Here’s To 2025: Best Leadership Tips For You Moving Into 2026
It’s been a rough and tumble year for sure, and the CEOs, entrepreneurs, founders, innovators, leaders and creators who have pursued their missions in 2025 and delivered success serve as reminders of what is possible.
Take The Lead shares their best advice and insight over the past year gathered at the Power Up Conference, webinars, personal interviews, podcasts, blogs, and more, to create for you a bountiful treasure chest of helpful strategies, points of view and insights. Take what you need from these 21 powerful leaders moving into the new year, and share with friends and colleagues in order to move forward with audacious power. Here they are in alphabetical order.
“You can’t be what you can’t see. We need representative forms of leadership. One thing that quiets the noise is the sense of responsibility”-- Jacinda Ardern, former Prime Minister of New Zealand, author of A Different Kind of Power.
“We are witnessing extraordinary backsliding in the areas of equity, equality, and justice. For those who still believe in banning books, ideas, and even people, be warned. It will only spotlight that which you seek to hide, and it will turn a spark into a fire.”-- Susan Arnot Haney member of the Board of Directors of Take The Lead and a former chief marketing and communications officer.
“We are witnessing extraordinary backsliding in the areas of equity, equality, and justice,” says Susan Arnot Haney, member, Board of Directors @takeleadwomen #leadership #justice”
“I’m not a clairvoyant, there is not one future. There is only one past, but many possible futures.”—Margaret Atwood, iconic author of more than 50 books, playwright, scriptwriter, poet.
“Empathy is good for business. People misunderstand empathy for weakness. But empathy is meeting people where they are. A good leader knows where their team is and offers them opportunity for growth.”-- Shirin Behzadi, CEO of a billion-dollar home improvement franchise company and author of “The Unexpected CEO: My Journey from Gas Station Cashier to Billion-Dollar CEO,”
“Empathy is meeting people where they are. A good leader knows where their team is and offers them opportunity for growth.”— Shirin Behzadi, #CEO #franchose, #author, “The Unexpected CEO.”
“When there is an assault on sources of expertise and intellectual knowledge due to certain identities of race, gender or ability, the value assigned to individuals becomes less about what they know, and more about who they represent. This mission goes beyond politics and transcends the term limits of any administration.” --Diana L. Burley, senior vice president of research at the Brookings Institution.
“You can’t look at young people and feel hopeless. We owe it to them to keep fighting for their future alongside them.” --Nicole Chung, author, A Living Remedy and All You Can Ever Know.
“The power of mission is that it stretches you beyond yourself, and at the same time, it brings out the best of what makes you unique.” --Cady Coleman retired U.S. Air Force Colonel, NASA astronaut and author of Sharing Space: An Astronaut’s Guide to Mission, Wonder and Making Change.
“I see American people standing up. More people are organizing on social media, more people are running for office, and more universities are standing up. What is understudied is the extraordinary amount of organization to fight back, especially among older women.” --Heather Cox Richardson, Boston College History Professor, and author of Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America.
“More people are organizing on #socialmedia, more people are running for office, and more universities are standing up. What is understudied is the extraordinary amount of organization to fight back, especially among older women.” — @HC_Richardson @Bostoncollege #leadership”
“No matter how smart and talented you are, if you do not know how to create change, none of it matters. The biggest hurdle we will ever face is the one in our minds. Your voice is not a performance, it is a power. When you own your voice, you shift the world.”-- Felicia Davis, CEO and founder of Haus of Vocal Empowerment and Take The Lead Leadership Ambassador
“The question is not whether progress happened. The question is whether we are continuing it.”—Wendy Farrell, podcast host.
”Having the courage to know and show yourself is the ultimate gift of integrity. And for me, precisely because of the years of hard excavation through the muck of socialization, integrity is the most important of all virtues. Though the path is arduous, the destination gives the oxygen necessary for survival.”-- Gloria Feldt, co-founder and president of Take The Lead.
“Feminism is embedded in every aspect of our lives. This is not just about women, it’s about everyone. “ -- Roxane Gay, author, editor, columnist, and editor of the new anthology The Portable Feminist Reader.
“Feminism is embedded in every aspect of our lives. This is not just about women, it’s about everyone. “ — @rgay #leadership #feminist #genderequity”
“I want us to change the structures of power. Social movements are all about young people. There is a reason young people feel free to challenge systems.”-- Nikole Hannah-Jones, creator of the 1619 docuseries and Knight Chair in Race and Journalism at Howard University where she is the founding director of the Center for Journalism & Democracy,
“Economics is the science of choice and the study of how people make decisions. Economics is a way of thinking about and understanding your world.”-- Kim Holder, managing director of the Center for Economics Education at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
“Too many organizations make gender parity, fairness and inclusion a women-only issue, so men don’t think they’re united in this.” --W. Brad Johnson, co-author with David Smith of Good Guys: How Men Can Be Better Allies for Women in the Workplace.
“Too many organizations make gender parity, fairness and inclusion a women-only issue, so men don’t think they’re united in this.” —W. Brad Johnson, co-author with David Smith of “Good Guys.” #genderparity @takeleadwomen #menasallies ”
“I challenge us all to keep sending down the elevators to send women up.”-- Dr. Winter Okoth, infectious disease scientist and founder of the non-profit, Pamoja Kenya Mentorship Alliance, and winner of the Take The Lead Trailblazer Power Tool Award
“We need diversity of thinking, we need to focus very hard. By 2030 companies are not going to have the talent and skills they need to grow and survive.” --Christie Smith, Ph.D., founder and CEO of The Humanity Studio, and co-author with Kelly Monahan of Essential: How Distributed Teams, Generative AI and Global Shifts Arte Creating A New Human-Powered Leadership,
“We need diversity of thinking, we need to focus very hard. By 2030 companies are not going to have the talent and skills they need to grow and survive.” —Christie Smith, Ph.D., founder, CEO, The Humanity Studio. #leadership #diversity #fairness #inclusion ”
“Behavior change is not a one and done destination, it is a creative process. You are the CEO of your health, so take ownership. Health is your competitive advantage as it adds clarity, capacity and joy to your life.” -- Shannah Van Winkle, CEO and founder of VanWinkle Energy Consulting
“In a healing ecosystem, each being needs to be themselves, as diversity matters for productivity and stability. This is shared abundance.” --Robin Wall Kimmerer, Indigenous scientist, botanist and author of Braiding Sweetgrass and The Serviceberry: An Economy of Gifts and Abundance.
“Networking is critical to growth; that is how doors open. No matter one’s age, walk in life and boxes we put ourselves in (or let others put us in), we can break out and grow to be our best self.” -- Margaret (Peggy) Wilmoth, PhD, MSS, RN, FAAN, retired Major General, and professor, Executive Dean at UNC School of Nursing, and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs.
“Networking is critical to growth; that is how doors open. No matter one’s age, walk in life and boxes we put ourselves in (or let others put us in), we can break out and grow to be our best self.” — Peggy Wilmoth, retired Maj. Gen. prof, Executive Dean @UNC School of Nursing #networking #growth #2026 #career”
“I have a passion for people to follow their heart and manifest their life work. It is a way to not just to look at our lives, but a way to see, feel, and support people in your life.” —Tricia Sybersma, founder of HeartWorks, a business of animal-created art to support people through transformative moments.
Happy New Year from Take The Lead and best wishes on all your leadership efforts.
