The Most Important Thing Leaders Should Think About in 2026

By Kim Scott

I’ve been thinking about what the most important thing is for leaders to think about in 2026.

This may be kind of a random segue, but I was born in 1967 - the Age of Aquarius. Peace, love, harmony. All you need is love. That was the era I was born into.

And I think right now we may be in the Age of the Asshole, where all you need to do is challenge people to say what you think. But there’s a better way. We don’t have to choose between the Age of Aquarius and challenging directly. Obviously, we need to get out of the Age of the Asshole — and the way out is realizing that we don’t have to choose between love and truth.

We don’t have to choose between being a good person and being super successful. We can have both. We can care personally and challenge directly at the same time, and that’s really what Radical Candor is all about.

When you challenge without showing you care, we call it Obnoxious Aggression. If you care but you don’t challenge, we call it Ruinous Empathy. And when you neither care nor challenge, we call it Manipulative Insincerity.

Leaders Need to Start by Soliciting Feedback

I think the most important thing for leaders to think about in 2026 is that they need to start by soliciting feedback and then reward the candor when they get it.

Leaders need to lay their power down. The best thing leaders can do to create a culture of psychological safety is to encourage people to tell them when they’re wrong.

And by the way, psychological safety does not mean no conflict. It means productive conflict. It means encouraging people to tell you when you’re wrong — and rewarding the candor when you get it.

Rewarding candor does not always mean agreeing with what people say. What it does mean is being open to the feedback. If you agree, you reward the candor by fixing the problem. If you disagree, you reward the candor by having a good, productive disagreement — a respectful disagreement.

So the most important thing leaders can think about in 2026 is this: How can I lay my power down so that people feel safe telling me what they really think — and how can I reward that candor when I get it?

Feedback, Praise, and Painting a Picture of What’s Possible

Of course, leadership isn’t only about laying your power down. You also need to make sure you’re telling people when they’re moving in the right direction and when they’re moving in the wrong direction. That means giving feedback — both praise and criticism.

More praise than criticism.

A big part of being a leader is painting a picture of what’s possible, and praise is a better tool for that than criticism. But you need both. You need to offer people both praise and criticism.

To do that well, you need to learn how to gauge how what you’re saying is landing.

Being an authentic leader does not mean ignoring the impact you’re having on others. You need to say what you’re thinking — about both the good stuff and the bad stuff — and then ask yourself: How did what I say land?

If the person you said it to seems sad or mad, that means you need to move up on the care personally dimension.

If the person you said it to is brushing you off, didn’t hear it, or is defensive, that means you need to move out on the challenge directly dimension. You need to say it again — even more clearly.

What Gets in the Way of a Respectful Culture

There are a lot of things that get in the way of Radical Candor, but one of the biggest — especially in the Age of the Asshole — is disrespect.

There aren’t many leaders who wake up every morning thinking, I want to create a disrespectful work environment. Most leaders know that respect is essential to collaboration. There’s enormous research on this — and there’s also just common sense.

So if most people intend to create a respectful work environment, what gets in the way?

I’m going to boil it down to three things:

1. Unintended offenses (often called unconscious bias)

2. Actual prejudice

3. Bullying

Leaders need to learn how to intervene — and intervene differently — in each case.

How Leaders Should Intervene

Unintended offenses require an I statement.

“I don’t think you meant that the way it sounded.”

This allows you to make a quick, real-time correction and disrupt bias when you notice it.

Prejudice requires an It statement.

An It statement draws a line between one person’s freedom to believe whatever they want and their inability to impose those beliefs on others — especially when those beliefs are based on unfair or inaccurate stereotypes.

You’re not the thought police as a leader. But you are responsible for creating policies that clearly define where that line is. There’s no objective place where I can say, Here’s the line. What I can say for sure is that it’s your job as a leader to make the policy clear.

Bullying requires consequences.

Bullying creates a local maximum: it works for the bully, but it harms the team. It creates more harm than good.

Leaders need to create:

• Conversational consequences — shutting it down in the moment: “You can’t talk to this person that way.”
• Compensation consequences — don’t give bullies high ratings or bonuses
• Career consequences — give clear private feedback and an opportunity to change

Sometimes people bully others without fully realizing what they’re doing. You shouldn’t assume they’re a jerk. But you do need to explain that this behavior hurts others and damages their own career.

And if they can’t stop, you have to fire the bully. Whatever you do, don’t promote them.

There comes a moment in the history of too many teams when the jerks begin to win. That’s the moment when the culture starts to lose — and the results follow.

If the person truly can’t stop bullying, it’s better to have a hole than an asshole.

Love and Truth in 2026

This is how we get the best of both love and truth — of caring personally and challenging directly — in 2026.

Go forth and create a great culture in 2026!