What Will Make 2026 Different?

Every January, business leaders make commitments. Grow revenue. Improve margins. Build the team. Finally sort out that thing that has been bothering them for years.

By March, most of those commitments have faded, but not because leaders lack ambition - because they lack the conditions that turn intention into action.

Here is what we have learned about the leaders who actually change.

They Get Specific

"Grow the business" is not a plan. It is a wish.

The leaders who make progress get uncomfortable with specificity. What exactly will you achieve? By when? How will you measure it? What will you do in January, February, March to make it happen?

Vague goals feel safer because you cannot clearly fail at them. But you cannot clearly succeed either. Specificity creates accountability. And accountability creates results.

They Tell Someone

The commitments we make privately are easy to quietly abandon. The commitments we make publicly create pressure to deliver.

This is why peer learning works. When you share your goals with a room full of people who will ask about them next month, you find a way, and not because you fear judgement, but because you do not want to let yourself down in front of people whose respect matters to you.

If you are serious about 2026, tell someone what you are committing to. Choose someone who will not let you off the hook.

They Invest Before They Feel Ready

There is never a perfect time to invest in yourself or your business. There is always a reason to wait. Cash flow is tight. The market is uncertain. Next quarter would be better.

The leaders who transform do not wait for perfect conditions. They decide that growth matters more than comfort and act accordingly.

Every LEAD™ cohort includes people who were not sure they could afford the time or money. Almost every one of them says afterwards that they wish they had done it sooner.

They Focus on Themselves, Not Just the Business

Your business can only grow as fast as you do.

If you are the same leader in December 2026 as you are today, your business will be roughly the same too. Different tactics, perhaps. Different challenges. But the same fundamental constraints.

The leaders who break through are those who recognise that their own development is not separate from business development. It is the foundation of it.

They Accept That Discomfort is Part of the Process

Growth is not comfortable. It requires doing things you have not done before. Having conversations you have been avoiding. Making decisions with incomplete information. Being wrong sometimes.

The leaders who make 2026 different are not those who avoid discomfort. They are those who accept it as the price of progress.

A Question for January

Before you finalise your plans for 2026, ask yourself one question:

What would need to change about how I lead for these goals to actually happen?

If the answer is "nothing," you are probably underestimating the challenge. If the answer reveals gaps in your skills, confidence or support, that is useful information.

Because the businesses that thrive in 2026 will be led by people who decided, before the year began, that their own development mattered enough to prioritise.

Will you be one of them?

For more information on our LEAD™ programme, please contact us here.