Editorial
This year, employees aren’t asking for another wellness initiative or a shiny new platform.
They’re asking for something far more personal and impactful: A leader who helps them focus, grow and sustain their energy in a world that feels constantly on and uncertain.
Meg Scales, director of Coach & Member Development at 10X CEO, shared insights from their 360 assessment data of 50 CEOs across SaaS and consumer businesses. It tells a powerful story about what employees value most in their leaders, and what they’re hoping for next
Most employees see their leaders as fundamentally good and capable humans
Across the data, leaders score strongest on integrity, honesty, trust and thinking strategically about the business, with these attributes consistently ranking near the top of the scale (4.3-4.8 out of 5). Employees largely believe their leaders are capable and well-intentioned.
This is important. It suggests most employees want an evolution of leadership, not a replacement for it.
The opportunity lies not in who leaders are, but in how they show up day to day. And, ultimately, a matter of leadership capacity and sustainability.
Based on these insights, here’s what employees want of their leaders in 2026:
Table of Contents
- 1: Protects Focus, Not Just Performance
- 2: Is Present, Not Just Available
- 3: Develops Me, Not Just My Output
- 4: Connects Me to Meaning, Not Just the Vision
- 5: Sets a Sustainable Pace, Not a Constant Sprint
- The Bigger Picture
1: Protects Focus, Not Just Performance
Please give me a leader who helps me know what actually matters.
One of the clearest signals in the data related to focus, prioritization and decision-making. While leaders score well on effort and follow-through — such as doing everything possible to achieve goals (4.2–4.3), ratings dip when it comes to keeping teams focused on top priorities, managing time effectively and making timely and effective decisions (3.2-3.6)
That gap tells us something important. It suggests employees aren’t questioning commitment and effort, they’re feeling the effects of cognitive overload. They want leaders who: clarify priorities, reduce unnecessary noise, make timely decisions and understand that constant urgency drains energy.
Because when everything is a priority, nothing is. When priorities shift constantly, decisions stall for too long or everything feels urgent, people pay for it with their energy. When leaders are overextended, teams feel scattered.
2: Is Present, Not Just Available
Please give me a leader whose attention feels real.
Employees generally rate leaders positively for being a good listener and building strong, trusting relationships (3.9-4.1). But scores dip when it comes to: acting in a timely manner on people issues, conflict resolution and staying closely connected to individual needs and concerns (3.3-3.8).
In these areas, a meaningful portion of employees do not experience their leader as having a clear strength. And, most of the time, this isn’t because leaders don’t care — it’s because many are operating at or beyond capacity. Stretched leaders can unintentionally become less accessible emotionally, even when they’re technically available.
Science shows that when we’re depleted, the brain shifts into energy-conservation mode. Higher-order functions — such as empathy, deep listening and presence — require more energy, so they can be the first to diminish under stress and fatigue.
This doesn’t mean leaders need to hold more meetings with employees. It means creating more meaningful moments. The same two-minute conversation can feel radically different when someone is truly present.
3: Develops Me, Not Just My Output
Please give me a leader who develops me while we’re delivering.
One of the most consistent “quiet asks” in the data shows up around development and coaching. Ratings are noticeably lower for: developing people, acting as an effective coach and constructively challenging and stretching people (3.4-3.9).
This matters because, while employees are delivering results, many are doing so while wondering, who’s helping me grow while we’re pushing this hard?
Employees want to feel that they are progressing — not only in the technical aspects of their roles, but in meaningful ways as people and leaders at every level of the organization. Yet in uncertain times, reactive leadership pulls back on the very development efforts that support this need.
It’s simple … when people feel invested in, their energy renews. When they don’t, even strong performance becomes draining. Many find themselves in the familiar tension of “I’m delivering — but I don’t feel as if I am growing.” Employees aren’t just asking for leaders who achieve results; they want leaders who genuinely notice them, invest in them and help them grow, especially under pressure.
4: Connects Me to Meaning, Not Just the Vision
Please give me a leader who helps me understand why my work matters.
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Leaders score generally highly on thinking strategically about the business (4.2–4.3). But when it comes to communicating vision and objectives clearly, the score drops (3.7).
The reality is, employees don’t need more strategy decks or vision statements on mugs. They want help answering one simple question: How does what I’m doing today actually matter? Not just in words, but really seeing it and feeling it. This clarity reduces mental load, and a genuine sense of meaning becomes a powerful source of energy, building resilience.
While leaders see the mountain — as they should — employees need guidance and support to navigate the trail successfully, keeping them engaged, healthy and energized along the way so that they can arrive at the destination feeling good.
5: Sets a Sustainable Pace, Not a Constant Sprint
Please give me a leader who respects time, energy and limits.
Across multiple categories — time management, decision-making, prioritization and acting quickly on people issues (3.2-3.6) — a pattern emerges. Leaders are strongest in areas of character and intent, but they struggle most where directing attention and sustaining energy over time is required.
Employees feel the impact of overloaded calendars, last-minute decisions and a constant sense of urgency. They want leaders who: model healthy boundaries with time, create space to think, not just react and signal when “enough is enough.”
Sustainable leadership isn’t about slowing down. It’s about knowing when speed helps and when it hurts. Riding the wave can work, but if we’re tossed up and down at the mercy of every external force, it creates cycles of peaks and crashes. True sustainable high performance comes from maintaining a steady, stable pace, even amid turbulence.
Employees are asking for leaders who provide stability as well as momentum. An anchor in the storm, a clear direction and the support they need to stay productive, engaged and resilient through challenges.
The Bigger Picture
When you zoom out, a clear and deeply human story emerges. Most employees aren’t asking for leaders who work harder, know more or are more driven — they already trust that their leaders are committed, capable and well-intentioned.
What they are asking for are leaders who can help them protect focus, be fully present, grow while delivering results and feel supported amid the chaos. These are not small asks. They require leaders with energy, presence and the capacity to meet the deeply human needs that matter more than ever.
“The age of AI makes these leadership needs more pronounced, not less. As speed, information flow and expectations for output continue to accelerate, the scarcest resources at work are no longer knowledge or effort — they’re attention, judgment and human energy,” said Scales.
"AI can undoubtedly increase productivity, it also multiplies inputs, decisions and distractions. And in this environment, leadership shifts. It’s no longer about being the smartest person in the room, but about being the one who curates focus, slows the right moments down, and brings meaning and humanity to work that technology can’t replace," Scales continued. "In an AI-enabled world, sustainable performance depends less on working faster and more on leaders who help people think clearly, stay grounded and use technology in service of human energy — not at its expense.”
Leaders who can fuel performance while also nurturing people and fostering human connection will unlock the most sustainable and meaningful results in 2026.
Editor's Note: Catch up on more ways leadership is evolving to meet current needs:
- The ROI of Emotional Intelligence in Leadership — Emotional intelligence allows leaders to turn challenging moments into opportunities for growth, with outcomes that compound over time.
- Authentic Leadership: 3 Lessons From 2025 (and What to Do in 2026) — Leaders are ending 2025 exhausted and unsure of what’s next. Three lessons reveal why teams are stuck, and how clarity, adoption and connection can reset 2026.
- The Clarity Crisis: How Leaders Can End Confusion, Reduce Burnout and Deliver Better Results — Clarity transforms chaos into coordination and prevents the kind of burnout that erodes trust, quality and morale.
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