Today's young leaders are navigating a world defined by complexity.
From climate change and geopolitical instability to technological disruption and growing social inequality, the challenges they face are evolving faster than ever. At the same time, young leaders are rethinking traditional ideas of leadership.
Research from Deloitte's 2026 Gen Z and Millennial Survey found that while many young people aspire to leadership over the course of their careers, concerns about burnout, wellbeing, and work-life balance are shaping how they approach leadership opportunities. The findings suggest that the next generation is looking for leadership models that prioritise both business impact and sustainability.
In this environment, leadership is no longer just about expertise — it's about adaptability, resilience, and the ability to navigate uncertainty. Mentorship can help bridge the gap between ambition and preparedness, equipping young leaders with the guidance and confidence needed to create meaningful change.
We asked seven mentors — all current mentors in One Young World’s 2026 Action Accelerator programme — why mentorship is more important now than ever. Here’s what they said.
Young Leaders Must Navigate Unprecedented Complexity
Mentorship helps young leaders make sense of complexity — providing perspective, strategic guidance, and practical insight as they navigate some of the world's most pressing challenges.
As Christine Mhone, Urban Planner, Climate Justice and Mental Health Advocate, says,
“Mentorship is critical today because young leaders are navigating complex challenges without clear roadmaps. It sharpens their thinking and equips them to turn ideas into practical, scalable solutions.”
Many young leaders are operating without an established playbook and must constantly learn and adapt. Mentorship can help bridge the gap between knowledge and judgement — providing context, perspective, and practical wisdom that cannot always be learned through formal education alone. Eldine Chilembo Glees, Director at Nawaya Maritime, agrees:
“The challenges young leaders are navigating today, climate, equity, and global policy, are genuinely complex, and the playbook doesn't always exist yet. I have found that mentorship offers something formal training can't: honest, experienced guidance for problems that are still being defined.”
Developing Future-Ready Leaders
The leadership qualities organisations need today are changing. While technical expertise remains important, leaders are increasingly expected to navigate uncertainty, build trust, collaborate across diverse stakeholders, and adapt quickly to change.
The World Economic Forum's Future of Jobs Report 2025 found that employers expect 39% of workers' core skills to change by 2030, reinforcing the importance of adaptability, resilience, and lifelong learning.
Renelle Sib, Founder and CEO of Les Mangeuses, a Canadian organisation supporting women and youth through community food programmes, believes mentorship helps develop the leaders organisations need for the future: “Organisations that invest in mentorship are helping build resilient, informed, and collaborative leaders who can drive meaningful change.”
Mentorship plays a unique role in developing these capabilities by combining practical experience with personal guidance.
Danceline Dsouza, Senior Director - Commerce and Retail Media Strategy at Kinesso, has seen how mentoring can help young leaders take impactful steps towards their goals:
“Many of them have strong ideas and real drive, but they are building in systems that can be hard to navigate and slow to respond. Mentorship can help them make sense of that, stay grounded, and keep moving in a way that is strategic as well as purposeful.”
For Emmy Award-winning filmmaker and director Tamana Ayazi, one of the most powerful aspects of mentorship is the belief it gives young leaders when they need it most:
“[Mentorship is] the relationship that says: slow down, you are enough, your idea matters, we will figure this out together. Organisations can provide platforms and resources, but mentorship provides genuine human belief in another person. And I think that belief, more than anything else, is what turns ambition into action.”
Building Organisational and Global Impact
The benefits of mentorship extend beyond individual leaders. Organisations, communities, and entire ecosystems benefit when knowledge, experience, and leadership lessons are actively shared across generations.
For Ewube Kelly Laure Egbe, Founder and Coordinator of One Green Africa (OGA) and Program Manager at WADABA, translating organisational goals into grassroots initiatives is a vital skill for leaders.
“Mentorship acts as a vital knowledge transfer mechanism that prevents 'reinventing the wheel.’ For organisations, it ensures that high-level global goals, like the UN Ocean Decade, are translated into grassroots realities like our BlueCraft Africa initiative, turning ocean waste into coastal wealth.”
Mentorship also helps emerging leaders learn faster, avoid common pitfalls, and focus their energy where it can have the greatest impact.
Marc Alain Boucicault is the Founder and CEO of BANJ, the largest coworking and entrepreneurship hub in Haiti, helping connect changemakers in the Caribbean and worldwide to scale their innovation. He knows firsthand how mentorship can speed up learning and impact:
“Today, access to information is everywhere, but guidance and context are not. Mentorship helps fill that gap. In ecosystems like Haiti, and in a world full of uncertainty where pathways are not always clear, mentors can compress years of trial and error into a few critical decisions that lead to real impact for entrepreneurs.”
Investing in the Leaders the Future Requires
As the challenges facing society continue to evolve, so too must the way we develop leaders. Mentorship is no longer simply a professional development tool — it is an investment in the resilience, adaptability, and leadership capacity needed to create lasting change.
By including mentorship in the annual Action Accelerator programme for One Young World Ambassadors, we are committed to driving leadership growth and real-world impact for the next generation.
Whether you're a young leader seeking guidance or an organisation investing in future talent, One Young World offers access to a global Community committed to developing leaders who can navigate complexity, drive impact, and create lasting change. Head to the Action Accelerator page to find out more.