Friends,
Every New Year I attempt to synthesize my thoughts on leadership through the lens of a memo from a fictitious CEO writing to his/her employees.
The exercise forces me to distil what I’m seeing, reading and experiencing in the world into a semi-cogent narrative. A narrative of what I believe leaders need to communicate – and act upon – to build great cultures. Selfishly, it is also the type of memo I wish I’d received during my career when the road ahead looked turbulent and the available choices difficult.
A sad cliché but, in these uncertain times, leadership has never been more vital and never more difficult.
The threat vectors today’s leaders must contend with are intense, from AI to rapidly evolving geopolitical alliances to societal conflict and real, growing “hot” wars. In addition, the velocity of those threats are accelerating.
Two quotes shared with me in 2025 ring particularly true in this moment.
“The future is uncertain and yet, we must act” – Jamais Cascio, co-author of the excellent book “Navigating the Age of Chaos”
“Leadership is a verb, not a noun. It is what you do, not your title or station” – Niven Postma, the brilliant South African expert on Office Politics and one of my favourite humans on the planet.
As you read the letter below and reflect on the year ahead, i pose one question to you - how will YOU act?
How will you build environments of optimism for your colleagues in these uncertain times?
What will be your actions?
Godspeed my friends.
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Colleagues,
I hope you are returning to work refreshed and with a new set of cherished memories from the recent break.
I and the leadership team want to ensure we begin 2026 by sharing our thoughts on the year ahead. More importantly, to share the mutual commitments we make to each other coming into this company every day. Each day, in our words and our actions, we make deliberate choices about the company we want to be, the environment we want to create and the success we want to have. That is as true of each of you as it is of myself and my leadership team.
In 2025 I used the term EMBRACE to capture the energy I believed we needed to attack the uncertain world we faced at that time. I spoke of AI, networking, foresight as new areas to experiment with and learn in order to be competitive. We have embraced those at a level we can all be proud of. We have experimented. We have learned. We have failed at times, as we anticipated we might, but the courage to embrace these new things has been amazing to witness. We should all be very proud of that commitment. It speaks volumes to the strength of our culture.
2026 will test all of us in profound ways.
Our country, our communities and our society is changing before our very eyes at a dizzying speed. That means our customers, our partners and our markets are changing too. Merely observing those changes is not an option. We have always been leaders in our sector and have a well-deserved reputation none of us are willing to compromise. As such, we will continue make the bold bets we did in 2025, continue to experiment and embrace new ways of doing things.
However, we will also evolve our Embrace ethos into something different in 2026.
In 2026, we will focus on NURTURING as the next vital evolution of our organization.
Here are our 5 commitments for 2026;
NURTURING DIGNITY
Dignity is a fundamental right we all have, and deserve, in this world. Treating each other with dignity seems in decline globally but that will not be the environment we nurture here. Tackling these uncertain times demands that we debate more rigorously and may disagree more frequently. However, we’ll never do that while attacking the dignity of our colleagues. We must appreciate – and lean fully into - the diversity of the opinions, lived experiences and the life choices our colleagues have and treat them universally with dignity. As leaders in this company, our actions will never undermine or compromise the dignity of the people who’ve brought their unique gifts to this place. And, if circumstances require that we do part ways with some colleagues, that process will never undermine or diminish the dignity of those people who have contributed to this organization’s success.
NURTURING BOLDNESS
Our culture and values have powered our historical success. They cannot be laurels upon which we now rest. Our company is one built from courage, fortitude and boldness. Those attributes will be critical if we’re to thrive and win in today’s environment. “Project 2035” established a vision for our future but that cannot become reality if we each do not take individual accountability for delivering on it. In the actions and the decisions we take. Boldness is not without risk and is certainly not a comfortable path – but that is the path we must take. Now is not the time for indecision and abdicating ownership. That is not how this organization built the reputation it enjoys, nor how we will continue to lead in the markets we compete. Boldness, courage, accountability are hallmarks of our previous accomplishments – and our future success. On this we will not compromise.
NURTURING AGENCY
We cannot expect accountability without giving you agency. In 2025 we experimented with flattening this organization, removing layers and reducing the hurdles to decision making. Those efforts will continue and we’re already seeing great progress. By nurturing agency we want to create an environment where new ideas can be heard without resistance, recommendations can be considered regardless of the source, decisions can be made without title or tenure being the primary determinant. That is the level of agency we must nurture in order to succeed.
NURTURING CAPABILITY
As my idol Bob Dylan sang “The times they are a’changing” So too must we change. We will be required to build new capabilities in order to win with customers. That will require each of us to build new capabilities in how we think and how we operate. Learning and development has always been important but this year we are doubling our investment in this area. Our AI training has built great momentum, but we will be investing more heavily in that area. Our CHRO Sebastian is reviewing other skills enhancements necessary to keep you, our colleagues, some of the best trained operators anywhere. These capabilities will ensure all of us can adjust and adapt as our sector evolves in the years ahead.
NURTURING CAPACITY
We have taken to heart employee feedback on feeling overwhelmed and fatigued by the volume and velocity of change we have undertaken. We recognize that our 2025 desire to evolve and keep this company competitive created numerous initiatives that taxed you considerably. In order to ensure you have the energy to commit to the changes required in 2026, we are going to experiment with some new processes. For example, our COO Jayne will be rigorously reviewing all change management projects presently underway. Those that cannot prove great momentum and significant impact will be scrapped. No new initiatives will be started without reviewing which change initiative can be halted. Along with your dignity, we must protect your capacity if we are to ask for your energy and your commitment to this company. That must be a mutual commitment we honor.
In closing, 2026 is likely to be as arduous as 2025 – perhaps even more so.
Doing any one of these elements detailed above is hard. Doing them all will be challenging. However, doing them is something we are committed to and hope you will commit to as well.
By transparently sharing these leadership commitments, our hope is that you continue to believe our organization is a place where your unique skills and ambitions can flourish. A place where colleagues and peers operate with deep mutual respect. A culture where you are evaluated solely on commitment and contribution.
Our organization sets the standard of our sector, and our customer reputation is the envy of our competition.
Our brightest days remain ahead of us.
On behalf of my talented leadership team, we thank you for choosing to be part of that future.
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Choosing the leader image at the top of this blog post is never easy. Sadly, many leaders today have chosen polarization, discord and populism as their approach. Those leaders would never consider the letter above as the way to galvanize loyalty and commitment from their people.
Indra Nooyi, former CEO of PepsiCo, was therefore an easy choice.
During her tenure she achieved incredible growth for her organization while leaning heavily into many of the elements detailed in my letter above.
She took accountability for the poor nutritional products within the PepsiCo portfolio championing change even at the risk of growth and profitability. Leadership development – particularly around succession planning and building a deep global bench – was a particular passion of hers. She appeared to be a deeply human leader who was outspoken on topics such as employee fatigue, employee burnout, cherishing her heritage and culture and the complicated balancing act of being a female leader. She definitely personified the maxim of leadership as a verb, not a noun.
For those reasons, Indra Nooyi was an easy choice for this year’s Leaders Letter.
My thanks for reading this far.
I hope this blog gave you pause and a moment of introspection.
Leading has never been harder but nurturing leaders who recognize that their organization’s growth is an outcome of how they motivate their people has never been more critical.
May 2026 be the year that we all nurture that type of leadership.
In our colleagues and in ourselves.