Davos 2026—Where Leadership Gets Stress-Tested in Real-Time
As global leaders gear up for the mountain-side conversations of World Economic Forum [this/next week] in Davos, I want to share some wisdom from someone who has [watched/lived] it.
Davos is not just another conference; it is where the gap between what leaders say and what stakeholders expect gets exposed instantly. And, according to FGS Global’s Radar 2026 research, that gap has never been wider or more dangerous.
Earlier this month, our firm launched its annual Radar research report. This year’s edition brings together insights from 175 senior leaders in business, politics and media with polling of 20,000 people across 27 countries. The result is a comprehensive snapshot of the key forces – geopolitical shifts, economic divides, the rise of AI and declining trust – that will define our clients’ realities in 2026.
To me, that snapshot is revealing if not unsurprising. Our research identified three approaches that communications leaders need to get right if they want to break through the noise of our cacophonous ecosystem.
Ditch the platitudes
Our Radar data shows 76% of people feel their country is divided, and 73% believe life will be harder for the next generation. Generic commitments win you nothing when stakeholders are this pessimistic with little sign of an incoming optimistic swing.
Gone are the days of empty promises aimed at reaching the universal “good.” Instead, it’s crucial to think through the realities of your market and develop realistic communication strategies that both acknowledge its current challenges and offers achievable solutions to them.
Prepare for multi-stakeholder collision
What plays in the boardroom crashes with civil society. What satisfies Brussels alienates Washington. These are key mantras to live by as communicators, especially while navigating Davos.
Now more than ever, we need accept that there is no “one size fits all” when it comes to managing and targeting multiple stakeholder groups. Each deserves a bespoke approach to stakeholder engagement that meets them where they are natively with messaging tailored to their wants and needs … and your institutional goals.
Show authenticity over performance
Stakeholders of all sorts can smell manufactured stakeholder capitalism from a mile away. The lesson that carries beyond the mountain? We're operating in a permanently atomized stakeholder economy where influence flows through decentralized networks, not mainstream channels.
In only two of 27 countries we polled do people trust mainstream media more than they mistrust it. Leaders who keep waiting for things to "settle down" are deluding themselves.
Looking ahead to Davos … and the rest of 2026 more broadly … we need to build for complexity, for contradiction and for constant navigation. Strategy, agility, authenticity, and relentless storytelling are what will separate leaders who understand the stakeholder economy from those still operating in the shareholder-first paradigm.
Download the FGS Global’s Radar 2026 research.
