How our C-suite clients navigated the uncertainty of 2025

Impact’s coaches have hundreds of conversations with senior executives every year. Looking back at our 2025 conversations and synthesizing what we heard, we see powerful themes that had important impacts on leaders last year and will continue to influence their organizations well into 2026.

2025: A year of constant change

Leaders spent much of 2025 grappling with uncertainty including economic volatility, technological acceleration, shifting markets, and changing talent needs. But the conversations consistently returned to one question:

Do we have the right people, with the right skills, in the right roles, at the right time?

To help answer this question, leaders frequently revisited strategic plans, and tried different ways of approaching their growth, talent, and culture goals including:

1. Navigating uncertainty without losing momentum

Leaders were deeply aware that external volatility wasn’t likely to disappear any time soon. So, rather than wait for stability to return, they learned how to make decisions in the midst of all the change and ambiguity.

They focused on balancing near-term performance with longer-term investments. Moving quickly, without burning out teams or sacrificing culture.

2. Talent as the primary constraint

While leaders often discussed technology and capital as key challenges, talent consistently emerged as the toughest roadblock. Leaders spoke about the issues around:

• Attracting and retaining critical skills.
• Achieving or maintaining leadership bench strength and succession.
• Developing internal talent fast enough to meet evolving demands.

Senior executives also felt hiring alone couldn’t solve these problems. Instead, they looked to enhancing capabilities, clarifying roles, and developing their leaders as the critical ways to manage some of their biggest talent challenges.

3. Technology forcing a rethink of roles

Technology, particularly AI, was present in nearly every strategic conversation, but rarely in isolation. Leaders weren’t just asking what technology to adopt, but how it would change work:

• Which roles need to evolve?
• Which skills will matter most?
• How do leaders support teams through disruption without losing trust or engagement?

Many leaders realized that new tech would only create value if their people could adapt to it.

2025 was a year filled with lots of change across Canada and around the world. While leading their organizations through it all, our C-suite clients looked at every issue with great vision and insight, while also keeping their people and culture front and centre. Using this approach, they found new ways to help their organizations work better, connect, and thrive.

Check back with us in the new year, when we’ll take a look at what CEOs are expecting and prioritizing in 2026.