Leadership lessons to bring into 2026 🎇

2025's Best Leadership Lessons to Carry You into 2026

Our regular Leadership That Works newsletter, a monthly roundup of the best leadership links from around the web, is on hiatus this month. Instead, we offer you a new year's eve roundup of all the newsletters from this past year, chock-full of leadership insights to carry you into 2026.

And, as a bonus at the end, we share a new year's note from our Founder, Doug Conant.

Happy new year! If you'd like to work with us in 2026, get in touch here, or grab a spot on our calendar.

January — Vulnerability Is a Strength

In this edition of the newsletter: Vulnerability is a strength; beware the 'broken feedback loop'; think in centuries, not quarters; 'edit' your life at your career midpoint; the importance of 'self-concept,' and more.

February — How to Retain Talent for the Future

In this edition of the newsletter: How to retain talent for the future; the art of good conversation; perfection isn't credible; kindness > niceness; don't ask 'why,' ask 'what'; why leaders need time in 'spacious mode,' and more.

March — C hange Your Habits

In this edition of the newsletter: Change your habits, leverage your 'tribal instincts,' embrace 'zigzag' work, develop an 'inspirational vision,' make better decisions, and more.

April — Psychological Safety Isn't about 'Being Nice'

In this edition of the newsletter: Common misconceptions about psychological safety, a survival guide for American business, how to remain steady in a wobbly world, learning the 'Godzilla Methodology,' and more.

May — Protect Your Team from 'Anti-Mattering'

In this edition of the newsletter: Protect your team against 'anti-mattering,' practice 'loud living,' keep the 'human' in 'human resources,' how to be heard in a noisy world, employee engagement by the numbers, and more.

June — How to Actually Be Helpful

In this edition of the newsletter: How to be helpful, bring great empathy to your work, keep your networks warm, a CEO guide for navigating the future of AI, find happiness in 'micro-moments,' and more.

July — Yes, Work Can (and Should Be) Fun

In this edition of the newsletter: Leadership lessons from George Washington, work should be fun, how to lead through a reorg, the seven skills of strategic thinking, a mentorship mantra, listen with your 'third ear,' and more.

August — The 3 'E's of Good Work

In this edition of the newsletter: Why EAs are leaders, the 3 'E's of 'good work,' when to walk away, how to 'engineer momentum,' an AI research roundup, mastering the 'cross-pressures' of leadership, manage your life like a 'startup business,' and more.

September — 5 Crucial Conversations for Leaders

In this edition of the newsletter: Five crucial conversations, what Doug's reading and watching, lessons from Costco on enduring success, the 'RULER' framework, what makes a 'contemplative leader,' the ethics of the AI race, and more.

October — 'CEO of the Year' Says Culture Starts at the Top

In this edition of the newsletter: Finding your leadership vocabulary, culture starts at the top, don't get too 'cozy,' the DiSSS method for learning new things, and more.

November — Is Optimism the Key to a Long Life?

In this edition of the newsletter: The power of optimism, why you should commit to 'personal learning,' how to manage yourself, the practice of following your interest, tips for doing 'hard better,' and more.

NEW This Year: Two Additional Online Courses to Help You Reach Higher Ground in 2026

Now Available: The STEPS Leadership Course for Administrative Professionals
Inspired by Doug’s Executive Assistant, Diana Hansen, and taught by Doug himself, a Fortune 500 CEO, this groundbreaking leadership course teaches the same 6-step BLUEPRINT process we use to train senior executives, customized for the true engine of the C-Suite: Administrative Professionals and Executive Assistants.

This is leadership training powerful enough for the boardroom, but optimized for every room you’re in. No more gatekeeping leadership skills. We’re taking elite-tier leadership training out of the corner office and into your living room, with accessible, self-paced, online programming built for real life.
➡️Learn More
➡️Use code WELCOME10 for 10% off

💻NEW LinkedIn Learning Course: Finding Your Leadership Vocabulary with Doug Conant
In this follow-up to our first LinkedIn Learning course, Finding Your Leadership Purpose with Doug Conant, (which has reached over 88,500 learners), join Doug in this new learning pathway as he guides you through the important work of articulating your leadership beliefs and crystallizing them into a Leadership Vocabulary that you can use to influence others more effectively.

Drawing from years of experience as a top executive and the president and CEO of Campbell Soup Company, Doug teaches you how to lead with authenticity, motivate people, and express your leadership vision with greater impact. Through a series of practical exercises and real-world examples, this course gives you a chance to create your own leadership vocabulary aligned with your core values and beliefs. ➡️Check out the new course here

Bonus: A Note from ConantLeadership Founder & CEO, Doug Conant

From Doug: "At the end of each year, I try to impart some wisdom to help inspire the ConantLeadership community to lead more effectively in the year to come. Here are seven tips, anchored in a "people first" approach to leadership, to help you honor the people with whom you live and work in 2026.

Generally, you can't manage the "what" that happens in the world. But if you internalize these and act on them regularly, and dependably, people will learn to trust that you are managing the "how" to the very best of your ability.

As a leader, you must be simultaneously tough-minded on standards of performance and tender-hearted with people.
It is unrealistic for you to expect extraordinary effort and performance in an enduring way without creating an environment in which people feel extraordinarily valued.
"Thank you" does not go without saying. Express your thanks for contributions of significance earnestly and often.
In leadership, particularly in a crisis, the "soft" stuff is the "hard" stuff. Often, EQ trumps IQ.
Clarity is next to godliness. The more unclear the circumstances, the clearer your communication must be.
Borrowing one from Stephen Covey, you should: "Seek first to understand, then to be understood."
Borrowing another one, from Conan O’Brien: "Work hard, be kind, and amazing things will happen."

Observing these tenets is a way of showing thanks to the people we share our journey with. These seven leadership nuggets can remind us that the virtue we so often celebrate at the end of the year—gratitude—is active, not passive; more than a feeling, gratitude requires behaviors and action. It doesn’t happen by accident. It requires intention and discipline. The more we anchor our actions in honoring people, the more we prove our credibility, and the more people trust us to show up no matter what the new year brings.

Here's to a joyful, fulfilling, and prosperous 2026!"