignment multiplier? Are you the adaptive leader? And as you're shaping these systems, keep those capabilities in mind. Are you creating systems that foster clarity at scale, connectedness of effort, continuous alignment, and helping you to make speedy decisions? Because I think the part of the future that we need to look at is how we transform our leadership models. And I think this starts with us, everyone in this room. And so, yeah, I hope that you can take some of this back to your teams and make it valuable. Thank you. It's been a privilege to share this with you. [outro music] [music stops]