In 2026, management means integrating technology, processes, people, culture, and ethics into a single equation for creating sustainable and lasting value. These will be the core competencies for business owners, business leaders, and entrepreneurs, from microenterprises to large corporations.
Management and strategy remain critical competencies that leaders and managers must address in 2026. Artificial Intelligence (AI) does not eliminate the need for management; on the contrary, it increases it. According to Arun Sundararajan (2025), true disruption does not come from “doing the same things faster,” but from rethinking processes from the ground up. Organizations that merely automate existing tasks capture marginal gains, whereas those that redesign their operating models capture strategic advantage. This will require organizations to adopt a new way of thinking systemically and in an integrated manner; to assess risk, verifiability, and editability in the tasks to which AI is applied; and to decide where technology creates value and where it erodes trust.
Mastering AI means aligning it with the business (not with trends). In other words, it does not simply involve mastering models, but understanding how to align them with the organization’s strategy, processes, and data. For Sundararajan (2025), foundation models (GPT, Claude, Gemini, Copilot) have become basic infrastructure, but competitive differentiation lies not in the models themselves, but in the quality and structure of data; in the governance, alignment, and protection of know-how; and in the ability to decide between RAG and fine-tuning, balancing value, risk, and sovereignty. It is important to remember that 70 to 90 percent of the real cost of AI lies in data preparation and quality, not in the technology itself. As such, gaining a technical overview of AI tools and exploring the functionalities of data analytics and machine learning technologies applied to management and business decision-making will be important skills for 2026.
If productivity and efficiency will be strongly driven by AI, creativity, critical thinking, innovation, and value creation (uniquely human capabilities) can also be significantly amplified by AI. It is at this point that the new era of “human-amplified AI” emerges: not substitution, but fusion. Hajj Flemings (2025) argues that we are now entering the era of Amplified Intelligence, in which technology acts as a multiplier of human genius. The true competitive advantage will lie in the ability to express originality, context, culture, ethics, aesthetics, and intent in a world of digital abundance. What will become increasingly unique, and therefore valuable, will be human presence and the real impact of interactions, tasks, and digital projects that give rise to products, services, and experiences that cannot be replicated.
Developing critical thinking will be another key priority for 2026, particularly in the “curation” of AI outputs, enabling the mitigation of biases in information analysis and in the reasoning and justification of choices. “Intellectual luxury” or “curated thinking,” concepts explored by Flemings (2025), will be major differentiators in education, management, and leadership, translating into tools that help shape criteria, awareness, and vision. In this way, AI governance will not be merely a legal issue, but also a cultural and ethical one, as not everything that is technically possible or legal is desirable. Trust in AI will depend less and less on the technology itself and more on the human relationship with the system, the transparency of processes, and the alignment between individual, organizational, and societal values.
Finally, and equally important, will be the leadership of people and organizations in 2026, which will require a new balance between performance, efficiency, team management, and emotional intelligence. As Flemings (2025) emphasizes, the linear model “study → job → career” is obsolete. AI is already eliminating entry-level positions and polarizing the labor market, while Europe faces accelerated demographic aging. The alignment between talent supply and demand, the reskilling of professionals with 10, 20, or more years of experience, and the “longevity economy” are redefining the labor market, creating both challenges and opportunities. (Up/Re)skilling, new skilling, and lifelong learning cease to be mere benefits and become strategic infrastructure for organizations’ adaptability and talent development. The future belongs to organizations that know how to activate the zone of brilliance of their people, combining technology with identity, culture, education, and belonging.
In summary, the critical competencies for 2026 are not limited to technology. They require management with vision, human-centered leadership, strategic mastery of AI, ethics embedded in processes, and culture as a central organizational asset. The fusion between artificial intelligence and human intelligence is not optional; it is inevitable. The question is simple and demanding: who will be prepared to lead this fusion with intention, responsibility, and humanity?
Tânia Sousa, Business Development Manager for Executive Education at CATÓLICA-LISBON