Leadership built for 2026: Create a system that actually works

Research shows 80–90% of personal resolutions and up to 67% of business strategies don’t stick. This is likely not because people lack motivation, but because they lack shared ownership, systems, and follow-through. 

In a year set to bring volatility, acceleration, and intensity (hello, Fire Horse energy), success needs to come from sustained resolve — the kind that shows up daily, not just in January. 

In Episode 11 of Momentum, we dig into how leaders can build enduring momentum (pun intended!) through adaptive planning, working as a team, and rhythms that matter. 

4 Habits, Systems, and Rhythms to Anchor Your Leadership in 2026 

1. Sync Your Habits to Real Life, Not the Calendar

The most effective leaders plan around energy, not expectations. 

• Use 90-day sprints to match resolve with business cycles and team momentum. 

• Consider your natural energy arcs such as seasonal dips, fiscal cycles, launch timelines and build around them. 

• Start small: micro-habits are more powerful than grand intentions when practiced consistently. As Steven Bartlett, take ‘embarrassingly small steps’.  

2. Operationalize Resolve with Weekly Rituals 

Strong habits don’t need to be loud; they simply need to be repeatable. 

• Create weekly check-ins to realign priorities across teams. 

• Introduce “weekly wins” reflections to reinforce progress and recalibrate fast. 

• Anchor your team with a shared rhythm: whether it’s a Monday morning pulse or Friday wrap-up, make it consistent. 

3. Lean into Human-Centric Leadership 

We’ve always believed in human-centric leadership and across sources; the consensus is clear: connection, trust, psychological safety, and wellbeing are no longer optional. They are the drivers of performance, retention, and culture stability. 

• Build cultures of clarity, belonging, and accountability to drive trust and performance. 

• Know what your people are aiming for. Alignment must be intentional, not assumed. 

• Trust and transparency really can drive execution 

• Treat time, energy, and wellbeing as strategic assets. 

• Lead with emotional intelligence, not just operational competence. 

4. Make Space for Reflection, Recovery, and Recalibration 

The best leaders aren’t just reflective. They’re resilient. And resilient leaders recover out loud. 

• Block time monthly or quarterly for scenario thinking, not just ops reviews. 

• Create safe spaces for teams to surface tension points before they breakdown. 

• Adopt a rhythm of learning → pausing → adapting. Resilience is built in the pause, not the push. 

• When failure hits, and it will, don’t brush it off. Reflect. Find the lesson. Re-enter with more clarity and confidence. The strongest leaders use setbacks as fuel to sharpen focus, rebuild trust, and re-anchor their teams around what matters most. 

Upping our Leadership in 2026 

It’s never too late to start. The habits you build today are the systems your future self will rely on. 

🎧 Listen to Episode 11 of Momentum, Is Your Leadership Built for 2026?, for the full conversation on how to move from intention to impact in 2026.