My 2026 wish: Bolder people. Braver rooms.
My rallying cry for leaders, teams, and audiences (for you and ME) is:
I don’t wish for more ideas. We have plenty of those.
I don’t wish for more communication.
I wish for bolder people who create braver rooms together. At work and life.
I AM SO DONE PRETENDING. Aren't you? It's exhausting. People do this all the time - because bold is hard when it's not supported.
And it's the subject of my first podcast episode in 2026 (Click the link to listen and leave a review if you like it)
And yes — this is the part where my comedian brain and my leadership brain high-five: what I want for you in 2026 is both hilarious and dead serious:
Be so bold it makes you laugh at yourself — and cheer just as loudly when someone else is that brave.
I learned this in stand-up, improv comedy and sketch writers’ rooms long before I ever applied it to organizations.
On stage, you find out fast: The safest joke dies. The bold joke needs support. And the room tells you instantly whether rigidity or possibility is in charge.
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When a room gets rigid and fear is in the air, the laugh disappears. The idea collapses. The performer retreats. Courage dies.
The exact same thing happens at work except the ideas don’t even get a chance. They often don’t fail. They just never get said.
So my wish for this year is: Let’s stop performing boldness. Let’s start practicing it.
Let’s create conditions - playfulness, curiosity, humor, creativity, psychological bravery - where people feel supported enough to say the big ideas that feel risky and lead through uncertainty not because they’re reckless, but because they matter.
My proven framework for fostering trust, bravery, innovation where people speak and act boldly is based on 2 decades leading teams in product innovation, marketing and communications in tech AND years on comedy stages seeing what works. Companies that innovate build bolder environments and support. It starts with people.
If innovation and action has stalled, it's not your peoples' fault. Look to your culture, to trust, to safety.
What I know for sure: Dangerous ideas and stories don’t fail. Rigid rooms do.
And uncertainty is here to stay. Creating braver people and rooms means people who adapt because rigidity no longer keeps people stuck.
Remember, braver spaces don’t happen by accident. They happen when bolder people show up, support one another, laugh a lot, and commit to Keeping It Human™. (it is the essence, not IT, folks. Ha! Though IT needs it).
This year, be bold enough to make the room braver for yourself, other people, the ideas, the laughter and humor, and the future we say we want.
#Leadership #keepingithuman #Innovation #Culture #MakeBoldPossible
Really like the phrase "create the conditions" -- praxis! Appreciate you keeping it real!
When risk disappears, so does real progress. No amount of band aids can replace trust.
Love this framing: create a culture of "try, fail, grow". It's about experimentation - and learning from the outcome. :-)
When a tech idea failed, were the techies able to laugh about it?
What a powerful slogan: "Stop performing boldness. Start practicing it." That difference between how and what we perform in our lives versus what we practice in our lives can be used in so many contexts. I love that phrase.