The biggest risk in 2026 is leaders using 2016 mindsets to lead…but mistaking it as a 2026 mindset.

I’ve been meaning to share my interview with University of Toronto – Rotman School of Management Magazine.

This is a “Novel Economy,” where disruption is constant, compounding, and *always* novel (AI, climate, geopolitics, quantum, spatial intelligence… all evolving, emerging, and colliding). And when leaders talk about a “new normal,” it’s often a tell: they’re trying to steer back to business as usual instead of translating change into opportunity.

That’s why I wrote Mindshift.

A few takeaways you can apply immediately:

1) Reframe disruption (and opportunity).
The question shouldn’t be “How do we protect what we built?” It’s “What is this disruption inviting us to rethink, redesign, and reimagine?”

2) Build trend literacy across 3 layers:
• Microtrends = early signals in niche communities
• Macrotrends = broader movements across industries
• Megatrends = seismic forces that reshape society

The opportunity is in connecting the dots between them.

3) Self-awareness is a business advantage.
A self-aware mind is a shiftable (and growable) mind. It helps you escape “default thinking” (like reflexively cutting costs or automating away people) and see growth paths others miss.

4) Innovation = experience + speed + reinvestment.
The disruptors I’ve studied obsess over frictionless experiences *and* fast, decisive execution. Momentum matters.

5) Use the 6-stage mindshifting framework:
1) Receive, 2) Perceive, 3) Weave, 4) Conceive, 5) Believe, 6) Achieve.
Signals become strategy. Strategy becomes action.

If you’re navigating AI and uncertainty right now, start here…be curious, listen deeply, and ask better questions before rushing to solutions.

Read the full Rotman Q&A + then go deeper with Mindshift! 💡

Please read my Q&A with Rotman here.