The questions top Davos leaders are asking to start 2026

Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director, IMF: What is your response going to be when the unthinkable happens?

Linda Lacina, Meet The Leader Welcome to Meet the Leader, the podcast where top leaders share how they're tackling the world's toughest challenges. In today's special episode, with interviews recorded at this year's Annual Meeting in Davos, leaders share the top questions they should be asking themselves in 2026.

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I'm Linda Lacina from the World Economic Forum and this is Meet the Leader.

Suleika Jaouad, author and artist Where am I conflating momentum with what's meaningful?

Nikki Clifton, President, UPS Foundation: What is the greatest challenge that is in front of us? What is the problem that we're trying to solve, both immediate and what is around the corner that we may not see?

Sunny Mann, Global Chair, Baker McKenzie: Leaders won't always have the right information at their fingertips, they won't always have the right knowledge, it's that curiosity and saying what do you think?

Linda Lacina, Meet The Leader: This year's Annual Meeting reflected the historical global moment in a host of ways. It could be seen most clearly in the sparring special addresses,
where global leaders spoke of ruptures, not transitions, where middle powers, like Canada, talked of seeking new coalitions and alliances and where Europe talked of building out a
new independence for itself. The message was clear: we're firmly in a multipolar era. But also clear is that these leaders were forging ahead, not looking back. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen had no time for nostalgia:

Ursula von der Leyen, President, European Commission: And in my view, the seismic change we are going through today is an opportunity, in fact, a necessity, to build a new form of European independence. And this need is neither new nor a reaction to recent events; it has been a structural imperative for far longer. Whether on energy or raw materials, defence or digital, we're moving fast, but the truth is also that we will only be able to capitalize on this opportunity if we recognize that this change is permanent.

Of course, nostalgia is part of our human story, but nostalgia will not bring back the old order. Playing for time and hoping for things to revert soon will not fix the structural dependencies we have.

Linda Lacina, Meet The Leader: Canadian Prime Minister, Mark Carney, echoed those sentiments.

Mark Carney, Prime Minister, Canada: We know the old order is not coming back. We shouldn't mourn it. Nostalgia is not a strategy. But we believe that from the fracture, we can build something bigger, better, stronger. This is not naive multilateralism, nor is it relying on their institutions. It's building coalitions that work, issue by issue, with partners
who share enough common ground to act together.

Linda Lacina, Meet The Leader: This all comes as the world is roiled by a host of other uncertainties, the unknown impact of AI to jobs and economies, a warming world, widening
equality gaps and increasing geopolitical conflicts.

How can leaders of any stripe navigate these changes? It begins with asking the right questions. We talked to a host of leaders at Davos on both what questions leaders should be asking and what they're asking themselves.

They can also remind you to focus, be curious, and stay inspired. We'll get into all of that. But first, we'll start with Kristalina Georgieva, the Managing Director of the IMF, on how leaders can navigate uncertainty.

Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director, IMF: Uncertainty has settled as the new normal. My message to everybody is learn to think of the unthinkable and then stay calm, adapt when the unthinkable happens. I don't think anymore that we will go back to a world of predictability. Why? Because the world now is truly genuinely multipolar. Because technology is moving so rapidly, changes are happening so fast, because we have other factors, like climate change, hitting countries. And demography has split the world into ageing, shrinking
populations and growing youthful populations, very often seeking for jobs and the jobs are not there. So, complex worlds and I think 2026 will be another year in which we will
have to learn how to live, operate and prosper in this world.

Linda Lacina, Meet The Leader: As we navigate uncertainty, it can help to get our bearings. Anne Walsh is the Chief Investment Officer at Guggenheim Investment Management and the Managing Partner at Guggenheim Partners. That's a global investment and advisory financial services firm. She reminds us not to neglect the big picture. Here's Anne in her interview with my colleague, Spencer Feingold.

Anne Walsh, Guggenheim Partners: I think it's really critically important to step back in a world of uncertainty and volatility and to think about the big picture. And that's why I pay a lot of attention to long-term trends, whether it's on interest rates in the U.S., whether it is on the super cycle that we find ourselves in and to really separate the signal from the noise.

The noise is happening in a 24-7 world at a very high rate and it can be very unsettling, which is why it helps to reframe where we are by looking at the big picture. It also helps to be nimble and thoughtful and to remove yourself sometimes from your own comfort zone and to really think again about the big picture and the big trends that are happening. I think that is important as an investor and I think it's important as a leader and a manager as well.

Linda Lacina, Meet The Leader: As leaders lean on experts, they might consider, are they thinking outside in? Sonny Mann is the global chair of Baker McKenzie, that's notable as the world's first-ever global law firm. He's led their trade work there for years and talked to me about how he sees uncertainty and geopolitics playing out in the year ahead.

Sunny Mann, Global Chair, Baker McKenzie: So, uncertainty has been a dominant theme over the last 12 months and we've seen that really being discussed here in Davos among a number of bilateral discussions, but also in the panel sessions that I've been sat in on and participating in. And it's really interesting to see what has played out, we've seen the last
few decades marked by a period of multilateral trade and that has shifted much more to what I would call a bilateral patchwork of trade relationships. And so, you know, as we've
seen the multilateral trade order perhaps waning a little bit, perhaps under a bit of stress, we have still seen a period of trade growth through these new trade and investment
corridors that have emerged.

Linda Lacina, Meet The Leader: Trade is one area highlighting growing geopolitical tensions, one that leaders won't be able to easily shy away from.

Sunny Mann, Global Chair, Baker McKenzie: You know, geopolitics has really been a front and centre
theme and issue. Reflecting back on the last few decades, I think companies have shied away from wanting to engage in things like geopolitics and national security. The problem
is that geopolitics and national security has really entered the corporate world and is dead centre within what C-suite and business leaders are reflecting on. So, I do think that boards and the C-Suite need to make sure that geopolitics and national security are themes that they're comfortable with, are familiar with and that it is a recurrent board discussion point.

Linda Lacina, Meet The Leader: Sunny reminds us that leaders will need to take care to tap expertise and get used to asking people around them, what do you think? Here's
Sunny on how leaders can drive dialogue and get answers, especially when those chats are outside their comfort zone.

Sunny Mann, Global Chair, Baker McKenzie: A lot of that will be done through learning, through asking the right questions. We leaders, won't always have the right level of understanding. We won't always have the information at our fingertips, so we need to engage with experts, whether
that is speaking to those who have geopolitical understanding or national security understanding and indeed those who have an understanding of the trade and regulatory framework as well, like law firms.

But the best way to really plug some of the gaps around
that is to seek the right expertise, to gain the information so that you can make informed decisions moving forward. The question I think I would be asking most often is, what do
you think? It is important that, as leaders, we engage other people, that we engage, you know, those who are active within the public sector, speak to, you know, government advisers, government regulators, ministries, speak to those in the private sector, learn from each other as well.

So, what do you think has to be a really key question that all
leaders should be asking, because this requires a new way of thinking. Leaders won't always have the right information at their fingertips, they won't always have that right knowledge, so that curiosity in saying, what do you think?

Linda Lacina, Meet The Leader: Fast-moving times also call for backup plans and resilience. Sunny reminds us that leaders should also be asking themselves if their companies are truly resilient.

Sunny Mann, Global Chair, Baker McKenzie: But it's hard to really factor in all the time because you do not know what is around the corner, what is coming your way. But first off, I think you need to build up a sense of corporate resilience. Have you built up, for example, enough resilience in your supply chains that if there is a shock in a certain part of the world, you've
got alternative sourcing, you've got alternative markets into which you can sell your products and services. Alongside that corporate resilience, have you ensured that you can react with a degree of nimbleness and agility to some of those shocks that might emerge over the week ahead? So, it is a mixture of resilience combined with the ability to be nimble and agile at the same time.

Linda Lacina, Meet The Leader: AI was a major topic of conversation this Davos, as it has been for the last three years. But as real-world applications have emerged, leaders have
been able to dig into the complexities of how the technology will reshape the world around us.

That was the case for Nicholas Thompson. Nick Thompson is the CEO of The Atlantic. That's a magazine started in 1857 by Ralph Waldo Emerson. Nick is driving a digital transformation at that media property and he was one of the leaders closely following conversations on the democratization of AI. Here's Nick on what that is and why it's important.

Nicholas Thompson, CEO, The Atlantic: Well, the biggest question for me is whether we'll have democratized AI that is controlled by lots of different people in lots of different countries and lots of different companies around the world or whether it will be five big companies that build the systems
that power the world?

And I have lots of friendships with the five big, six big companies, but I care a lot about open source AI, I care about sovereign AI, about independent projects, whether they're academic or civil society, building systems into AI. AI is going to power so much of the world and I want it to be democratized and I want it to be open, I want it to be competitive. And so the thing I'm interested in right now are new architectures of AI. So the reason why there's so few companies with so much power is because of what are called 'scaling loss.' In order to have a successful AI company, you need billions of dollars to train models, right, because what makes models better is more compute, more data, more everything. And, so the way it's worked the last five years is more money, better model, more money, better model, more money, better model.

But the new architectures for AI, whether they're world models, whether they are neural symbolic AI, whether they're continuous learning models, they're ways that maybe that paradigm shifts. Like maybe it turns out they need a better idea, you don't just need more money, right? And if that ends up happening, maybe AI gets more democratized and if that happens, well, all kinds of things change from foreign policy to opportunity to income inequality around the world.

Linda Lacina, Meet The Leader: If we don't get that right, what happens?

Nicholas Thompson, CEO, The Atlantic: Well, if we don't get that right and it continues to just be the case that 'scaling laws' are all that matter, you have an AI industry
controlled by a very small number of people that is massively extractive with huge environmental consequences, but that also is awesome technology.

I mean, look at what we have right now. I mean part of what we have is geopolitical instability and one of the factors of the geopolitical stability we have is that all of the AI power is concentrated in the United States or all of the closed-source AI power is concentrated in the United States, like much of the money being made is in the U.S. That's why the U. S. Stock market is soaring, it's partly why the U S. is such a geopolitical power. I'm an American. I like for America to do well. I also want the rest of the world to be doing well and have access to models.

Linda Lacina, Meet The Leader: Jeremy Allaire is the founder and CEO of Circle. That's a global financial technology firm best known as the issuer of one of the world's largest stablecoins. His career has followed every phase of the web's evolution and his big question for the new year looks at AI and how quickly we'll get to autonomous work.

Jeremy Allaire, Founder and CEO, Circle: Right now, one of the questions I'm asking myself is, it's actually related to AI and it is really, how quickly can we, and that's both myself, my team, my organization, how quickly can we really start to see autonomous work being produced by software agents and how quickly can we see that happening in a way that we trust the outcomes?

I'm thinking about that a lot because if we can realize that, I think it can allow us to accomplish just an incredible amount in ways that were just unfathomable just even months ago, frankly.

Linda Lacina, Meet The Leader: Several of our leaders stress the need to set and hold their priorities. Nikki Clifton is the President of the UPS Foundation. That's the social impact arm of the delivery giant and it helps to use the firm's resources to tackle big challenges, like humanitarian logistics problems after a huge crisis or even training drivers to help combat human trafficking as they're on the ground in communities. As she looks at the year ahead, she reminds us of the importance of focusing on just a handful of big challenges to truly make change happen.

Nikki Clifton, President, UPS Foundation: One of the questions that I'm asking myself right now is, what is the greatest challenge that is in front of us? What is the problem that we're trying to solve, both immediate and what is around the corner that we may not see? And so challenging the team to ask that, what is immediately in front us and then what is round the corner, I think are two questions that guide the team on a daily basis.

Linda Lacina, Meet The Leader: And why is that so
important? What's the risk that you want to avert?

Nikki Clifton, President, UPS Foundation: So the risk that I want to overt is too much thinking about the rear view mirror, also staying focused on the most pressing moment so
that we can ruthlessly prioritize what's important right now. But then we have to be looking around the corner at the risk, at the opportunities, at the challenges and being able to make sure that we are both fully present in the moment, but that we're also looking ahead.

Linda Lacina, Meet The Leader: Jonathan Haidt helps us take that focus closer to home. He's a social psychologist, an NYU business professor and the author of the best-selling
book, The Anxious Generation, a book that explores how a digital world is driving both depression and book anxiety in young people. Those trends are the same for grown-ups and he
explained how being more intentional with your devices can help you be more intentional with your time. Here's Jonathan on asking yourself what habits you're keeping and which
ones you can break.

Jonathan David Haidt, Thomas Cooley Professor of Ethical Leadership at the New York University Stern School of Business: What habits can you develop with your phone to increase your chances of flourishing? One thing that I've learned from teaching undergraduates and MBA students, who are in their late 20s, is that almost all young people, and a lot of older people, the very first thing they do when they wake up in the morning is check their phone for notifications. They don't get out of bed, they don't go to the bathroom, they don't make coffee, it's the phone. And what's the last thing they do before they close their eyes at night? Same thing, it's the phone. And what do they do in between? For a lot of them, mostly it's the phone. That is not a life. That is not a life with relationships. That means you are never fully present in human interactions. So one of the things that I strongly encourage all of my students to do, and I encourage all adults to do, is make a list of the first five things you do after you open your eyes and look at it and say is that really what I want and find ways to change it. Make a list of the last five things you do before you close
your eyes and look at it. Is that really what you want?

And what everyone finds is when they do that when they give themselves space to wake up and to set the day and to choose what they want to happen that day, set your intentions, you have a much better day. If you don't do that, you open your eyes, you look at your phone, your phone will now control your
thinking, your cognition, your thoughts, your priorities and your actions for the rest of the day. You'll constantly be interrupted, you'll never have deep work and you won't really amount to anything.

So willpower is overmatched. Willpower is not enough. You can't just say, I'm going to look at my phone less. You can't just say I'm gonna be present in my social life. No, that's not enough. The phones, the apps, are designed by people who study behaviourism, they study gambling and gaming addiction, they use techniques from Las Vegas in designing these apps and they are too strong for our willpower. As Angela
Duckworth writes, she wrote the book Grit, you have to do behavioural change, change your environment and then you can change your thinking and your mental health.

Linda Lacina, Meet The Leader: cis a memoirist and the writer of several books, including the best-selling The Book of Alchemy. To help people tackle isolation during the pandemic, she started what has become a journaling community with more than 300,000 members, people who find ways to reflect on the moments that matter most. Suleika's question reminds us to value impact over activity.

Suleika Jaouad, author and artist: I think the question I'm asking myself and my own work in life is also a question I am pondering on a bigger scale, which is, where am I conflating momentum with what's meaningful? It's so easy to confuse busyness with a sense of progress and, as someone who is admittedly pretty type A, when I'm doing a lot, it feels like forward motion. But the ability sometimes to pause, to take a moment to actually reflect about what I'm doing and why and where it's taking me, sometimes can be the most productive, unproductive use of time.

And, so, as we're here at Davos and having questions and conversations specifically, for example, about AI, and there is this race to innovate and very real questions about the implications of that race for humankind, for our
workforce, for our artists, I think that the focus on meaning over momentum and specifically defining the why of the momentum and the why of what's meaningful is something that I know I could benefit from and that I believe others could too.

Linda Lacina, Meet The Leader: I'd like to highlight insights from leaders that can help us right side no matter the situation. We'll start with Adam Grant. Adam Grant is an organizational psychologist at Wharton. He's also a best-selling author whose research-backed advice helps us to navigate the world of work. He talked to my colleague, Robin Pomeroy, about this moment of geopolitical tensions and the traits that can truly drive
positive change. His insights can remind us to question which leaders are worth following. Here's Adam.

Adam Grant, Organizational Psychologist and Professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania: You know, one of my biggest hopes, Robin, is that we change what we value in leadership. There's a cluster of personality traits that are called the dark triad. They are narcissism, Machiavellianism and psychopathy and this is the exact opposite of what we should be looking for in
leadership, right? Because narcissists are all about themselves. Machiavellians are manipulative and will basically believe that the end justifies the means and do whatever it takes to get ahead. And psychopaths tend to not feel a great deal of concern for others.

And we know that great leaders are the reverse of that, right? They put their mission above their ego, not their ego ahead of their mission. And whether we talk about servant leadership or some of the work that I've done on elevating givers over takers or valuing humility as opposed to arrogance, I think I would love to see that tide turn in 2026. I would love for boards of directors, when it comes to choosing CEOs, voters, when it comes to electing politicians, to put their foot down and say, character matters as much as competence and charisma and if you are not willing to put the best interests of the collective above yourself, you are unfit to lead.

People mistake confidence for competence. Narcissists are often captivating when you first meet them or when you see them from a distance. And it's only when you observe them up clos that you see their toxic tendencies. People see this aggressive dominant approach as a sign of strength. in times of flux people gravitate to the narcissist or the authoritarian leader this makes me feel safe and secure. That person's strength is what we need. and ultimately, in the longer term, it's not. the moment that individual's personal interests diverge from what's good for the company or the country, you can no longer trust them. So I think that people are making a Faustian bargain when they make that choice.

Linda Lacina, Meet The Leader: Grammy-award-winning musician Jon Batiste spoke with my colleague Kateryna Gordiychuk. He was taken by the many conversations swirling at Davos on what's needed to change the world for the better. As a creative, he reminds us it's possible to make the future that we picture. Here's Jon and what he's thinking about after
a week at Davos and how we can create the future we imagine.

Jon Batiste, Musician: What is giving me a fire is to figure out, as the artist and as a citizen of the world, how we can fully and responsibly face the challenges that have come with the technological revolution of this age. I'm very active in these conversations and also in the creation of what could be and I'm excited to see how that commitment is going to manifest. Excited about the possibilities of life-changing and high vibrational frequency emission from these different meetings, these different creations, these different ideas that are now becoming real.

I'm excited that you can make things real that are within us, in all times, not just now. We can always make things real that we receive from the creator, we can walk the path of making them real. And if it comes from the divine source, it is ultimately so purpose-driven, so fueled with a kinetic energy that it transcends space and time. And I'm excited that I have a lot of those inspirations on my spirit at this very moment. So, it's very interesting to be in this place right now. I feel like I'm almost
exploding with inspiration.

Linda Lacina, Meet The Leader: To close out this episode, I'll return to the IMF's Kristalina Georgieva. The question she'll ask herself in 2026 is the one she trains her staff to ask as
well. It's one we'd all do well to remember?

Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director, IMF: What is your response going to be when the unthinkable happens? I train my staff to think of the unthinkable. We run scenarios of things that are very low probability, but high impact and I think asking yourself how to operate in a condition of uncertainty, how to navigate when the fog is very thick and also, how do
you work with others? Because maybe somebody else has a flashlight that can help you go through the fog.

Cultivating speed of response and that sense of, together we are more resilient is what I would strongly advocate for.

Linda Lacina, Meet The Leader: Thanks so much to all the leaders who talked with me and my colleagues at the Annual Meeting and thanks so much for listening.

Find a transcript of this episode - as well as transcripts from my colleague’s podcasts Radio Davos at wef.ch/Podcasts.

This episode of Meet the Leader was produced and presented by me with Taz Kelleher as editor and Gareth Nolan driving studio production. That's it for now. I'm Linda Lacina from the World Economic Forum. Have a great day.