Three Mega Trends to look out for in 2026

All writers have to do an end of year / do better next year written thing. It’s in the universal contract. Don’t blame me. 

And it’s true that these prognostications turn out to be wrong. A lot. At least I think they do. No one ever goes back and evaluates how off base that post back in the ancient history of last year was. Which is probably what gives us the hubris to go making claims like these the next time the planet gets to this rough point on the orbit.

Given that statement of my probable unreliability, I do think that there are at least three major trends that we’re likely to see unfold over the next 365 ish days. I can make that statement at least in part because we’re already seeing them in action. And turning the calendar over doesn’t actually change much, most of the time. Unless you’re a personal trainer. Then I would bet January looks a lot different from December. 

Most of you reading this work for local governments and local/regional nonprofits. These trends are going to show up all across your existence, from international politics to your next board meeting. The big examples are easier to see and write about, but the local examples may matter most to you. I’ll give you some pointers, but you’ll have to fill in your local details yourself. 

• Self-organization takes on your power structures. We’ve never had as much power to push the status quo off its perch as fast as we do today. We’ve seen this in grassroots rapid response citizen teams taking on immigration gestapos, near-instantaneous internet takedowns of the badly-behaved, crowdsourced support for starving citizens in Palestine, and even the overthrow of government in Bangladesh. Governments have crashed and people have paid publicly for their sins before, but the speed and reach of our networks looks nothing like we’ve seen before. A scale of mobilization that took months of development and mail and travel during the Civil Rights era, for example, can happen now in minutes. 

  Locally, that means that opposition - or support - can spring up in an instant, and that prospect usually scares the powers that be into doing other dumb things, like avoiding transparency. But maybe it shouldn’t. Maybe that ability to swing so many people into action so quickly gives us a powerful new tool for addressing the problems we can’t tackle with our organization’s limited resources. Of course, that might require giving up some control. And that might be a good thing.

  If you’re ready to thrive in a changing world, my Change Maker’s Workbook for Getting Future Ready  will help you think through the Mega Trends impacting our lives and examine your own responses to them. Available at this link in easy to use PDF. 

• Transparency or disaster.  United States politics this year has shown us more than ever that if you fight transparency, you’re digging your own grave. Non-transparent, autocratic behavior depends on the subjects’ obedience - the fear or trust or apathy that keeps them from asking the hard questions and demanding answers. You don’t need me to tell you that we are watching a slow motion collapse (several, actually) that stems from failed attempts to hide. If you take even the most slightly longer view that the hourly clickbait, you can see all those facades crumbling in real time. 
  
  This demand for transparency is already trickling down to the local. We all know that a halfway decent internet sleuth can find our secret meetings and uncover our confidential agreements, but we keep acting like the flimsy curtain of secrecy is some kind of steel door. And when we double down after getting exposed, we just make it worse. I’m pretty sure the national examples will give additional boldness to the truth-seekers. Pre-emptively assuming that everything you do will be discovered may represent a safer strategy than any lawyer would recommend. 
  

• The kids are gonna be all right. Every generation becomes convinced that the ones coming up behind them are a mess, and the anxious media coverage of social media and cell phones and AI in schools is fuelling the current version of this. But if you look closer, across economic and racial and geographic spectra, you’re seeing young people who are more informed, more information-savvy and more organized than we have possibly ever seen before. Students regularly organize demonstrations, speak to the public and school board meetings and media, and take action — put their hands and their feet on the ground in a way that makes a demonstrable local difference. They experience anxiety and social pressures, to be sure, but they’re also on the whole less likely to self-medicate through drugs and alcohol — and more likely to seek therapy. That might make them healthier than all the rest of us. 
  
  You’re going to see more young people, even children, demanding to get involved in your community, whether it’s selling items that they learned to make online at your street fair, or advocating loudly and effectively for issues that matter to them. You might be used to treating them as dependents, as people who should be seen but not heard. You maintain that assumption at your peril. Find ways to bring them to the table, or they will now only bring a folding chair, but they will probably build it themselves. 

If you’re ready to thrive in a changing world, my Change Maker’s Workbook for Getting Future Ready  will help you think through the Mega Trends impacting our lives and examine your own responses to them. Available at this link in easy to use PDF.