The way we think about leadership is changing. For years, many people believed that a leader had to be a larger-than-life personality to succeed. This type of leadership focuses on being visible, getting attention, and constantly staying in the spotlight. But organizations that last are rarely built on individual rockstars. They are built on strong systems, clear accountability, and disciplined execution that does not depend on one person carrying the weight.
Most organizations still hire for culture fit-even those that loudly champion diversity and inclusion. The phrase sounds benign, even wise: who wouldn't want colleagues who "fit in"? But behind this feel-good notion lies one of the biggest obstacles to innovation and progress in modern workplaces. Culture fit has become a euphemism for cultural cloning: selecting people who already look, think, and behave like the incumbents.
Think about an employee who wants to improve their skills and knowledge. They work hard to grow both personally and professionally through continuous learning. Now, think about someone who doesn't want to change and sticks to their old habits. Who would be a better asset to your business? It's clear that staffers who focus on self-improvement are much more valuable. They contribute to a culture of learning and support leaders in growing the business steadily.
The question for the coming year, then, is no longer whether AI will transform your organization, it's whether your leadership team will guide that transformation thoughtfully or let it happen haphazardly, tool by tool and team by team. I have spent much of the past year working with my research team and industry partners to think through the most pressing challenges organizations face as they implement AI at scale. Drawing on this work, I have identified seven key priorities for leaders preparing for 2026.
The episode featured the Honorable Sue Gordon, former principal deputy director of National Intelligence, Dr. David Bray, distinguished chair of the accelerator at the Stimson Center, and Prof. Barry O'Sullivan, vice chair of the European Commission's High-Level Expert Group on Artificial Intelligence. Their combined experience, spanning intelligence, technology, and organizational transformation, offered a compelling vision for executives navigating the AI era.
But, despite the indisputable significance of a founder's strong presence to provide direction and shape the culture, is it wise for a company to be unable to survive without them, even for a short time? If a short-term absence of a few weeks halts operations and makes it impossible for everyone to perform their daily tasks, then the organization is not truly thriving.
Stoller: Speaking of core, the new book is about core. It's called Strong Ground. She based it on-she had a pickleball injury, needed to get a trainer to work on her physical core, [and] used that as a metaphor for CEOs and organizations building up their own core in this time of fear, uncertainty, and-hard time to tell the truth, as she's recently said.
In 2020, the nation witnessed an unprecedented moment of collective reckoning that philanthropy and corporate America could not ignore. Pressure to speak and act came from all sides. Protests filled the streets, employees and customers demanded change, and funders competed to demonstrate visible commitments to racial justice. The moment moved even institutions that had long been hesitant or outright resistant.