What Are You Creating in 2026?

What Are You Creating in 2026?

The opening weeks of a new year tend to pull leaders toward planning.
Goals. Strategies. Metrics. Initiatives.

None of those are bad things. But they are rarely where leadership actually begins.

Before there was a plan, before there was a command, before there was even a person to lead, there was creation.

Genesis 1:1 tells us, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”

That single sentence doesn’t try to explain leadership. It simply reveals something about the nature of God—and, by extension, something about the nature of leadership itself. Leadership begins with intentional creation.

God didn’t start by giving instructions.
He started by making space.

Creation Before Command

One of the most overlooked leadership mistakes is assuming that clarity, motivation, or productivity should come first. In reality, those things emerge after something has already been created.

Before anything could grow, there had to be an environment where growth was possible. Before there could be purpose, there had to be order. Before there could be movement, there had to be space.

That’s true in creation—and it’s true in leadership.

Whether we realize it or not, leaders are always creating something. The question isn’t if you’re creating. It’s what you’re creating.

You’re creating culture.
You’re creating expectations.
You’re creating pace.
You’re creating emotional tone.
You’re creating space—or pressure.

Sometimes all at once.

Creativity Isn’t About Being Artistic

When we hear the word “create,” many leaders instinctively disqualify themselves.

“I’m not creative.”
“I’m not artistic.”
“That’s not really my gift set.”

But leadership creativity isn’t about imagination or innovation in the traditional sense.

It’s about design.

It’s about intentionally shaping the environment your team operates in—often through decisions that look small on the surface but carry significant weight over time.

You don’t need to be artistic to create clarity.
You don’t need to be imaginative to create rhythm.
You don’t need to be inspirational to create space.

You just need to be intentional.

The Environment Is the Message

Most leaders spend a lot of energy communicating expectations. Far fewer stop to consider the environment those expectations live in.

If a leader says, “We value excellence,” but the environment rewards speed over quality, the environment wins.

If a leader says, “We want people to grow,” but there’s no margin to learn or fail, the environment wins.

If a leader says, “We care about our people,” but the pace is relentless and unpredictable, the environment wins.

Creation always speaks louder than intention.

The systems you build, the rhythms you establish, and the space you allow communicate far more than any speech, meeting, or email ever could.

A Pause Worth Taking

As you move into 2026, before you finalize plans or launch initiatives, it’s worth slowing down long enough to ask a more foundational question:

What am I intentionally creating for my team to thrive?

Not what are you fixing.
Not what are you reacting to.
Not what are you pushing harder.

What are you creating?

A Few Questions to Sit With

Not as a checklist. Not as a framework. Simply as prompts.

• What have I created that helps my team know what matters most?

• What rhythms have I created that shape how work actually gets done?

• Where have I created space for people to think, grow, or recover?

• What kind of emotional or relational environment have I created?

• Where have I created ownership instead of dependency?

Even sitting with one of these honestly can be a meaningful starting point.

One Small, Intentional Step

You don’t need to redesign everything at once.

This week, choose one thing to create intentionally.

Leadership rarely changes through grand gestures. It changes through thoughtful creation, repeated over time.

Beginning Again

Genesis doesn’t begin with activity.
It begins with intention.

As leaders, we often feel pressure to do more. But sometimes the most faithful and effective leadership move is to pause long enough to create the conditions where others can truly flourish.

As you step into this year, consider:

What are you creating for your team to thrive in 2026?