Adaptive Leadership: Solving Mexico's Crisis of Execution

Every generation faces moments that reveal its true leadership. Mexico is living through one of its most decisive.

The challenge is not only economic or energy-based, it is one of direction and institutional maturity. Across strategic sectors — energy, infrastructure, logistics, and manufacturing — the paralysis we experience does not stem from a lack of talent or capital, but from an inability to decide, delegate, and execute with vision.

Too many decisions today depend on whether they “make sense” to those who hold the authority to approve everything. The result is a system where every process becomes centralized, every decision is delayed, and every leader hesitates, fearing the political cost of acting. This dynamic has produced an institutional vacuum and a pervasive mistrust that cuts through all layers of government and industry. The visible outcome is an economy that continues to function, but that has lost momentum.

The energy sector is the clearest reflection of this crisis. Beyond PEMEX’s outstanding debt to suppliers and the corruption that lingers across related industries, the deeper problem is execution. Payments are being released, yet projects remain stalled. Investments are delayed, permits are frozen, and both public and private actors operate in a constant state of uncertainty.

According to Mexico’s National Electric System Development Plan (PLADESE) 2025–2030, the country must add 28,004MW of new capacity, 80% of which should come from clean sources (México Cómo Vamos, 2025). The Ministry of Energy has also confirmed that 96% of all private-sector capacity additions between 2025 and 2030 will be renewable (Mexico News Daily, 2025). The ambition is clear, but the gap between planning and execution remains wide. The problem is not engineering, it is leadership — the kind that aligns decisions, regulates intelligently, and inspires confidence.

When every authorization depends on a single desk, megawatts do not translate into development. Industrial parks slow down, and companies begin to look elsewhere. Energy has become the thermometer of national leadership: the more uncertain the supply, the weaker the direction.

That lack of decision-making comes at a cost. Industrial states such as Tamaulipas, Veracruz, Campeche, Coahuila, and Puebla face structural financial fatigue not because of declining revenues but because of lost rhythm between decision and execution. During 2025, average GDP growth in energy-dependent regions remained below the national average (INEGI, 2025). The power subsector performed well, yet industrial construction trended downward (BBVA Research, 2025). The energy muscle grows, but the productive body does not follow. Economists call it productive decoupling; leaders call it a loss of shared direction.

When the sectors that consume the most — energy representing roughly 27% of final demand and industry 45% (IEA, 2025) — lose trust in the system, regional economies do not just stagnate, they fade.

At Harvard’s Kennedy School, Ronald Heifetz defines adaptive leadership as “the practice of mobilizing people to tackle tough challenges and thrive through change.” Mexico faces exactly that: a tough reality. Yet many leaders — both public and private — behave as if this were merely a technical problem, waiting for a reform, a budget, or a signature to make decisions for them. Inaction has become the new form of avoidance. What Mexico needs now is adaptive leadership: the kind that interprets complexity, accepts responsibility, and acts without the certainty of success.

The International Energy Agency projects that Mexico’s energy demand will grow by 1.2% annually through 2030. This is not a threat, it is an opportunity to lead modernization. But seizing it will require leaders who can see the future before it arrives and act with the speed that transformation demands. Technical leadership keeps the system running, adaptive leadership ignites the future.

Despite the environment, there are reasons for optimism. Across the country, some business and government leaders have understood that leading today is not about imposing, but about integrating. They share three traits: clarity of purpose, the ability to delegate with trust, and the courage to act amid uncertainty. They know that the energy transition is not a trend but a historic responsibility. They do not seek to control everything but to build networks of shared accountability. And they understand that paralysis is also a decision — and often the most costly one.

These leaders are not defined by their titles, but by the coherence between their words and their actions. They prove that effective leadership does not arise from authority, but from clarity of purpose.

Mexico has the capital, the talent, and the strategic position to move forward. What it needs is institutional leadership strong enough to interpret complexity and turn it into direction. The national grid is nearing its limits, international investors are watching carefully, and state governments face budget exhaustion. Yet across the country, there are engineers, entrepreneurs, and decision-makers with the vision and the will to make things happen. Because leadership is not about having all the answers, it is about asking the questions others avoid.

Soon, within the movement it leads, many will understand — from every sphere — that nations are not transformed by speeches, but by decisions.

And courageous decisions, today, are the scarcest resource in Mexico’s economy.