Objectives:
The purpose of the article is to identify the key transversal competencies of a leader in the rapidly changing digital economy and to point out the direction of the future formation of these competencies..

Material and methods:
The paper is based on literature studies and a review of the results of selected secondary research (desk research) and includes primary qualitative research conducted in the form of individual in-depth interviews (IDI).

Results:
The results of the conducted primary and secondary research were used to verify the key competencies of leader and to develop the author's model for the formation of adaptive transversal competencies of leader in the digital economy, as well as to formulate recommendations and final conclusions.

Conclusions:
The paper characterizes the essence of competencies, pointing out the achievements in the area of determining key competencies of the future. In addition, thanks to the conducted research, the hypothesis was verified and the author's model for the formation of transversal competencies of the leader was proposed, capturing the cognitive, social and technical area in the context of the phenomenon of adaptability, resulting from digital transformation. In the final stage of the work, recommendations and final conclusions were formulated, including among the key transversal competencies of a leader: digital proficiency, resilience, building relationships of trust and cooperation, transformational vision, forward-looking and analytical thinking, as well as flexibility and agility, which in the context of adaptability will be sought in the digital economy.