Throw Away Your Leadership Playbook: We’re Building Something New in 2026

Dec 17

Every December, I see the same thing flood my feed: New year. New goals. New leadership resolutions.

And every year, I want to ask the same question, even if it’s not the most comfortable:

Are we actually changing how we lead — or just recycling the same broken playbook?

Because here’s what I know, after 20 years inside organizations and hundreds of conversations with leaders who are tired, overwhelmed, and starting to get to “why am I doing this?”: The way we’ve been taught to lead isn’t working anymore. Not for employees. Not for managers. Not for the leaders themselves.

That’s why I wrote my latest article for Forbes Coaches Council:
“Five Tips To Be A Better Leader In 2026.”

I’m listening to what’s happening in workplaces right now, and learning and unlearning my own definitions of leadership, and I’ve realized we have to lead differently in order to get the best results.

The Leadership Era We’re Leaving Behind

For years and years, leadership was defined by certainty, control, and composure at all costs.

“Good” leaders were expected to:

Have the answers
Take on more and more without pausing
Keep emotions out of it
Push through, no matter what

And if people burned out or disengaged? That was framed as a personal failing, not a structural one.

But the workplace has changed. People have changed. And what they’re willing to tolerate has changed.

In 2026, leaders who cling to the old rules will keep losing good people — even if they’re technically “doing everything right.” It’s time to redefine “right.”

What Better Leadership Actually Requires Now

The five tips I share in the Forbes article ask leaders to do things many of us were actively trained not to do.

Things like:

Question what you know.
Learning — and unlearning — are no longer optional leadership skills. Certainty feels comforting, but curiosity and humility is what keeps you relevant.
Embrace collaboration.
Women in particular are taught that we need to compete with each other to get the best jobs, promotions, salaries…this just isn’t true. And once we break down hierarchy and scarcity mindset, we come to a much more productive place of trust and shared ownership.
Build trust on purpose.
Trust isn’t soft. It’s how you get innovation, engagement, and teams that actually stick around.
Embrace the pause.
Slowing down isn’t weakness — it’s strategy. Reflection creates better decisions than reaction ever will.
Update your experts.
If you’re still learning from the same voices you followed five years ago, you’re already behind. Leadership in 2026 demands broader perspectives and new lenses.

These aren’t abstract ideals. They’re practical shifts that change how it feels to work with you — and whether people want to keep doing so.

Why I Included Other Voices (On Purpose)

One thing I was intentional about in this article was not positioning myself as the sole authority, because leadership doesn’t get better when we listen to fewer voices — it gets better when we listen to more. And I’m always on the hunt for new thought leaders and experts to help me understand the work world, and my place in it, better.

That’s why I was thrilled to include insights from Aiko Bethea, Minda Harts, and Ruchika Malhotra — three thinkers who consistently challenge leaders to be braver, more accountable, and more human. Their experience and insight is vast.

Their work pushes us to:

Take responsibility for impact, not just intent
Treat inclusion as a daily practice, not a value statement
Build a culture of trust as a real business strategy

In other words: to lead in ways that actually match the world we’re in now.

If You’re a Leader Heading Into 2026…

You don’t need to become a completely different person to be a better leader. You do need to let go of some outdated ideas about what leadership is supposed to look like and embrace the fact that you’re still learning and always will be. Leadership that’s prepared for our future is collaborative, nimble, and self-reflective.

If that resonates — I invite you to read the full article on Forbes here:

Read: “Five Tips To Be A Better Leader In 2026”

And if you’re asking yourself, “Okay, but how do I actually do this in my day-to-day work?” — that’s exactly the kind of question I explore on the Hard at Work podcast and in my coaching work.

Because leadership doesn’t change through inspiration alone.

It changes through practice.