Well, my fellow CEOs and business leaders, 2025 has been quite a year has it not?
When it comes to writing this piece each year, I am forced to think back and to think forward at the same time. I guess that is always part of the role of any CEO, to get that juxtaposition right in order to navigate into the future while taking lessons from the past.
To me, 2025 has felt like a roller-coaster ride without the atmosphere of a fun fair, or like being in a rowing boat in a hurricane. I have found it difficult to make sense of so much of what is happening or has happened around us.
So, in an effort of get out of this discomfort zone early in the year, I focused on reading far more about twentieth century history, hoping that the past would shed light on the present and how to navigate the future. The comfort I got from this learning surprised me; I realised that we have seen it all before and this is not a unique set of circumstances. In fact, in the bigger picture of history, we have seen similar challenges and issues many times before. This insight has helped me refocus my leadership to prioritize, to invest in the things in my control and the future health of TPA and our offerings to clients.
I know that I am not the only business leader to have experienced 2025 in this way, mainly because I have coached many leaders this year who have shared their own similar experiences. We are not alone in the storm.
What Can Leaders Take Away from 2025?
• We all need to keep the past visible in our rearview mirror to drive forward. History has an abundance of relevant learnings to enable leaders today to design tomorrow.
• Senior leaders appreciate human Executive Coaches more than ever to act as independent, objective thinking partners, sounding boards and learning catalysts.
• Leaders who lead with coaching are better able to navigate turbulent commercial waters than those who do not since, with the current level of complexity, we simply cannot have all the answers.
• A positive attitude and the right mindset, carefully chosen, take organisations further than many give these leadership enablers credit for. Visualisation is as powerful in business as it is essential in sport.
What Should Leaders Focus on in 2026?
1. The pace of change is only going to accelerate. Creative solutioning, even beyond agile, is the new survival law of the commercial jungle. That said, it is ever more critical to carve out time to think to avoid serial kneejerk reactions. Calm discipline and resilience will give leaders distinct advantage. Get a coach, for you, for your team, for your group.
2. A large part of that will be informed by a “know-thy-self” approach. Understanding how our past informs how we show up as the leaders we are today helps us to amplify our strengths and moderate their shadows when overused, especially when under pressure. Seek self-understanding.
3. If you sense a decision is being influenced by your own ego, it is almost certainly wrong. Focus on collective success.
4. Generating and maintaining trust across clients, stakeholders and partners, especially during turbulent times, will always be a leadership differentiator – some things never change. Dial the trust factor up more than ever.
The relationship with a manager is critical. As the saying goes: “People don’t leave bad companies. They leave bad bosses.” A high-trust relationship supports higher performance, greater confidence, and stronger contributions to business outcomes — from improving customer satisfaction and building strong stakeholder relationships to sharing ideas that drive continuous improvement and innovation.
2026 will be the year our book “Coaching Power” – Leading with Coaching to Create Individual, Team, and Organizational Outperformance – fully takes flight. I am very grateful to have worked on this book with my co-author and TPA Head of Americas, Luciana Nunez. We hope you enjoy reading it as much as we enjoyed writing it for you.
As you reflect on how to be the best leader you can possibly be, regardless of what is thrown at you in the coming year, on behalf of the whole TPA team, may we wish you the season’s greetings and health, happiness and success for 2026.
Tom Preston, with over 20 years of experience as a senior executive, private equity fund managing director, and COO of an investment bank in Asia, is a Director and Executive Coach at The Preston Associates.
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