Over the coming days, we will find out who will lead the United Nations–a new Secretary-General succeeding António Guterres, who has held the position since January 2017. It would be an understatement to say that the new Secretary General’s plate will be full! Beyond political crises, wars, climate change impacts, development (under)financing, mergers and mandates, the multilateral system appears to be in a state of rupture. The end-of-times symbolism aside, the profound crisis of power, of trust, of uncertainty, lays bare what appear as unprecedented problems that require a new pathway and a vision. This is where leaders step in, and step up.

The nature of these uncertain times demands a different way of leading–especially for development. Traditional approaches were often built around clearly defined problems (and formulaic solutions), institutional mandates, and sector-specific expertise. But the challenges development leaders face today increasingly cut across those boundaries, with causes that lie in one domain often producing consequences that spill over into others.

In one of his first speeches after taking over as UNDP Administrator, Alexander de Croo presented a stark picture of where things stand: “Fragility anywhere fuels insecurity everywhere.” It means that a flood in one province does not stay a flood; it becomes a fiscal shock, a displacement crisis, a setback for girls’ education, all at once, and all connected. It means that a conflict on the other side of the world can still influence a family’s food choices in Pakistan. This is the defining feature of today’s challenges: they no longer arrive in isolation, but feed one another.

Having worked across countries confronting complex development problems, from macroeconomic challenges to natural disasters, conflict, displacement, and political transition, whether in Sudan and Yemen or in Syria, Jordan and now Pakistan, I believe that uncertainty itself is not new nor should it be surprising. What has changed perhaps is the way it is experienced and our response to it. It is no longer analyzed as discrete, predictable events confined to individual sectors, institutions, countries, regions or policy domains. Rather, uncertainty is the norm, and the individual/institutional agility and resilience required to navigate it must be learned, installed and sustained.

In this context, three ideas have come to shape my own understanding of what effective leadership requires today.

First, success in complex contexts increasingly depends on leadership that mobilizes cross-sectoral partnerships in addition to exercising hierarchy. Whether responding to conflict, supporting stabilization in fragile settings, or advancing development as in Pakistan, I have learned that no government, multilateral or bilateral, NGO or individual holds the levers to positively tilt the development balance alone. Progress depends on the ability to bring diverse actors together around a shared vision and common purpose. Pakistan's response to the 2022 floods reinforced this lesson. Led by the Government, the Post-Disaster Needs Assessment brought federal and provincial institutions together around a shared assessment across 17 sectors of recovery needs, with UNDP, on behalf of the UN system, providing technical facilitation, alongside the World Bank, the European Union, and the Asian Development Bank. This collaboration shaped the Resilient Recovery, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Framework (4RF), which UNDP has since supported by strengthening coordination across provinces and recovery projects and establishing a shared framework for tracking results. Leadership, at the highest level of government, exercised rapidly and efficiently, is not simply about directing action. Rather, it is about creating the frameworks that enable institutions–national and international–to work collectively towards lasting recovery.

Second, trust is social infrastructure. We invest billions in roads and basic services, energy systems, digital infrastructure, and individual human capacity, yet it is trust–the fabric in-between–that often determines whether those investments actually succeed. The 2026 Edelman Trust Barometer alarmingly points to a world moving from “we” towards “me”, as economic anxiety, geopolitical tensions, and technological disruptions drive people to place greater trust in smaller, parochial, familiar circles while confidence in shared institutions declines. This decline is also reflected in political leadership: across 27 countries, trust in national government leaders recorded a net decline of 16 percentage points. At a time when development–and multilateral–challenges demand stronger partnerships across institutions, sectors, and societies, this retreat towards fragmentation and polarization makes integrated development increasingly difficult. When trust in leaders erodes, so does their ability to mobilize people around shared priorities, build consensus for difficult decisions, and sustain collective action. For Pakistan, the risks and rewards of expending this ‘trust capital’ were on full display during the mediation effort in the recent Middle East crisis. One possible next step is to leverage this much-appreciated mediation role to attract greater development investments in the country.

Finally, can we consider leadership as a public good since its benefits extend beyond individual organizations or sectors? Effective leadership that develops partnerships, builds trust across domains, and strengthens capabilities that society can draw upon ought to be measured in its service for the broader public good. Like any public good, its value grows when it develops the capacity of others. In the development domain, that means creating spaces for young people to dream and lead, ensuring that women have an equal voice in decision-making, and enabling marginalized communities to shape the policies and institutions that affect their lives. The strongest leaders do not seek to remain indispensable. They build confidence, capability, and opportunities for others to lead, creating institutions and systems that endure long after their tenure has ended.

The reflections that follow in this Development Advocate Pakistan explore how leaders across government, business, civil society, academia, communities, and the next generation are responding to this challenge, what qualities they possess, what domains should be prioritized, and what all this means for the future of development.