A Leadership Moment

One of our leaders recently shared his word for 2026: win.
He talked about how a single word would frame his year, sharpen his focus, and drive his decisions.
It stuck with me enough to make me pause and ask a quieter question: What's my word for 2026?
The answer didn't come during reflection or planning. It showed up in the middle of a team meeting.
We were deep in a conversation about KPIs, and I found myself pushing the team to look past the surface. Not everything that measures well actually matters. Volume and quantity can look impressive on a slide, but they don't always move the needle.
So I challenged us to stop measuring output and start measuring motion.

Newtown’s Third Law of Motion

To explain what I meant, I went back to first principles. Newton’s third law of motion, which states that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.
In a marketing context, this law is a vital reality check. For every tactic we deploy, there should be a measurable reaction. Marketing should never exist in isolation. It should be the spark that ignites forward motion for sales teams, for customers, for the business as a whole.
If we send an email, publish a post, or host an event and nothing moves, then we haven't created momentum. We’ve just created noise.

Overcoming Friction

Today, friction shows up everywhere. Over-complicated messaging, broken handoffs, or content that sounds polished but doesn't solve a real problem.
Leadership, in this context, is about finding where energy is being lost and removing whatever stands in its way.
Momentum happens when force and direction are aligned. When they align, energy doesn't dissipate. It compounds.

My Word for 2026: Momentum

That's when it clicked. My word for 2026 is momentum.
Not speed for speed's sake but sustained forward motion. As marketers, we have to be the primary drivers of energy within the organization. We need to ask ourselves: For every action we take, how are we creating a reaction that results in forward motion?
In 2026, I’m less interested in isolated wins and more focused on the motion that makes those wins inevitable.
That's the energy I'm chasing in 2026 and the standard I'll be holding myself to.