Ep 16 - How to Navigate Leadership in 2026
Impactful Conversations with Dr Glenn Wallis and Nejmi Alexander
Key takeaways
Nejmi argues that the defining leadership challenge heard across 2025 was "the business of busyness" - and that the answer is not slowing down but consciously creating space for depth of insight, so leaders can close the gap between the impact they intend and the impact they actually have.
Glenn's view is that leaders should pursue "impactivity" over productivity: with AI, anyone can be endlessly productive, so a leader's real value lies in quality of thinking, insight and leadership - not volume of output.
Glenn argues that a leader's performance should be judged in part on how they have grown other people to high performance, not solely on their own output and outcomes.
Both hosts argue that presence is a deliberate identity, not a mood: leaders should "put on the leadership cape" consciously, and Nejmi adds that leadership happens at every level of an organisation, irrespective of title.
Nejmi's position on AI is that leading in an AI era is fundamentally a human change-leadership challenge - navigating people through ambiguity even when the leader is not fully reconciled with what AI means for their own role - and Glenn previews the year's central thesis: leadership as the operating system of the organisation.
Episode summary
What should leaders prioritise in 2026? Drawing on a year of client conversations, Nejmi and Glenn land on one answer: deliberate spaciousness and presence. Leaders who consciously create space for depth of thinking, adopt leadership as an identity, and treat AI as a human change-leadership challenge will have magnified impact - setting up the year's thesis of leadership as the organisation's operating system.
What's new for Impactful Conversations in 2026?
Glenn: Hello and welcome to the Impactful Conversations podcast with myself, Dr Glenn Wallis and my very good friend and co-host, Nejmi Alexander. Nejmi, happy new year to you.
Nejmi: Happy New Year to you too, and to our esteemed listeners. Looking forward to a prosperous and exciting 2026.
Glenn: Best wishes to you and to the family. I'm really looking forward to taking the podcast into its next year - we're moving into its third year of existence. A couple of changes we should inform the audience about right up front. We will continue to invite amazing guests - we had some amazing guests last year, and there's no reason to think we won't have amazing guests this year - but there'll be even more guests, proportionately, coming onto the show this year. We're also going to twice-a-month publication of the episodes. So if you thought you loved it enough already, you've got a chance to love it twice as much, because we're moving to two episodes a month - which is great, and a lovely opportunity for you and I to have these conversations more often.
Nejmi: Double the intensity. We're looking forward to a 2026 of Impactful Conversations, espresso version.
Glenn: Espresso version - love it. So let's have a little set-up. What's this episode going to be about? And let's use that intro to talk to the audience about what we're going to be doing for the rest of the year. So today, what have we got for people to enjoy?
Nejmi: We're going to be sharing more of what we've heard from our clients, from leaders, from listeners over the year that's just passed, to help frame what we're focusing on in the year to come. I think that's a sensible introduction into all of the topics and themes that we're going to explore throughout the year. So we thought we'd start at that point, with a share around what we're really hearing across the ecosystem when it comes to leadership.
Glenn: The reason we've done that is important too. One of the comments we get back is that people really like it when you and I share - without naming names of clients - real case studies and real examples of the work that we've done, to bring some colour to the conversations we're having. These leaders are exactly like most of the listeners: they're busy, they're very senior, often working in large, complex organisations, and they want to know that they're not alone. You're sharing experiences with people that we won't name, but they'll be real, genuine conversations that we've had with leaders along the way. So I hope that will give even more richness to the conversations going forward.
Why is busyness the enemy of impact?
Nejmi: So what are we hearing? The word busyness - the business of busyness - is one that pricks my ears up. Certainly one of the themes I hear in most of the rooms I'm in, whether I'm facilitating exec spaces or in one-to-one conversations with leaders, is this challenge of creating space to be introspective - to really think about the intention you want to have in your leadership, and to close the gap between the impact that you have and the intention that you have.
There's a real challenge inherent in leadership: as the stakes raise, the responsibilities become ever more elevated, and the tasks and objectives you hold become even more pressured - but there's less and less time to do that introspection. Often it's conflated with this idea of slowing down - slowing down in order to speed up. Yes, there's an element of that that's true, but actually it's about creating more depth of insight so that you can have magnified impact - a really intentional impact in everything you do, in how you lead yourself, your team and your organisation forward.
The challenge is that no one's going to create that space for you. It really needs to be a high priority, and often no one's going to hold you to account for creating space for reflection - for doing some introspection on the gap between the impact you're having and the impact you want to have. That really resonates for me as a strong leadership theme, ever present in the work I do. What are you hearing, Glenn?
What is impactivity, and why does it matter more than productivity?
Glenn: You made some really important distinctions there about this spaciousness idea. It's not just slowing down, not just taking your foot off the pedal - it's consciously creating space for depth, and I love that phrase you created. It's too easy to lead on the basis of output - what I produce. We hear this phrase all the time about productivity, and with AI on board now, you can be as productive as you like. You could be literally - and I do mean literally in this context - endlessly productive. It doesn't mean you're impactful. So what about impactivity, rather than productivity, being something we focus on? Thinking-through leaders are often wrestling for space - you have to consciously create that sort of space. And if you can, to your point, yes, you might well speed up, but that's less important to me than that you do greater quality work - work that needs less repeat work, less redoing because you haven't quite nailed it the first time through.
And I honestly think we talk to lots of leaders who wrestle with themselves: "But I'm the boss - I'm meant to be busy, I'm meant to be on top of everything." Well, A, you couldn't be, even if you tried, and B, that's not giving you... you're there to add value by the quality of thinking, the quality of insight and the quality of leadership you can bring - not to be a supercharged Duracell bunny. That's not what you're being paid the big bucks for, is it?
Nejmi: It's a really fascinating distinction, because that's a trap, right? What you're describing is getting trapped in being across too much, being spread too thinly, being driven to create more and more output across the team or the group you have influence over. And that can be a distraction away from impact - from being able to really focus and hone in on, strategically, what's going to create the highest leverage for my focus and attention. As you say: how can I create the biggest, boldest, best outcomes, rather than the most outcomes? I love that distinction between impactivity and productivity.
Glenn: We're at a time of year when leaders who are listening have an opportunity to set some new habits in motion - and by the second week of the year, most people have stopped with their New Year commitments, right? If you set out this year to do nothing else but allow yourself to proactively create space to operate at the level in the organisation that you're meant to be operating at, you will elevate not just your performance - you'll elevate the performance of the team who work under you and the parts of the organisation that you touch. And, by the way, you can do it with a sense of calm. If you create those spaces to do that kind of thinking and that kind of work, you're not on that constant treadmill, trying to play catch-up in a game where you're never going to ultimately catch up with what's required.
Nejmi: I think it's a real superpower in leadership, because it takes a lot of courage to lead in that way. Often there's a fear that you could draw scrutiny if you risked not being across as much, or not being as heavily involved in the minutiae across all the things that might fall into your accountability. But deciding to trade off that breadth of touchpoints for more intentional focus on quality and impact - that will inherently require you to trust more in those around you to deliver outcomes as well. Ultimately, the result will be more impact, more productivity.
Glenn: That's a subtle but important point for people to hear: this isn't just about you finding space - it's also about what opportunities you create in order for you to have that space. Developing talent, I think we said this on the podcast recently - my view is that leaders' own performance should in part be determined by how they've grown other people to high performance. Not just their own output and outcomes, but how you've enabled your team to now be considered talent in the organisation - and you'll be rewarded accordingly.
Nejmi: Preaching to the choir - I completely agree on that front.
What does it mean to be present as a leader?
Nejmi: There's a segue from what you were describing into another theme I've been hearing, which is this idea that in order to be really effective leaders, sometimes it requires us to really exercise the muscles to be present to what's in front of us: to read the emotional context of what's happening and unfolding around us, and to be intentional about how we show up in leadership situations in order to have the impact we want to have - rather than operating by default, or as the Energizer bunny, getting things done and moving things quickly but sometimes having an unintended impact in how we go about it.
So another theme, building on what you were describing, Glenn, is this idea of creating presence in your leadership, and being present in your leadership - being able to create that intentionality around what you say, how you say it, and when. It's related to spaciousness - presence and spaciousness - and perhaps, again, this idea of slowing down. But I think that's a misconception, because when you can create greater presence and greater quality of interaction with each of the individuals within your influence - across your team, your peers, or managing upwards - then you can create even bigger impact, go faster, go further. Which doesn't necessarily mean slowing down, but it does require - I keep saying it - intentionality. Being really intentional in those micro-moments, when you're doing the work and on the team as well.
Glenn: Agreed entirely. If I summarise what you said as it landed for me: leaders will do really well this year to intentionally be present as a leader. I'll just say that again - so it isn't just about presence in the moment, which is really important: I am present, I am mindful of what's going on, I'm aware of what's going on. That's really what we're saying on a day-to-day level of how this manifests itself. But there's a job for leaders themselves to do before that, which is: put on the leadership cape when you step through the door, metaphorically or literally, because that is your job. You need to be present as a leader, as well as as Glenn, Nejmi or whoever. That's a really important element to this, and it would be easy to overlook. But if you get it right, all the things we've talked about come with it - because if you're present as a leader, you'll be operating in a slightly different way than if you're just operating as Glenn the technical expert, which means I'm operating at the wrong level in the organisation.
Nejmi: And all of this is a muscle, right? It requires regular exercising in order for it to work as effectively as it can.
Glenn: It absolutely is. I'd also say it's about whether you're embracing leadership as part of your identity. How many times have you heard this over the years, Nejmi - I know I have - people who say, "I don't really see myself as a leader," or "I don't want to be a leader, I'm quite happy being a manager," or "When I look at what the leadership experience is like in this organisation, I don't want to be one." And I get all that - but you've signed on the dotted line. That's the role you have. When you can show up and be present as the leader you've signed up to be - even if that's just a mindset thing - you might not be the greatest leader, actually, but just turn up with that as your identity. I think that will make a massive difference.
Nejmi: Some really strong themes there, and already some areas to think about as you look ahead to this year - to having the impact as a leader that you intentionally set out to have. Some prompts to consider: where could I be focusing my attention? What is my priority? What do I want to do differently as I go into this year, or as I move forward, to allow me to be the version of myself in my leadership that I want to be, and have the impact that I want to have?
Glenn: I just want to reiterate something you said, because now I've thought about it even more, I think it's even more important than I gave you credit for the first time around - that idea about making it habit. You might not have the status or the title of leader that you want yet, but if you show up and do the things that leaders do, in the way that you explained, it becomes habitual - and you're almost inhabiting a leadership identity before you've formally got the title.
Nejmi: I totally agree with that. Leadership happens at every level in an organisation, and it happens irrespective of the title. You expect the leader with the title to lead, of course, but just because you don't wear the title doesn't mean it's not a responsibility. 95%, 99% of the clients and individuals I work with have a genuine desire to have bigger and bolder impact in their career and their context - progression, all of these things. So irrespective of the title, the opportunity to exercise these muscles will pay dividends - for the organisation, and for you as a leader too. Are there any other themes you've been hearing recently, Glenn?
Is leading with AI really different from leading change?
Glenn: There is the one I don't particularly want us to go down the rabbit hole of on today's episode: this idea of leading in the context of AI. The things I'm hearing range from leaders' excitement at what it's there to offer and what it might do for their business and their teams, through to wary - maybe that's the right word - through to frightened about it: really not looking forward to it at all, and frightened about the possibilities. That's definitely a debate we can have over the year - I think things will only get more amazing, if you look at it like that. But there are also ethical considerations that leaders need to think about when leading in the context of AI. It's definitely on people's minds. I would just argue that leading with AI is a bit different from leading in the context of having AI around. And it might be different again from the context of: I've got a member of my team or two who are actually AI agents - how do I lead a team that's a hybrid of human beings and agents? So there are some real things to think about. Having said all that, ultimately, if you're a really good leader - something you said to me just before we came on air - is it really that different from leading change? Because the AI bit is just a bit of contextual change. It might be an amazing one, but that's all it is, really.
Nejmi: It would be remiss to talk about what we're hearing without putting those two letters front and centre, because, let's face it, that is ever present in everyone's minds. We could probably do a year's worth of podcasts on the nuances of leading with AI. But it's also true that we're in an era of accelerating change when it comes to technological capability. Often that can be scary because of the pace of it, or the scale of it - but there's also opportunity in it. Irrespective of where we sit on the stages of grief, or the various different relationships we have with the opportunity or threat we see, for every leader there's a fundamental consideration - which broadly builds on what we've spoken about - and that is: how do I want to lead in this context?
Part of it might be about the change itself - being really acute to the tasks at hand, helping your individuals and your team navigate through what we practically expect to be different. But the more fundamental consideration for any leader is the human element - the emotional side of things. Examining your own relationship to change: how does that manifest itself? Are you likely to demonstrate resistance? Are you an early adopter who goes full gusto - let's adopt it for everything? Whichever pace you go at things with, you also need to recognise that you've got followers within your team - people you're expecting to follow in your footsteps, or maybe not. Maybe you don't recognise the role-modelling you demonstrate, and what cues people are picking up from your relationship to it. You've got all these different humans who might be at different stages with what's expected, and you still need to be really acute to where those relationships are, and how you can encourage and influence people to overcome the concerns or resistance - the things that can hold them back from full adoption - and help navigate them forward too.
I've said superpower already, but it's a real leadership capability to be able to navigate people forward through ambiguity when you might not be fully reconciled with what this means for you in the future. It's very difficult for many of us to really get to grips with the opportunity or threat of what AI means for our roles - because things will change, sometimes in beautiful ways we can't foresee, and sometimes in ways we could foresee but where we enjoy doing those things, or whatever it might be. Irrespective of where we sit, there's still a very human responsibility in leading in an era of AI, or an era of technological advancement, which fundamentally comes down to change: navigating people through change, and being that bastion of a way forward for people - strategically, demonstrating clarity, or demonstrating care and emotional support to help people get to grips with the new expectations of the team, or their role, or whatever it may be.
Glenn: And to your point, you can put the two letters AI in there, but you could swap that out for almost any other major change an organisation was going through. So I agree with you 100% on that. Let's put it another way: it's specific - it has specific challenges and opportunities - but fundamentally, let's see. Let's have our conversations with many of the guests and see whether it actually is radically different. I don't have the privilege of being inside these organisations and having to lead in that context in the same way. So we'll see.
What if leadership were the organisation's operating system?
Glenn: The one thing I want to make sure we do before we wrap up, Nejmi: we've talked a lot about behaviours and individual leadership, and one of the things we also want to explore this year is the systemic element of leadership. We've got guests coming in from people functions - chief people officers, senior leaders of talent and leadership - so we'll have that side of the conversation represented as well. Our main thesis, which we're going to explore over the year: what if you had leadership as the operating system of the organisation? What if you put leadership that much front and centre? And again, not leadership by title or leadership by experience in the business - just: everybody leads themselves more effectively, and then, if you're leading teams of other people, how do you lead? What if you put leadership front and centre - how would it affect the effectiveness and the success of the business? I just wanted to make sure we didn't lose that before we wrap up. That systemic piece will be fascinating, because there are definitely some guests coming on who are well ahead of the curve in their thinking around the centrality of that.
Nejmi: What an exciting year to come, dear listener. Exploring what leadership as an operating system means - what are the components that go into this operating system, and how can you bring that to life in your leadership, with your teams, with your organisations? That's a very exciting path to walk down. Looking forward to the year to come.
Glenn: It should be really good. Well, look, that's set us up for the year. I'm excited - I can't wait to get going on having some of our guests in and starting to chat, and obviously when you and I have the opportunity to unpick some of that on our co-host-led episodes too. Really enjoying it - getting some lovely feedback from members of the audience, and people volunteering to come on, which is always a lovely thing. Let's bring it on - bring on 2026 of Impactful Conversations. See you on the next one. Take care.
Nejmi: Likewise. Thanks, Glenn.
Transcript lightly edited for clarity: filler, false starts and crosstalk removed; punctuation corrected. Content otherwise faithful to the recording.
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