Executive leaders today navigate a competitive, fast-moving global environment. Complex external and internal tensions, challenges and risks arrive simultaneously (WEF Global Risks Report, 2026), and vision, and the ability to implement it, is tested daily.
As work becomes more borderless, uniquely human abilities matter more: creative thinking, emotional intelligence, ethical judgment and curiosity. These are also the qualities of visionary leadership. Executives are responsible for defining long-term vision and strategic goals, and executive coaching can partner with them in cultivating a visionary leadership style. European leadership is often criticized for lacking strong vision, which reduces agility, resilience, productivity and competitiveness.
Agility and the “stagility” paradox
Agility is the capacity to adapt, innovate, let go of obsolete practices and lead the transformations that new ways of working require. Organizations strive for agility, while their people seek stability amid uncertainty and pressure. This “stagility” paradox (Deloitte, 2025) puts executives at a crossroads: moving from traditional hierarchical models toward vertical leadership agility.
Coaching within a nested system
Within my practice, and deepened for my PhD dissertation work, I’ve reviewed existing body of literature on how executive coaching, as a tool for developing leaders, leadership and organizations, can act as a catalyst on each of the four dimensions of vertical leadership agility identified by Joiner and Josephs (2007), Saputra et al. (2021) and Ramadan et al. (2023). Research has shifted from what agility is to how coaching can mediate it to improve organizational outcomes (Kim and Yoon, 2025).
Effective coaching sees the leader within a nested system: from the “micro” individual level, to the “meta” organizational level, to the “macro” socio-economic context (Nicholls, 1988, cited in Dilts, 1996). This allows agility to be understood across its smallest, midsize and largest spheres of impact (O’Neill, 2010). Hargrove (2006), O’Neill (2010) and Bachkirova (2025) describe executive coaching as a systemic partnership that helps leaders and their teams live in the future while acting agilely in the present. Seen through a developmental lens, leaders move through levels of agile mastery, supported by reflection and their coach (Bachkirova and Borrington, 2019; Bachkirova, 2025; ICF, 2025).
Few weeks ago, I wrote on my LinkedIn (LinkedIn Tanja Bogataj, 2 August 2026),
“Visionary leadership isn’t a title. It’s a practice of winning on three fronts at once:
Within – the inner work. Knowing what you stand for before the room asks you to prove it.
In between – the relational work. The trust you build in the space between your intent and someone else’s interpretation of it.
Beyond – the systemic work. Seeing past the next quarter to the future you’re actually accountable for.
Most leadership training picks one.
Many leaders, though with good intentions and busy-ness often widen the gaps instead of adjusting to the demands of all three layers, simultaneously, under pressure.”
I invite you to choose to LEAD UP today.
Lead Up: Your next step
Vision is not a document. It is a daily practice. Whether you lead an organization or a team, you can start building it now.
Reflect on where your leadership stands between agility and stability, bring your team into the conversation, and take the next step in your development. Get in touch to explore coaching and development for you and your team.