2026 Predictions for Future of Work
Thinkers360 2026 Predictions for Future of Work are member-sourced from our opt-in B2B thought leader, analyst and influencer community with 100M+ followers on social media combined. The 2026 Predictions for Future of Work are part of a series to provide actionable insights for business and technology executives.
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We asked a selection of Thinkers360 global thought leaders, analysts and influencers about their predictions for Future of Work in 2026.
🔮 2026 Future of Work: Experts Predict a Human+AI Evolution Beyond the Hype
The consensus among Thinkers360 thought leaders for 2026 is clear: the Future of Work will be defined by a profound shift in how humans and Artificial Intelligence (AI) collaborate, moving past initial hype and inefficient integrations toward strategic human-AI ecosystems. The prevailing theme is one of evolution: organizations must choose between short-sighted efficiency gains and deep, value-creating disruption involving the elevation of human capabilities alongside AI.
Here’s a snapshot of key predictions from our experts:
- Zhanna Zhuravleva: Champions the move Beyond HR+IT to Human+AI Value Ecosystems. She forecasts abandoning rigid roles for non-linear, multi-dimensional capability networks, where the core unit is a dynamic Human+AI pairing designed for maximum value, retiring old grading systems for fluid, outcome-linked pathways.
- Adi Gaskell: Anticipates a Resetting Expectations phase. After a period of unproductive “workslop” from ill-defined general-purpose LLMs (like ChatGPT) and associated employee mistrust, 2026 will pivot toward specific AI tools redesigned into processes that genuinely boost productivity.
- Bill Jensen: Presents The Fork in the AI Road, urging leaders to choose between merely bolting AI onto current processes for cost-cutting or radically disrupting and reimagining work to leverage and elevate humanness for new value creation.
- Indira Bunic: Foresees The Human-AI Symphony, where successful organizations implement Human-AI Partnership Principles. This involves assigning wisdom-based work and relationship-building to humans while AI executes data processing, leading to a conscious collaborative workforce.
- Terri Horton: Predicts that with the widespread adoption of Agentic AI, leaders must make Worker Identity and Meaning Become a Leadership Imperative. Grounding human value in culture and adopting a human-centered leadership lens will be critical to preserving identity and purpose amid rapid AI transformation.
- CB Bowman: Focuses on courageous leadership. She predicts that organizations adopting Strategic Courage—a deliberate process using the seven steps of microcourage™—will thrive. This courageous agility moves beyond reactive resilience, enabling leaders to act decisively amid AI acceleration and geopolitical shifts to transform risk into growth.
- Jonathan H. Westover, PhD: Focuses on credentials, stating the Skills Marketplace Will Continue to Evolve. He predicts a dramatic shift away from traditional degrees toward verified capabilities showcased via real projects in a living portfolio, creating fairer pathways based on what you can do.
- Joe Sprangel: Links success directly to integration quality, asserting that companies embracing human-AI augmentation are the ones that will reverse the high failure rates of generative AI pilots seen previously.
In essence, 2026 signals the end of superficial AI adoption and the beginning of an era focused on architecting purposeful, verifiable, and deeply integrated human-AI partnerships to unlock genuine workforce value through both technological strategy and courageous leadership.
Read on to explore our expert panelists’ opinions in depth and join us on Thinkers360.com to be part of the conversation!
What are your Predictions for Future of Work in 2026?
Beyond HR+IT — Human+AI Value Ecosystems
In 2026, the fashionable “HR+IT convergence” will prove a dead end; leading organisations will instead architect Human+AI ecosystems. They will abandon the one-person–one-role–one-task paradigm in favour of non-linear, multi-dimensional capability networks. The core unit of capability becomes a Human+AI pairing, dynamically composed for each problem and continually reconfigured to maximise value. Legacy grading frameworks and static competency families will be retired, replaced by fluid, outcome-linked pathways and living skills graphs. Operating models will pivot from rigid hierarchies and process cycles around fixed roles to value-stream orchestration with adaptive teams and governed autonomy.
– Zhanna Zhuravleva, Chartered FCIPD, Tealsen
Resetting Expectations
2025 was a year of hype surrounding AI, and a lot of companies invested heavily in it without really knowing what it was for or what it could do. This was compounded by the fact that many used it as an excuse to cut costs, so the end result was often a large dollop of “workslop” that didn’t make people more productive and didn’t make organizations more profitable. This was compounded on the other side by a degree of ongoing mistrust towards anyone “caught” using AI, with numerous studies showing that people view those doing so as less capable, less creative, and less trustworthy as a result. Because of this, I think 2026 will see a shift away from general-purpose LLMs, such as ChatGPT, and towards more specific tools that are designed for specific purposes as organizations reset their expectations and start to redesign processes to ensure employees can get the best out of the technology.
– Adi Gaskell, The Horizons Tracker
Worker Identity and Meaning Become a Leadership Imperative
In 2026, as the widespread adoption of Agentic AI rises at the enterprise level, becomes a core component of strategy for unlocking productivity gains, is deeply embedded across levels of work and transforms roles, leaders will face the unique challenge of anchoring the human dimension in rapidly evolving AI-driven work environments. In 2026, as workers continue to grapple with AI transformation, addressing this challenge from a human-centered leadership lens and grounding human value in culture will be critical in preserving human identity, purpose, and meaning for workers.
– Dr Terri Horton MBA MA SHRM-CP PHR EQi2.0, FuturePath LLC
2026: The Fork in the AI Road
You face a fork in the road this year. To continue being short-sighted: Bolting AI solutions onto current processes, focused mainly on cutting costs, ramping up efficiencies? Or to massively disrupt and reimagine how humans and technology work together, creating value in completely new ways — leveraging and elevating our humanness. Choose well, leaders. You can’t afford to get this wrong.
– Bill Jensen, The Jensen Group
The Human-AI Symphony: Why 2026 Will Birth the Conscious Collaborative Workforce
Organizations that succeed in 2026 will implement Human-AI Partnership Principles to transform all roles by utilizing human intelligence and artificial intelligence capabilities. Organizations will move past human versus machine conflicts by creating purposeful systems which assign humans to handle wisdom-based work and relationship-building and purposeful tasks while AI executes pattern recognition and data processing and systematic operations. The future workforce will succeed through their capacity to lead with conscious awareness when working with AI systems in collaborative environments rather than through technical skills alone. The upcoming shift will generate unmatched possibilities for purposeful employment together with substantial growth potential.
– Indira Bunic, EmpowerU Ignite Your Leadership Journey
Skills Marketplace Will Continue to Evolve – Verified Capabilities over Traditional Credentials
The way we prove what we can do at work is about to change dramatically. By the end of 2026, we’ll likely look back and wonder how we ever relied so heavily on degrees and traditional credentials as the primary gateway to opportunity. The truth is, many of us have already sensed this shift happening. That friend who landed a great tech job through a bootcamp instead of a CS degree? That’s just the beginning. Companies are waking up to the reality that the person who can actually solve their problems may not have followed the traditional path, and frankly, they’re tired of missing out on great talent. What’s replacing the old system is something more practical and, in many ways, more fair. Imagine a world where you can demonstrate your abilities through real projects that showcase what you can actually do, rather than where you went to school or what courses you took years ago. That’s where we’re headed. The platforms enabling this change are getting sophisticated fast. They’re creating environments where you can prove your capabilities in ways that feel natural and relevant to actual work. No more arbitrary hoops to jump through—just show what you know by doing what you’d do on the job. This isn’t just good for career-changers or those without degrees. Even seasoned professionals will benefit from being able to demonstrate that their skills are current and relevant, not gathering dust. In fields where what you knew three years ago might already be outdated, continuous verification makes a lot more sense than resting on old laurels. For many of us, our professional identity will start looking more like a living portfolio than a static resume. We’ll showcase actual work and verified capabilities rather than just listing job titles or degrees. It’s a more authentic representation of who we are professionally and what we bring to the table. The best part? These changes open doors for talented people regardless of background, creating pathways based on what you can do, not where you came from or who you know. It’s not the end of credentials—it’s making them more meaningful by tying them directly to real capabilities.
– Jonathan H. Westover, PhD, Human Capital Innovations
My prediction is that organizations that adopt Strategic Courage, a deliberate approach to courageous decision-making using the seven steps of microcourage™, will be the ones that thrive in 2026 and beyond.
As global markets shift under the pressures of AI acceleration, DEI recalibration, and geopolitical challenges, leaders will need to move beyond reactive resilience toward intentional courage.
The seven steps of microcourage provide a repeatable process to future-proof organizations by embedding adaptable, courageous actions into everyday decision-making. Strategic Courage gives leaders the framework to act decisively amid uncertainty, transform fear into innovation, and reimagine risk as a growth accelerator.
In 2026, courageous agility will define not just the Future of Work—but the future of leadership itself.
– CB Bowman, CEO, Courage Consulting
Integration Success Requires Human-AI Integration
Companies that embrace human-AI augmentation will reverse the unacceptable results of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology report that found a 95% failure rate for generative AI pilots.
– Joe Sprangel, Emmanuel Strategic Sustainability LLC
To see the full set of predictions in the Thinkers360 Predictions Series, please visit our Predictions page. Have comments on these predictions, or predictions of your own? Please join the community at Thinkers360.com and follow us on LinkedIn, X and YouTube to share your insights!
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