Year of the Horse? Year of Change.

Depending on who you ask, the Year of the Fire Horse is associated with speed, momentum, and bold movement. It’s a time marked by transition, forward motion, and the sense that standing still isn’t really an option.

You don’t need a lunar calendar to notice that 2026 already feels like that. Giddy-up!

So far, the leadership vibe this year has been defined by rapid, overlapping change that keeps altering the terrain faster than teams can fully settle.

Layoffs continue to ripple through organizations well into the year. Companies like Amazon and Meta have announced additional workforce reductions, reinforcing that this isn’t a clean reset from last year but an ongoing recalibration. Even teams that aren’t directly impacted feel the downstream effects through tighter capacity, lingering uncertainty, and emotional fatigue that doesn’t disappear when the org chart stabilizes.

Re-orgs are just as common, if less public. They rarely make headlines, but they show up in earnings calls, analyst days, and internal announcements as companies flatten layers, shift priorities, and redraw ownership lines. Titles stay the same. Expectations change. Leaders are asked to operate inside structures that are still forming underneath them.

Mergers and acquisitions add another layer of disruption. Major deals announced in prior years are still being integrated and felt on the ground. HPE’s acquisition of Juniper Networks continues to reshape teams, strategies, and product roadmaps, while large financial and technology combinations announced earlier are still working through integration, culture, and operating model decisions. For leaders inside those systems, the change is not theoretical, it's daily.

It’s all change. It’s all fast. And it’s cumulative.

What makes this moment especially demanding is that it requires real leadership rather than simple day to day management. Keeping the trains running is no longer enough. Teams are looking for steadiness, clarity, and clean decision making in the middle of real uncertainty.

That kind of leadership takes intention. And support.

Over the last week, I’ve added three new pieces to the Leaders Library designed specifically for our highly disrupted times. They are not necessarily meant to be consumed all at once or even implemented as a system. They are simply practical tools to help you turn down the noise just enough to see what the situation is actually asking of you as a leader.

𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗧𝗵𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝗟𝗮𝘆𝗼𝗳𝗳𝘀: For leaders carrying responsibility for difficult decisions and their human impact. This piece focuses on steadiness, clarity, and dignity when the work itself is heavy and there are no clean answers.

𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲 𝗙𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗴𝘂𝗲 𝗖𝗵𝗲𝗰𝗸: A short diagnostic tool to help you distinguish between real resistance and a team that is simply worn down by too much change in too little time. It’s designed to stop you from escalating the wrong fix.

𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲 𝗪𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗕𝘂𝘆-𝗜𝗻: A practical guide for moments when waiting for consensus is quietly stalling progress. This piece helps you understand when buy-in truly matters and when clear, contained leadership is what actually reduces anxiety and restores momentum.

If rapid and ongoing change is the defining condition of this year, then leadership is not about having all the answers. It’s about knowing how to steady people, make clean decisions, and reduce unnecessary strain while everything else keeps moving.

That work is harder than it looks and you don’t have to do it alone.

You can find these three pieces, along with the rest of the Leaders Library, at https://leadingwithmeaning.com/library

Take what’s useful. Leave the rest. Subscribe to this newsletter to get future updates.

And remember, the goal is not perfection. It’s sustainable growth as leaders.