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The past year saw unprecedented change and turmoil in the labor market, from pandemic-era layoffs to AI fundamentally and tangibly turning the workforce on its head. But its in these times of uncertainty and transition that leadership becomes of paramount importance. In 2025, the very nature of leadership itself morphed along with the times, and specific themes resonated with readers in specific ways. And theyre bound to remain very much in the game heading into 2026. Here are some of Fast Companys most popular leadership stories from the last year. Managing underperformers We live in a world of quiet quitting and more workers rejecting hustle culture and the rise-and-grind that defined the last couple of decades. While there are valid reasons fuelling some of this behaviorworkers holding steadfast in their desire for work-life balance, for example, or resisting corporate control when they can be brazenly let go at the drop of a hatother team members may simply be phoning it in or slacking. Underperformance doesnt just materialize, writes Roxanne Calder. Unfortunately, far too many companies prioritize optics over results, turn to placating instead of coaching, and compensate instead of addressing. Multi-hyphenate leadership Entrepreneur. Author. Executive. Board member. Founder. Teacher. Storyteller. These are just a few labels business leaders may gravitate toward when describing their careers, or even current roles. Nowadays, multi-hyphenated monikers not only better describe the full dimensionality of a leaders skills, but also how success involves lots of paths, not a straightforward ladder to a single title. Awareness of this multifaceted quality gained more attention in 2025especially for women, write Alison Moore and Nada Usina. Mother and manager, founder and caregiver, mentor and innovator, they write. What looked nonlinear was simply a different kind of training ground, one that creates resilience, adaptability, and perspective. Not everyone wants to be a leader at all Theres a truism in work: if you want the fancy title, the extra respect and responsibility and most important, the big bucks . . . you have to become a manager. You can only go so far unless you manage people, writes Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic. We live in a culture that glorifies leadershipbut not everyone wants to have direct reports. And thats okay. Especially because, in truth, a lot of people are just bad at it. Data from organizational psychology is sobering: Most people are not competent leaders, Chamorro-Premuzic continues. Studies suggest that 50% to 60% of leaders are seen as ineffective by their employees, and engagement surveys regularly show that my manager is the single biggest factor driving dissatisfaction at work. The rise of fractional leaders 2025 saw more of a spotlight on whats known as fractional leaders: senior leaders moving away from high-power, high-profile roles at a single company and instead providing strategic consulting and C-suite-level experience on a part-time basis to many different companies. Typically theyre people with executive experience who are looking for better work-life balance. From fractional CEOs to CFOs, its an employment setup for leaders whove long sat atop the summit of the org chart desiring a change of pace, and it was on the ascent this year: Sara Daw writes that [fractional leaders] feel like they can have a greater impact on a small organization than within the constraints of a large corporation. The interim CEO And with CEOs specifically, 2025 saw more turnover in the head boss position at many companies, leading to a trend dubbed interim CEOs. Nearly a quarter of new CEOs named in the first two months of 2025 were hired on an interim basis, versus 8% in the same period last year, Mansueto Ventures CEO Stephanie Mehta writes. It often occurs when theres a sudden vacancy in the position, and someone needs to quickly step in to buy the board more time in a search for a successor. And currently, the talent pool for CEOs is uniquely robust: Many of the CEOs exiting business right now are baby boomer and Gen X retirees who are eager to remain active by taking on interim roles.
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E-Commerce
I just launched a wine app, which means I’ve spent the last six months thinking obsessively about one thing: how do you remove friction from decisions that shouldn’t be hard? The answer taught me something bigger about rituals, and why so many of the ones we create at the end and beginning of the year fail us. Here’s my founder story, but from the wine aisle. Last December, I was standing in front of a wall of bottles, paralyzed. Not because I don’t like wine. I do. I was paralyzed because the entire experience was designed to make me feel small. The sommelier energy, the gatekeeping language, the implied message that if I couldn’t name the terroir, I didn’t deserve a good bottle. So I did what I always did: grabbed the same safe choice, went home, and told myself I’d “branch out next time.” But here’s the founder insight I missed: I wasn’t actually going to branch out. The friction was too high. The stakes felt too real. So I’d repeat the same ritual, the same bottle, the same outcome, because at least it was safe. This is exactly how most people approach their end-of-year and New Year rituals. They feel obligatory. Performative. Exhausting. You’re supposed to reflect deeply, set 10 ambitious goals, create a vision board, establish a meditation practice. It all sounds great in theory. In practice? Most people abandon their resolutions by January 15th. Here’s why: we’re designing rituals for the person we think we should be, not the person we actually are. As a founder, I’ve learned that the best products remove friction around what people actually want to do. The same principle applies to rituals. So instead of telling you to rethink your entire approach, here’s what actually works: 1. Audit Your Rituals for Performance vs. Authenticity Before the New Year, write down your current rituals and practices. Your morning routine. Your goal-setting process. Your end-of-day wind-down. The commitments you’ve made to yourself. Now ask: Which of these would I do if nobody was watching? Which ones feel authentic to how I actually want to live? If your answer is “honestly, not many,” you’ve identified your problem. You’re living someone else’s ritual. I built Theodora because I realized I was performing wine expertise instead of just enjoying wine. Once I removed that performance, everything changed. 2. Replace Goal-Setting with Three Core Questions Instead of your 10-goal action plan, try this framework: What do I actually spend time on when nothing is required of me? (What you’re naturally drawn to.) Who do I want to spend more time with? (What relationship matters.) What outcome would make 2026 feel like a win, stripped of all performance? (What success actually looks like to you, not what it’s supposed to look like.) Write these down. These three answers are your real ritual. Everything else is just context. Most people I know abandon their New Year’s resolutions because those resolutions were designed by someone else’s standard of success. When you build from what actually matters to you, the rituals stick. 3. Identify Your Friction Points and Remove Them As I was building the app, I asked myself: What stops people from choosing wine they love? The answer was friction: too many options, unclear labels, judgment if you didn’t know the language. So I removed it. Simplified the decision. Let people be honest about what they wanted. Do the same with your rituals. What gets in the way when youre setting your goals? Dont judge yourself for not being disciplined enough and instead build systems that are easy for you. Is it that you hate planning spreadsheets? Don’t use them. Is it that you feel guilty about not journaling? Don’t journal. Find the practice that actually works for your brain and your life, not the one that looks good on Instagram. The people I respect most aren’t the ones with the fanciest routines. They’re the ones whose rituals are so well-designed for their actual life that the rituals almost disappear. They just work. Here’s the bottom line for anyone building a 2026 strategy, whether that’s business goals, leadership development, or personal goals: Stop designing your rituals for who you think you should be. Stop performing. Audit what’s actually working, build from what you genuinely care about, and remove the friction that’s keeping you stuck repeating last year’s choices. Good rituals don’t feel like work. They feel like they were made for you, because they were. As we head into the New Year, that’s the framework I’m offering: Stop trying to look the part. Start designing the rituals that actually move you forward. Everything else is just noise.
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E-Commerce
Porsche is recalling 173,538 vehicles in the U.S. as the rearview camera image may not display when the vehicle is placed in reverse, the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said on Wednesday. This is one of the largest single safety recalls issued by Porsche Cars North America in recent years, following a 2022 recall pertaining to missing headlight adjustment screw covers that affected 222,858 vehicles. The current recall affects certain 2019-2025 Cayenne, Cayenne E-Hybrid, 2020-2025 911, Taycan, 2024-2025 Panamera, and 2025 Panamera E-Hybrid models. The regulator flagged that the vehicles fail to comply with the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard’s requirement for rear visibility. Dealers will update the driver assistance software, free of charge, the regulator said. Earlier this year, the NHTSA also issued recalls of Hyundai Motor America, Ford Motor, Toyota Motor, and Chrysler vehicles over similar rearview camera issues that may fail to display, increasing the risk of a crash. Ruchika Khanna and Aatreyee Dasgupta, Reuters
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E-Commerce
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