Leadership is losing its appeal. According to a recent study by Zety, 49% of employees report having no interest in becoming managers, with the leading reason cited as a desire to avoid the stress and demands of people management. At a moment when organizations need capable, human-centered leadership more than ever, fewer people are willing to step up.

Leadership roles, as currently constructed and supported (or not), often feel unsafe, unclear and unforgiving — especially at the point of entry. Employees aren’t rejecting leadership itself, rather the experience of leadership modeled around them.

At the same time, organizations are racing to automate work, embed artificial intelligence (AI) and streamline operations. While technology is increasingly effective at handling tasks, it cannot replace the essential human elements of leadership.

The Challenge Is Bigger Than Learning Alone

To be clear, the conditions discouraging people from leadership extend well beyond the direct control of learning and development (L&D). Today leaders are under relentless pressure to deliver on results, day after day. And they’re doing it with a workforce experiencing overwhelm and stress themselves. Spans of control have expanded, frequently across distance and time zones, making people leadership difficult even for seasoned professionals. Add the complexity of managing across age, experience and perspective, and it’s no surprise the role feels daunting.

These are not problems L&D can solve single-handedly. But learning leaders are uniquely positioned to surface these realities, to name and frame them constructively, advocate for change and to partner with executives to make the work of leadership more doable and attractive.

From “Prepare in Position” to “Try Before You Buy”

There’s also plenty that L&D can do directly to address this impending leadership gap. Too often, leadership development begins after someone assumes the title. Even when high-potential employees are exposed earlier, the learning is frequently abstract and disconnected from lived experience.

A more effective approach allows people to “try leadership on” before the stakes are high. Small, bounded experiences — project leadership, mentoring others, task forces, temporary rotations — give employees a realistic preview of what leadership entails. These low-risk opportunities demystify the role and replace hesitation with informed commitment.

Confidence does not come from titles; it comes from rehearsal. This is where learning design matters most today. Simulations, scenario-based and AI-enabled learning allow people to practice judgment, decision-making and difficult conversations before the consequences may be irreversible.

Critical Skills on Both Sides of Leadership

Leadership may also be getting a bad rap because, in the name of authenticity, many leaders have become comfortable speaking candidly about the strain of their roles. Transparency clearly builds trust. But when honesty slips into unfiltered venting, it can distort how leadership is perceived. Employees hear only the stress and frustrations without equal visibility to those meaningful and rewarding moments.

L&D can help by coaching leaders to balance challenges with learning, purpose and impact to position leadership as demanding and worth it. How leadership is talked about shapes who is willing to step into it.

The experience of leadership is shaped as much by followers as by leaders themselves. When employees are equipped to manage up, give feedback and take ownership, the burden of leadership lightens. Training in productive followership improves day-to-day functioning and makes leadership roles more sustainable — and more attractive.

Leadership at a Crossroads

L&D finds itself in a powerful position today: deeply connected to how work gets done and empowered to shape how people grow into responsibility. In this way, learning professionals can influence not just skills and readiness but also a new mindset when it comes to people leadership — one that inspires a willingness to try the new role on before ruling it out. That’s how L&D will save leadership.