Copyright Rolling Stone
From emotional intelligence in hybrid teams to fluency in emerging tech, leadership today looks very different from what it did just a few years ago. Today’s most effective leaders blend human insight with digital agility to guide their teams through the constant shifts in their industry. While the basic “people skills” needed to maintain trust and connection with your team haven’t changed, there are some emerging abilities that can help you thrive as a leader in 2026. Below, Rolling Stone Culture Council members share the leadership skills they believe will matter most in the year ahead and how these capabilities will shape the next chapter of modern management. Critical Thinking Critical thinking will be a defining leadership skill in 2026 as AI and automation reshape roles. Leaders must analyze complex data, question AI outputs and make ethical decisions amid rapid change. This skill ensures strategic clarity, fosters innovation and balances human insight with tech efficiency, enabling leaders to navigate uncertainty and drive meaningful outcomes in dynamic workplaces. – Mark Paulda, Mark Paulda & Co Intentional Curiosity Be curious with intention. We are learning every day about the benefits of AI, but human involvement is still very much necessary and I believe will be for some time. I encourage my team to be curious, well-intentioned and not afraid to make mistakes. In doing so, we have leveraged AI to better serve our clients with information that matters to them. – Chris Eggers, CC Security Solutions The Ability to Collaborate With AI Build an AI co-pilot trained on your strategic plan to act as a single-minded assistant with clear guardrails. The defining leadership skill then becomes your dialogue with this AI. If you consistently ask the right questions with proper context, you’ll align daily tasks with your long-term vision. I’ve been doing this in 2025 with our plan to grow tenfold in five years. The results are stunning. – Jason Barnard, Kalicube Editor’s picks The Rolling Stone Culture Council is an invitation-only community for Influencers, Innovators and Creatives. Do I qualify? The leaders who win next year will be the ones who increase business value by combining human capability with technology. The real skill is orchestration — aligning talent, tools and timing so people can focus on higher-value thinking. It is not about efficiency alone. It is about using AI to create new value and building systems where human judgment becomes the differentiator. – Bill Hobbs, Vector The Ability to Leverage Executive Content as a Growth Engine The ability to leverage executive content as a growth engine will be essential. Think high-quality, humanized and expertise-laden content that pushes perspective versus product. If you aren’t tapping into founder-led sales and marketing, you’re ignoring one of the strongest channels for building trust, increasing demand and growing your bottom line. – Jenny Lamboy, Hybrid Marketing Co Adaptive Empathy The leadership skill that will define the next year is adaptive empathy — the ability to lead with emotional intelligence while navigating constant technology evolution. As AI reshapes workflows, leaders who combine data-driven decision-making with an understanding of human motivation will create teams that stay engaged and resilient. – Kristin Marquet, Marquet Media, LLC Trending Stories Narrative Intelligence The defining leadership skill ahead is narrative intelligence — the ability to tell stories that drive decisions, influence action and guide execution. As AI accelerates, leaders must turn data into direction and algorithms into aligned action. Story isn’t soft power anymore; it’s strategic infrastructure. – Lisa McClung, Motiv Power Systems The Ability to Conduct Real-Time Due Diligence
