If 2025 was the year we paused, 2026 is the year we recalibrate.
The world is still unsettled. Wars, elections, economic uncertainty, and the rise of AI have redrawn the emotional map of work.
The markers people once used to navigate their careers (think: security, belonging, purpose) have shifted. For many, work feels both more exposed and more isolating.
But I sense a quiet turning point. A collective recognition that waiting for stability isn’t the answer. The only way forward is through, with greater intention.
This next chapter isn’t about choosing between technology and humanity. It’s about learning how to integrate them wisely. AI is here to stay. It’s redesigning jobs, redefining skills, and reshaping how we make decisions. But it can’t replicate empathy, curiosity, or connection, the qualities that make us unmistakably human.
We’re entering an era of human recalibration.
We’re more disconnected than ever and as a result, resilience, empathy, and adaptability — the muscles of modern leadership — are growing weaker. Even, even as we need them most.
Many of us now lead teams whose confidence has been shaped by instant feedback loops and digital validation. They will need leaders who can help them find grounding and meaning in real connection – and sometimes, the courage to connect at all.
As you look to 2026, think of your organization not as a hierarchy, but as an ecosystem.
Like the mycelium networks that connect forests, great workplaces thrive when information, trust, and belonging flow freely between people. The antidote to detachment isn’t another platform. It’s rediscovering how we stay connected through change.
Because staying connected is one of our most fundamental human needs. Neuroscience shows we think better, decide better, and adapt better when we feel linked to others. Isolation shrinks us; connection lets us expand.
At Talking Talent, that’s the work we’re doubling down on. We’re combining AI tools that nudge behaviour with the human coaching that builds understanding. Because technology can spark action, but only humans can create meaning.
As we move into 2026, my hope is simple:
Lead with intentionality.
Design with empathy.
Stay curious about the humans in front of you.
The tools around us will keep evolving. The question is whether we can evolve with them, integrating artificial intelligence with the one thing it can never replicate: the Actual I.
With optimism, Mary-Clare Race
CEO, Talking Talent
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