Mergers, centralization, technology stacking on top of more technology, and the people in the middle of it all trying to figure out how to keep showing up well for their teams.

I've been thinking a lot about what we're actually asking of our leaders right now.

Accenture's 2024 Pulse of Change Index found that the rate of change increased 183% over the past four years. 33% in 2023 alone.
And multifamily didn't get a pass on any of it. We've got operators consolidating portfolios, restructuring entire operating models around centralization, and rolling out technology that fundamentally changes what it means to do this job. All at the same time.

John Kotter's research found that only 30% of change programs succeed.

McKinsey surveyed over 3,000 executives and came back with the same number. We've known this for decades. The number hasn't moved.

DDI's 2025 Global Leadership Forecast put language to something a lot of us have been feeling but not saying out loud. There's a deepening crisis of trust and burnout among leaders, especially at the frontline. People are questioning whether leadership is worth the cost.

I don't think that's a personal failing. I think we've asked people to absorb an extraordinary amount of change without equipping them with the actual skills to lead other people through it. Communicating through uncertainty. Holding steady when you don't have all the answers. Helping your team grieve what's changing while still moving forward.

Research from IMD found that the leaders who held up best in high-disruption environments weren't the ones with the strongest opinions or the clearest vision statements. They were the ones who could read the moment and adjust. Presence over performance.

Harvard Business Publishing's 2025 Global Leadership Development Study found that 40% of organizations are doubling down on building change-ready cultures. You build that before you need it. Once you're in the middle of the disruption, you're drawing on reserves you either have or you don't.

Here's what I keep coming back to. How you lead in a crisis isn't a separate skill you develop for the crisis. It's whatever you've already built showing up under a spotlight.

Your ability to manage your own nervous system when the ground shifts. Your ability to sit with your own emotions without dumping them on the nearest available person. Your communication skills, your presence, your capacity to stay regulated when you don't have the answer yet. None of that gets manufactured in the moment. It gets revealed.

Pressure doesn't build character. It amplifies whatever's already there. If you're reactive on a normal Tuesday, you will be more reactive during a merger. If you avoid hard conversations now, you will avoid them harder when the stakes are real. Your team doesn't get a better version of you under pressure. They get more of you, turned up.

So if you're not where you want to be as a leader right now, today, that's the work. Not the org chart. Not the tech stack. You. Your ability to regulate yourself is the single biggest variable in whether your team trusts you when everything else is in motion. Fix that first. Everything else you're trying to lead through will get easier because of it.