These are the reports shaping consulting, coaching, leadership, talent, AI, and organizational change in 2026. Here are the signals hiding inside them—and what they mean for experts-for-hire.  

The reports on this list were selected for a simple reason: each offers a useful lens on the forces reshaping business, work, leadership, technology, and the global economy. Read individually, they provide valuable insights. Read together, they reveal a consistent picture of the world emerging around us, and the capabilities required to thrive in it. 

If you'd like to see those patterns synthesized, our guide to future trends in consulting connects the dots across the biggest shifts shaping the profession.

Global Risks Report 2026

World Economic Forum

Why read it?

To understand global risks and better support decision-makers in balancing current crises and longer-term priorities.

Main signal:

Volatility is no longer temporary.

According to the WEF's Global Risks Report 2026, only 1% of respondents expect a calm outlook, while the vast majority anticipate turbulence — near-term and long-term alike.

This ends the fantasy that leaders just need to “get through” the next disruption.

There is no “after” waiting on the other side.

Consultants and coaches need to understand this reality no less than the leaders they advise.

Read the report →

Don't have time to read every report? We do.

Disruption Index 2026: Beyond the Hype — Realizing Value in Disruption 

AlixPartners 

Why read it?

To understand how executives experience disruption, uncertainty, and decision-making in real time.

Main signal:

The AlixPartners Disruption Index 2026 reveals just how hot the leadership seat has become:

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🔻 70% of CEOs report high levels of disruption

🔻 72% say it’s getting harder to know which disruptive forces to prioritize

🔻 85% need more personal and professional support

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Executives. Owners. Directors. Team leads. Every layer of leadership is overwhelmed — not by change itself, but by the pressure to choose the right changes.

Advisors need to stop showing up with ready-made, off-the-shelf answers from yesterday—and start equipping themselves with tools designed for today's complexity and volatility. 

Read the report →

Related: If this trend interests you, read What Is Process Consulting? Content Consulting vs. Process Consulting—an exploration of why helping clients think better may become more valuable than having the right answer. 

Pulse of Change 2026

Accenture

Why read it?

To understand how leaders are experiencing disruption—and how prepared organizations actually are to handle it.

Main signal:

According to Accenture's latest Pulse of Change, 82% of C-suite leaders expect more change in 2026 than they did a year ago. More executives say they feel ready for technological disruption. Yet confidence drops sharply when you look beyond the executive suite.

Only 48% of employees feel secure in their jobs, and just 40% believe their training has prepared them for role changes.

Leaders are becoming more prepared for disruption.
Their organizations are not.

The result is a growing preparedness gap.

For consultants and coaches, the challenge is helping organizations redesign themselves so the preparedness gap becomes smaller—not larger. 

Read the report →

State of the Global Workplace 2026

Gallup

Why read it?

The State of the Global Workplace report features annual findings from the world's largest ongoing study of the employee experience. 

Main signal:

The 2026 edition finds that global employee engagement fell to 20% in 2025, its lowest level since 2020, costing the world economy an estimated $10 trillion in lost productivity.

What's behind these numbers?

• Only 47% of employees know what is expected of them
• Only 31% feel supported in their development
• Only 32% feel connected to purpose
• Only 28% feel their voice matters

Taken together, these numbers reveal that people are being asked to adapt to new technologies, new priorities, new structures, and new expectations—without sufficient clarity, support, or involvement in the process.

The result is not resistance to change. It is exhaustion.

For consultants and coaches, this is a reminder that successful transformation is not just about strategy or technology. It is about creating the conditions that make adaptation possible. 

Read the report →

Global Human Capital Trends 2026

Deloitte

Why read it?

To make sense of the future of work, leadership, and organizational design.

Main signal:

According to Deloitte's 2026 Global Human Capital Trends report, 7 in 10 business leaders say their primary competitive strategy over the next three years is to quickly adapt to—and capitalize on—changing business, customer, and market needs.

Volatility is becoming a competitive advantage.

Today, instead of asking how to protect the business from change, leading organizations are asking how to work with change—and turn it into results.

In other words, they are learning to monetize volatility.

For consultants and coaches, this changes the game. 

Read the report →