One of my sweet spots is readiness –market readiness, organizational-readiness, leadership-readiness, issues-readiness. Given these past twelve months of what keeps being referred to as ‘seismic’ change, I considered adding transformation-readiness to the list. But in my heart of hearts and despite the rhetoric, I believe readiness for communications in 2026 is less radical shifts and more agility, courage, and drive.
Here’s what I mean:
Agility
We now have more access to data than ever thanks to AI. All the better for data-driven understanding, predictability and planning. All this information is great, truly game-changing, but academic without follow up human-led execution. Readiness here requires comfort with the technology, judiciousness with the output, and taking from it what will elevate creativity and empower us to do what we’ve always done in communications even better and faster.
Agility has always mattered in communications, but the coming year raises the stakes. A relentless news cycle, the frequency of mis- and disinformation and ever-shrinking attention spans demand sharper decision-making, nimbleness and grace in delivery. Readiness here means embracing technology as both support for our instincts and training and a propellant for the work we have in motion.
We’re accustomed to waiting in comms – waiting for input, consensus, decisions, reviews, budgets and approvals. This is particularly a reality in large organizations. In the new year, our ability to present data-driven insights, plans and proposals with clear, business-aligned language will accelerate readiness across the board and ideally result in faster decisions and action, especially when timeliness matters.
Courage
Change is all around us. Stakeholder expectations have shifted, demand is high and patience is low. These conditions can breed uncertainty, trepidation, snap judgements, and sometimes paralysis. We’ve seen countless examples of this across industries where hesitation and missteps have harmed both business and reputation. All the more reason for courage and conviction in the coming year.
Preparation using tools now available will help us persuade clients (if you’re agency) or internal stakeholders (if you’re in-house) of the right path even if it’s not the simplest, and recognize opportunities that sit in plain sight. It will help us show them that breaking new ground with creativity, platform selection and empathy that hasn’t been shown before is not a risk but rather an opportunity. When we’ve done the homework–grounding our ideas with data, real-world experiences and perspectives of the voices that matter—and when we demonstrate authenticity, credibility and trustworthiness, we’ve got the language and the confidence to stand up in the room, hold our positions (as necessary) and make a compelling business case for the strategies and actions (including humility) we believe to be right.
Courage isn’t about risk-taking or perfection. It’s about making choices and building connections that enable companies and leaders to deliver on their broad commitments (e.g. saving lives) as well as improvements stakeholders can experience right away (e.g. understanding, education, information, tools, pride, relationships and partnerships that enable healthier living, do their jobs better).
Fear of the new is contagious. But courage spreads just as quickly. Evidence and experience-supported courage inspires. It brings people along and earns respect.
Drive
In communications, we use the word ‘drive’ all the time—we drive perceptions, awareness, actions, results, impact and growth. In the context of this article, I want to focus on personal drive. The stuff that drives us to do our jobs smarter, better, more effectively than we’ve ever done them before.
Think about what drives you to show up to work every day, gives you purpose, satisfaction and growth. These are the drivers that will strengthen your readiness for achievement and success in all the areas you aim to deliver. As we approach the new year, I’ve got my own drivers firmly in position for my consultancy, jacobstahl, which is restored to independence five years after acquisition by a bigger firm.
Ready or not? I’m going for ready. Assume you are, too. And in the meantime, happy holidays to all!
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The views and opinions published here belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the publisher.
