In 1981, Queen and David Bowie recorded “Under Pressure,” a song about what pressure does to people and societies. What the song captured was not a moment of crisis, but the buildup and tension that precede rupture.

We are living through a moment of accumulating, simultaneous pressures with no recent parallel, and the signs are all around us: geopolitical shifts with military conflicts competing in severity with cyber risk, revealing realities that until recently felt like pure fiction. Tariffs and trade shocks that deepen strategic uncertainty. Extreme weather events that hit families and businesses directly in their wallets. European economies growing at 1% or 2%, the pace of hesitation. Artificial intelligence advancing with an ambition that does not wait for invitations or transformation plans.

There is a feeling that is hard to name but easy to recognize: with everything we are witnessing, we are living through something disruptive that makes us oscillate between anxiety about the unknown and excitement about opportunity. In Davos, Mark Carney said we are “in a rupture, not a transition,” and that “if you are not at the table, you are on the menu.” It was the most impactful speech because it was honest. But from the honesty of that statement to action, there is no map.

We know that rupture creates discontinuity, and discontinuity drives transformation. Transformation is not the same as change. Change is doing things differently. Transformation is becoming different. This confusion leads us to believe that small, incremental adjustments are enough, when what we actually need is to reimagine systems, behaviors, purposes, and how value is created. This is not the moment to simply adapt or to “add AI because AI will solve it.”

Recently, an HR director asked me: in this context of unprecedented technological disruption, constant volatility, and ambiguity, how do we prepare people and teams to lead under continuous uncertainty and for an unknown tomorrow? The answer is not simple, but Alvin Toffler already pointed the way: “The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.” The response has four practical fronts:

1) Each person must create their own adaptation plan. This means activating “adaptability mode.” The World Economic Forum estimates that 39% of current skills may become obsolete by 2030. This is not an abstract threat, but a management timeline that comes with opportunity. Everyone can and should activate their own adaptability mode and act before someone else does it for them. Adaptability may be the most underestimated behavioral attribute in the AI era.

2) Organizations must redesign the profiles they value. It is not enough to want adaptable people. They must be developed and recognized. What Mike Ross calls “Swiss Army Knife” profiles: in the AI era, managers who can move across functions and challenges, connecting business, technology, data, and execution with pragmatism, are a competitive advantage. David Epstein, in Range, shows that diverse career paths and exposure to multiple disciplines are critical in uncertain environments because they better balance innovation, risk, and confidence. Not because specialists are no longer needed, they absolutely are, but those who connect the dots between them have become even more valuable. Organizations need more “reality integrators,” people who translate ambition into execution with a sense of impact and urgency, and fewer slide-deck heroes.

3) Leadership at all levels of organizations must unlearn and relearn new behaviors. First and foremost, by creating the conditions for the previous points to be possible. Individual adaptability is not enough if leadership does not create the space for it. Teams need accountable leaders who can sit with discomfort without passing it directly onto others. Leaders who listen without filtering, who move forward with clarity and empathy. Who make decisions with incomplete information without becoming paralyzed. Who replace “who is responsible for this?” with “what does this teach us so we can become different?” Teams do not need leaders with all the answers. They need leaders who act with impact and measure it not only financially, but also in what they add to people, communities, and the planet. Transforming with purpose means not only capturing value, but ensuring that this does not increase inequality or shift costs onto those least able to bear them.

4) The way we work must be reimagined. More than technology or leadership alone, redesigning workflows is what most amplifies impact on results. Boston Consulting Group, in a 2025 study, shows that companies that deeply redesign processes with AI expect to double revenue and reduce costs by around 40%, compared to those that simply deploy tools. According to Bain & Company, 88% of leaders believe their reorganization efforts will meet objectives, while only 36% of employees agree. The root cause is excessive focus on structure and insufficient attention to how work will actually be done day to day. There is a clear issue in the anatomy of execution that must be addressed differently. Especially as new business models driven by this disruption begin to compete directly with existing ones.

In 1981, the answer was a song. In 2026, the answer must be action, before the pressure decides for us.

Nuno Neto, Executive-in-Residence at Center for Responsible Business & Leadership, CATÓLICA-LISBON