The leadership we need in 2026 - Why our democracies need kind and warm leaders now

What if our most powerful response to voices that try to divide and intimidate us was not fear - but warmth?

I took the microphone to remind us of our power - especially in these times of division, tough news and personal overwhelm for many of us. I hope that my words help you recharge and shift your power so that you can shine your light again; with a sense of confidence for 2026 - and with the leadership we truly need right now: kindness, warmth and togetherness.

Listen to the full speech here:

Keynote Speech: The Leadership We Need in 2026

Please scroll down for the full speech transcript.

Speech Summary:

What if our kindness, empathy, openness and re-connection to each other were our most powerful keys to counterbalance those who want to divdide us? And what if we need especially warm, kind and consensual leaders now to protect the very foundations of our societies and our democracies that are at stake right now?

Authoritarian voices divide us to stay in power

The loud, strong men and women that we see at the moment: they thrive from dividing us. They thrive from creating mistrust between us. Let’s be clear: they thrive only when they succeed to disconnect us. This is one of the oldest mechanisms of dominant and authoritarian power. Let us start seeing these patterns for what they are so that we can step out of feeling intimidated and begin to regain our power.

What if kindness and empathy for each other were our strongest response?

What if our most powerful response right now was the opposite of dominance and fear? What if our hope, openness, warmth, confidence and empathy were actually the strongest tools we have - not only to move forward, but to protect the foundations of our societies and our democracies. This kind of leadership doesn’t come from being louder or more dominant, but from kindness, care, and creating a sense of togetherness again. That’s our strongest key against authoritarian power: to stay deeply connected to each other. When we do this, and work for this, we can step forward again.

We are not powerless: let’s be the light in someone else’s darkness

We don’t need titles or positions to for that - this kind of leadership starts within each of us. We can exercise this leadership at every work meeting, at the family table, or with friends. In times that feel dark, our everyday acts of courage, warmth and kindness can be the light for someone else, getting them out of their numbness and overwhelm, reminding them of their strength, hope and power again. And when we choose to be that light, even in small ways, that courage spreads - and together, we can lift each other up, hold each other together - and recreate the foundations of our societies, with a forward-looking vision for our future again.

Let’s step forward in 2026

Let’s spread this confidence and move forward together - at every meeting you attend, every event, every post you publish.

If you would like me to contribute with this speech at your conference, podcast or interview panel in early 2026, let’s be in touch: You can send a request to book me as your Conference Keynote Speaker, interview guest or moderator here.

Thank you for stepping forward in 2026,

Helene

Please scroll down for the full speech transcript.

Behind the scenes: Recording “The Leadership We Need in 2026” in Berlin

Full speech transcript:

The leadership we need in 2026 - Why our democracies need kind and warm leaders now

I'm coming with a message today. To remind us of our power that we have right now. Because I understand: many of us feel overwhelmed with the situation in the world. Many of us even feel numb. 

I have so many friends who say, I don't watch the news anymore. It's just too much. And many of us are also at capacity. Let's be honest. We also have to face so many tough information and crises at the moment. We are living through a time of global instability. And we are also observing how the rise of authoritarian voices are challenging the very foundations of our societies and of what makes us live together. The rules, and also the values and rights that so many of us have fought for for such a long time and fought for so hard: the right to freely love and believe and speak.

All of this is shaking right now. And in the face of such forces, this overwhelm that we feel at the moment: I feel it's only normal that many of us feel numb. Powerless. We may retrieve, and me too. I do that from time to time. We have to protect our energy at the moment, right? Sometimes we feel like putting our head in the sand -to survive, right? To keep going. And not everybody can be powerful at the moment.

But let's also, and this is why I am standing here today saying this, not be passive. Because this is exactly what many voices want right now:

That we become passive and feel powerless.

What if our most powerful response was the opposite of passiveness and fear?

What if our hope, our openness, our warmth, our confidence, our empathy were the strongest tools that we may have right now to move forward and to even preserve the foundations of our society, of our democracies.

So this here is a reminder of our power. Of how much we can do at the moment.

Because such historic moments of uncertainty that we are going through right now demand a new kind of leadership.

And this is a leadership that doesn't start from the top. We don't need a political title for that, or a role or external power. It's a leadership that starts from within all of us without dominance or being loud or without intimidation and hardship. It's a leadership that comes from within that we call kindness and warmth.

What if these values and our sense of togetherness and building bridges are actually the tools that get us out of this situation. I say that we need exactly these qualities right now to come together again, to get our power back. As communities, as friends, as people. To feel confidence into the future again. And to trust in ourselves and in each other again.

Let me underline this claim and this call with a few points now, because, that's my first point:

I think authoritarian rulers, those loud, strong men and women that we see at the moment, they thrive from dividing us.

They thrive from creating mistrust between us and between each other. They thrive only when they disconnect us.

This is one of their tools. This is one of their mechanisms to spread fear and intimidation, a feeling of "us against them". And especially now that the economic challenges are rising, many of us are losing their jobs or are scared of losing their jobs. This of course, becomes even stronger. This feeling of "I may lose out".

And of course, AI or social media and the way we perceive and receive news these days doesn't help us either because it's so framed to creating loud voices and noise around the extreme poles of different opinions. The loudest, the most extreme: "are you against or for"? So when we are a little bit intimidated, don't have so much energy, we are becoming receptive to that. And that is one of the oldest mechanisms and methods of authoritarian power. To gain control, to actually stay in control, and especially when you actually don't feel so powerful.

I say this because I see it myself in so many workplaces I work with. I work as a leadership consultant and trainer with so many women and also men in leadership roles who want to change the work culture in their organisations. And I see, and I hear and work with many women who tell me "there's an atmosphere in our workplace of intimidation, of making people feel small".

They say, "I have a boss who has this dominant behavior and I feel small". So I want to say that if you know that as well, that somebody leads with dominance and fear and that we are even scared and sometimes even not speaking up anymore. This is not strong leadership.

It's a coping mechanism. To stay in control, to gain power when you actually feel powerless. When you feel disconnection to yourself and you're not really sure of yourself. In order to stay strong and to feel strong, you intimidate others. You make other people feel small. So that you can sustain, so that you can survive.

Many people with these characteristics, they often get to the top of organisations or of countries to stay in their own control. It's a coping and surviving mechanism. When we can start seeing that as observers. When we can observe and dismantle and unveil these mechanisms, we may feel a little bit less as the victim of that or as an object of that. But we can regain our control. You know, our power.

This is not about judging other people. This would, again, be looking down at them. It's about observing with compassion, seeing what is going on. And I call on all of us to see that right now what is going on in our politics, society, economy, businesses.

So that we can get our power back and step forward again - with the leadership that we need right now.

Not with force. Not with dominance. Not by being even louder. But by doing the opposite. By bringing people together again with acts of kindness, warmth, care, togetherness.

This may sound like counterintuitive first, right? Because we may say, "well, we can only respond to force with force". We have to look also at our geostrategic situation.

But just because we're being attacked in a military sense, doesn't mean that we should become passive and only react. React to this. I want to call on us to also act. And to make a choice on how we want to respond for us.

I say that because I hear from so many leaders -and especially women- who tell me "My boss tells me I'm not tough enough. I need to toughen up. I'm not strong enough. I need to become louder and more competitive and more of a fighter to make it here in my career". And you see how the workplace is always a small universe of how power works in the world, in our society.

And my message is that:

At a time when we see so many strong men and women shout, I believe we need even more leaders who are warm to rebalance exactly that.

We may think that we need to respond with loudness.

But what we actually need and what the world is craving for is warmth again, connection, empathy. Kindness.

I'm not saying that one is more powerful than the other, but we need to rebalance that.

That's why I want to call you.

In case you feel "I'm more of a sensitive person. I'm actually quite caring and kind". If this is you and you feel like this, please hear this.

Your qualities are leadership qualities.

They are powerful. They bring people together. They make others feel seen again. They stabilise teams and communities. They create trust and safety again. And that's why we need you right now with your warmth and empathy and kindness. If you are somebody who is like that and who may have retrieved in the past couple of months and years, because it's just a lot.

These strengths are often not rewarded in power systems, also not at the workplace. But they are the key to turn our situation around right now. I deeply believe in that. These are not soft skills as we sometimes call them. They are hardcore leadership qualities that are needed at the top of every organisation, in every family, in every team, at the top of every country.

We need warmth and empathy and kindness right now. Humbleness and sensitive leaders who start seeing each other again. And if at the moment, so many leaders choose fear and hardship, coldness. The opposite needs to be our answer. As Jacinda Arden, the former Prime Minister of New Zealand, said in her memoir:

We always have a choice on how we want to respond.

It takes courage not to respond with the same language. But it's powerful to respond with warmth. And I want to call everyone forward right now. We need to step forward even more as warm, kind leaders with empathy and care for one another. To rebalance what is going on right now.

I want to have the courage today to make a choice and to say this so that you may have that courage too, and make that choice. Let us dare not to be just responsive and passive and defensive, but to be offensive again.

To go out there with a vision for our society, for our communities, for our businesses, for our economy, of how we want to live together, how we want to work together. How we want to be in a society that has transformed so much in the last years. There are so many opportunities that are in there as well.

And I want to call on all of us to paint a picture again of how that could look like. Paint a vision again, that has a sense of confidence into the future because there are so many reasons to be confident. I'm an entrepreneur, I'm a business owner myself, and every crisis has so many opportunities because change is possible.

Let's watch our tone right now.

I want to call on all the responsible leaders in media, politics, everybody who has a voice. It may be you and it's certainly you. That the tone of our voice and of what we say and how we respond and publish at the moment does something to ourselves:

Are we just responsive and defensive, or are we painting a positive, confident idea of what is possible and what could become possible again.

Let me give you an example. I'm a moderator and I moderate a lot of conferences. And you may think: a moderator, she announces people, she asks questions and she says "hello" on stage. But I'm using every opportunity to be on stage, even just as a moderator, which is a huge responsibility to create a sense of hope in the room. Every conference we go to at the moment is an opportunity to give each other energy and power back and a sense of confidence.

It's a huge difference if we leave a conference or an event that we attend with a sense of "OMG, it's gonna be a lot. I don't know how to tackle all of these challenges. Whew. It's exhausting".

Or with a sense of "okay. It is challenging. We can do something about it. I feel energised and powerful again, that together we can twist this around".

I think every event is such an opportunity right now. But also every article you may publish on social media or every call, every conversation in your family may be such an opportunity. And that's why I call on all of us. All of you, all movers and change-makers. Those with a voice and those who have the privilege at the moment - it's a privilege to speak freely and to be able to have a stage or speak your mind.

Not all of us have that privilege right now. Let's be very clear about that. There are so many people at the moment who, because of their beliefs or the way they love or they think are being not only discriminated. But they're facing violence at the moment. It's not safe for them to speak up all the time.

So if it's safe for you and you have that power, most of us have still. Let's use that. No matter if you work as an assistant in a company or if you are a change-maker and a decision-maker. I think we all have that opportunity.

Because most of us want to be together again.

Most of us don't want a society of fear and mistrust. I think we are so many who want that and who are actually craving for this sense of togetherness and warmth again in our society. Let's use our power that we have every day. Let's remind each other because that power, that confidence, is contagious too.

That courage is contagious. We can only give it to each other. By being courageous ourselves. AI will never be able to give us that courage. We can only do it to each other with each other. Let's do that now. It's really, really important right now.

Let's be the light for one other person.

If we feel that these times are very dark and feel sometimes really dark to many of us. We all need sometimes a light at the horizon who reminds us. Who gives us strength again and hope and confidence, right. So. If I could be that light today for you, just with my words and with me taking the microphone today. Then I know that you can be that light too. Somebody who can reignite the strength and the hope in one other person.

Just remind each other that these things are possible with your warmth and your care and your connection. Sometimes we cannot be the light for somebody else. Right. Sometimes me too, we want to retrieve and we want to feel safe.

And then me too. I need somebody else again. To remind me, to give me hope and to give me some light. So thank you for doing that too, because you know we need that for each other at the moment. Sometimes it's a small gesture that you can make just by thanking someone. Maybe you want to give somebody a shout-out and thank somebody who has given you courage and made you believe in yourself again.

Maybe you just want to check in with someone again and say, how are you? Make them feel seen, make them feel heard. These are very small gestures. They're changing everything at the moment. They can change everything for one person. And I know I spoke big politics today. Democracy, the future of our societies. But it starts with our mini small conversations, our mini connections that we can give each other again. By reconnecting to ourselves, taking care of ourselves, and checking in with one other person. Because if more and more people pass on that light of hope and confidence, one by one. We can together create a powerful momentum for change again.

I hope I could give you this confidence back today with my messages.

So let this be a strong reminder here of the power you have. That we are not powerless against rising strong men and women and distrust. Against loud voices that try to divide us.

Our everyday kindness and care for each other, our empathy and courage are our power. All of us. To preserve our democracy and to push back against voices of fear. So let us use this power now. Now is the time. And we can do it through the smallest gestures to create sparks again and to create a future that is worth living in. And where we can be together.

Thank you.