Unlock The #1 Secret to Leading
Issue 2873— January 27, 2026
Easily the best speech I’ve heard by a leader recently-- or perhaps ever-- was Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s at the 2026 World Economic Forum at Davos. If you are leading a team or even a team of one (yourself), you can learn a lot from this speech, far beyond the panoply of Davos’ topics.
I admire this speech not because it’s packed with substance, rather than being heavy on bloviation as politicians are wont to do.
And not because the prose is beautiful (though it is), or because it contains a story with a memorable metaphor of a sign in the window, while also quoting Thucydides, though I do love a good classics reference.
It’s also not because the speech skillfully eviscerates the bullying kind of power rampant among the world’s so-called “strongmen” and equally dexterously skewers those who appease bullies.
Watch Carney’s full speech here.
You might wonder why I’m highlighting a male leader, since I focus Take The Lead’s work and my personal mission on accelerating women’s leadership to parity. I regret to report that while women’s participation has risen in the annual Davos gathering, let’s face it, the preponderance of world leaders are still men. Women now make up 20-25% of Davos attendees, according to the technology company The Nine, but even fewer on the main panels and consequential speeches.
That said, Carney’s speech is a worthy representation of the central mindshift in my 9 Leadership Power Tools courses for women.
We change the power paradigm from the traditional oppressive power over assumption that has driven the narrative of history for millennia to the generative idea of Power TO that today’s economy, based on brains not brawn, calls for.
That shift enables women in our programs to embrace their power with authenticity, confidence, and joy. The result is proven acceleration of women’s leadership journeys. And guess what? It works for men too.
In my mind the most impressive leadership play in Carney’s speech-- and one that every leader of any gender should emulate-- is Carney’s articulation of a clear positive vision and how to implement it.
It’s a vision that elevates people to their higher selves by reminding them first of how much power they actually have and then gives a concrete action agenda rather than merely a response to the challenges they face.
One of the leadership experts I studied and most admired when I was starting my career was the late distinguished University of Southern California professor of business administration Warren Bennis, who said that the first and most important responsibility of leadership is the creation of meaning.
That’s what a vision does. It is proactive, not reactive. It has a clear point of view. It sets the table rather than placing us on the menu, as the quip Carney included in his speech goes.
The creation of meaning in the form of a vision is at the heart of Carney’s speech. Here are five ways he calmly and clearly shared that vision for Canada and what he called “the middle powers” and the rest of the world.
✅ He asserts the truth that the less powerful are not powerless. This is the most important mindset starting place in my experience, and that’s why I start leadership development programs with this principle.
You always have power of some kind. Know your power, YOUR power. What is YOUR unique or even your not so unique assets you bring to the table?
Whether it’s knowledge, resources of some sort, connections—name and claim the power you have rather than judging yourself by what others have.
This is where Carney quotes Thucydides: “…the strong can do what they can, and the weak must suffer what they must.” Then he goes on to demonstrate with examples why that is actually not true.
✅ He shows courage by calling out those who try to get along by going along. “You cannot live within the lie of mutual benefit through integration when integration becomes the source of your subordination.” Great alliteration, no?
Courage builds trust. Trust is a source of people’s willingness to follow a leader. And it turns out that people follow people who have a point of view much more quickly than those who are wishy washy or murky in their positions.
✅ Carney leads people to their higher values and aspirations: “The question is whether we adapt by simply building higher walls, or whether we can do something more ambitious… Or, to put it another way, we aim to be both principled and pragmatic. And we are no longer just relying on the strength of our values, but also the value of our strength.” (Fantastic juxtaposition of words that make the phrases unforgettable and quotable. This is also a masterclass in persuasive language.)
✅ Having laid the groundwork, he introduces a new vision: “In a world of great power rivalry, the countries in between have a choice: compete with each other for favor, or combine to create a third path with impact. We shouldn’t allow the rise of hard power to blind us to the fact that the power of legitimacy, integrity and rules will remain strong if we choose to wield it together.”
He is setting the agenda.
That, by the way, is also the core principle of my Leadership Power Tool #2: Define your own terms first, before someone else defines you. Curious to learn more? I’ll be opening the doors to the full course February 17 but you can check it out and enroll now here.
✅ Defining your own terms is key and crucial for people to see themselves in the vision and want to participate in its implementation: “It means building what we claim to believe in, rather than waiting for the old order to be restored.”
He concludes where he started, “The powerful have their power. But we have something too: the capacity to stop pretending, to name realities, to build our strength at home and to act together.”
The rest of the famous Thucydides quote is as apropos as the first part which Carney quoted: “The bravest are surely those who have the clearest vision of what is before them, glory and danger alike, and yet notwithstanding, go out to meet it.”
Act, don’t just react. Define your agenda. Articulate a clear vision consistent with your values and your powers. Then act on it strategically. That’s the way forward.
GLORIA FELDT is the Co-founder and President of Take The Lead, a motivational speaker, and a global expert in women’s leadership development and DEI for individuals and companies that want to build gender balance. She is a bestselling author of five books, most recently Intentioning: Sex, Power, Pandemics, and How Women Will Take The Lead for (Everyone’s) Good. Honored as Forbes 50 Over 50, and Former President of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, she is a frequent media commentator. Learn more at www.gloriafeldt.com and www.taketheleadwomen.com. Find her @GloriaFeldt on all social media.