What 2025 Taught Us
Most years reveal trends. 2025 revealed truths. Under sustained pressure—economic uncertainty, accelerated AI adoption, return-to-office mandates, geopolitical tension, and rising employee expectations—organizations were tested in ways that left little room for performance theatre. What had been tolerated in calmer years was exposed. What had been assumed was challenged. What had been postponed became unavoidable.
The Pattern That Emerged
Across industries, the same patterns surfaced again and again: leaders stretched thin, asked to carry more change with less clarity; cultures slowed by friction, misalignment, and eroding trust; inclusion efforts tested not by intent, but by consistency; and technology advancing faster than the human systems meant to support it.
The story of 2025 was not about strategy gaps or technical failure. It was about design gaps—in leadership, culture, and how organizations support people amid complexity.
Organizational Culture
Energy, trust, and connection tested under pressure
Leadership
Capacity, consistency, and clarity constrained
DEIB
Progress stalled where systems matter most
Culture, leadership, and inclusion are not separate conversations—they are interdependent systems. When leadership lacks clarity, culture absorbs the cost. When culture lacks trust, inclusion becomes fragile. When inclusion erodes, leadership credibility weakens.
What 2025 Taught Us About Organizational Culture
2025 didn't just shape organizations—it exposed them. Across industries, we saw the same pattern: increasing friction, declining trust, slower decisions, overwhelmed leaders, and teams operating with less emotional and cognitive capacity than ever. Companies invested heavily in technology, efficiency, and transformation, but the most significant bottleneck was not technical. It was cultural.
01
Culture Energy Became a Leading Indicator
45% of employees feel frequent emotional exhaustion, while 71% say constant context switching drains their energy. Culture Energy—the emotional, cognitive, and relational capacity people need to collaborate—emerged as the strongest predictor of execution and resilience.
02
The Trust Decline Accelerated
Employee trust in organizational decisions fell by 7 points this year. Only 32% of employees believe leaders communicate decisions with transparency, while 68% say leadership consistency is now a top factor in whether they stay.
03
AI Adoption Exposed Culture Gaps
The Human Gap widened significantly. While 84% want more transparency on how AI will impact their roles, only 19% believe their organization has a clear AI plan. AI didn't break organizations—it revealed what was already broken.
04
Connection at Work Continued to Erode
65% of employees feel less connected to coworkers in hybrid environments. Yet employees with strong connections are 7× more likely to be engaged. Connection is no longer accidental—it must be designed.
The Culture Tax and Behavioral Shift
The Culture Tax Became Impossible to Ignore
For years, cultural challenges were invisible. In 2025, they became expensive. Leaders now spend 28% of their time on alignment and rework caused by unclear decisions. Employees lose 2.3 hours per day searching for information or redoing unclear tasks—a staggering operational tax.
The Culture Tax shifted from a conceptual idea to a quantifiable business issue. Leaders finally acknowledged something crucial: friction has a cost, and clarity has a return.
Values on Walls
Aspirational statements that don't drive behavior
Behaviors in Action
Clear expectations that create alignment
Performance Results
41% increase in team alignment with behavioral clarity
Organizations learned that values don't drive culture—behaviors do. Companies with clear behavioral expectations saw a 41% increase in team alignment, fewer interpersonal conflicts, and more consistent leadership practices. 2025 marked a shift from aspirational posters to operational behaviors.
Culture as Leadership Capability
87%
Expect Meaningful Work
Employees demand clarity about their role and purpose
64%
Consistency is Critical
Say inconsistent leadership is a dealbreaker
3x
Performance Multiplier
Organizations treating culture as leadership capability meet goals
Employee expectations in 2025 were not unreasonable—they were consistent and deeply tied to performance. The expectations hardened: 87% expect meaningful work and clarity about their role, while 64% say inconsistent leadership is a dealbreaker. Furthermore, 58% would consider leaving if communication is unclear or infrequent.
Culture was once something HR managed. In 2025, it became a leadership competency. Organizations treating culture as a leadership capability were 3 times more likely to meet performance goals. PwC's CEO Survey showed a 31% year-over-year increase in CEOs naming culture as a top strategic priority. Culture moved from "soft" to structural—from a slogan to an operating system.
Culture doesn't drift toward strength. It drifts toward friction—unless leaders design against it.
What 2025 Taught Us About DEIB
Most years quietly shape organizations. 2025 exposed them. Across industries, diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging did not disappear—but they changed. What became clear this year is that DEIB is no longer sustained by intent, statements, or programs alone. It is sustained, or eroded, by leadership choices, system design, and consistency under pressure.
1
Progress Slowed Where Systems Matter Most
Representation at entry levels remained stable, but advancement into manager and senior-manager roles stalled. The "broken rung" persisted, limiting the health of the leadership pipeline. Representation of racialized employees declined sharply at each leadership transition.
2
Return-to-Office Policies Reshaped Equity
Flexibility emerged as an equity mechanism. Rigid return-to-office mandates disproportionately impacted women, caregivers, and underrepresented groups. Loss of flexibility became a top driver of disengagement and attrition risk.
3
Belonging Became the Stabilizer
Employees with strong workplace connections are significantly more engaged and resilient. Yet those from underrepresented groups consistently reported lower levels of belonging and trust, particularly where leadership communication was inconsistent.
4
External Climate Raised the Stakes
Hundreds of anti-2SLGBTQ+ bills were introduced, bringing external stress directly into workplaces. Leadership silence became a signal. Organizations maintaining clarity created psychological safety; those avoiding conversation amplified risk.
Consistency: The Real Test of DEIB Credibility
The Cost of Inconsistency
2025 made one thing unmistakable: DEIB credibility is built, or lost, through consistency under pressure. Target experienced employee concern and public backlash following shifts in DEIB positioning. The internal signal was clear—perceived inconsistency created confusion and eroded trust.
Coverage throughout the year highlighted not a rejection of DEIB itself, but uncertainty about what the organization stood for and whether leadership would remain steady under pressure.
The Power of Consistency
Costco took a different approach, maintaining a clear and consistent public stance in support of inclusion, equity, and belonging throughout 2025. Rather than reacting to external pressure, Costco emphasized predictability and alignment between stated values and leadership behavior.
That consistency reinforced trust among employees and stakeholders, even amid a polarized external environment.

The lesson from 2025 was not about choosing a side—it was about coherence. When organizations retreat, pause, or pivot without clarity, trust erodes quickly. When leaders remain aligned, even quietly, credibility compounds. Consistency, not volume, became the defining signal of DEIB leadership.
Perhaps the most significant lesson of 2025 was this: DEIB is no longer something organizations do—it is something leaders demonstrate. Organizations treating inclusion as a leadership capability, embedded in behaviors, decision-making, and accountability, were significantly more likely to sustain performance, engagement, and retention. Values without behaviors lose credibility. Programs without systems lose momentum.
DEIB does not drift toward progress. It drifts toward erosion—unless leaders design for it.
What 2025 Taught Us About Leadership
Most years refine leadership. 2025 revealed it. Across organizations, leadership wasn't challenged by a lack of vision or ambition. It was tested by the volume of change, the pressure, the complexity, and the limits of human capacity to absorb it all. Technology accelerated. Expectations hardened. Change never slowed long enough to recover.
1
Leadership Capacity Became the Bottleneck
The defining constraint wasn't skill or intent—it was capacity. Leaders absorbed uncertainty, implemented continuous transformation, and managed anxiety created by AI and constant change. 61% of employees felt overwhelmed by pace, while 73% said change had accelerated.
2
Consistency Mattered More Than Inspiration
68% of employees cited leadership consistency as a key factor in whether they stayed. People didn't need leaders to have all the answers—they needed to understand how decisions were being made. Predictability became a form of care.
3
Change Saturation Replaced Resistance
Employees experiencing high change were 2.6× more likely to report burnout. Leaders who succeeded didn't push change harder—they paced it better, acknowledged trade-offs, and created moments of stability inside constant motion.
4
Communication Shifted to Orientation
Only 29% felt leaders clearly explained why changes were happening. Effective leaders provided orientation: What's changing? What's staying the same? What decisions are made? Where do people still have influence?
By the Numbers: What 2025 Revealed
Across culture, leadership, and inclusion, the 2025 data told a consistent story: performance challenges were not caused by a lack of effort, technology, or ambition—but by strained human systems.
45%
Emotional Exhaustion
Employees reported frequent emotional exhaustion
71%
Energy Drain
Said constant context switching drained their energy
28%
Rework Time
Of leader time spent on alignment and rework
7%
Trust Decline
Drop in employee trust in organizational decisions
The pattern was unmistakable: where clarity, trust, and connection were strong, organizations adapted. Where they were weak, pressure exposed the cracks. Teams with strong relational trust performed 3.5× better than those without it. Employees who felt belonging were 7× more likely to be engaged. Organizations treating culture as a leadership capability were 3× more likely to meet performance goals.
Designing What Comes Next
2025 did not introduce new problems—it removed the margin for ignoring existing ones. Culture, leadership, and inclusion were all tested under sustained pressure, and the results were precise. Organizations with strong foundations absorbed disruption. Those without them experienced friction, fatigue, and erosion of trust.
Across this series, three truths emerged: Culture is energy, not engagement scores or slogans. Leadership is behavior, not intent or inspiration. Inclusion is consistency, not statements or programs. None of these is an abstract idea—they are operational realities that shape how work gets done, how decisions are made, and how people experience leadership every day.
Technology Will Continue to Accelerate
But human systems must keep pace
Change Will Remain Constant
But capacity for change must be designed
Expectations Will Stay High
But trust determines whether organizations can meet them
The organizations that performed best in 2025 were not the loudest or the fastest—they were the clearest. They reduced friction. They made decisions visible. They treated culture as a system to be designed, not a value to be declared. This is the work ahead.
As we move into 2026, the opportunity is not to "fix" culture, leadership, or DEIB in isolation. It is to design them as an integrated system—one that creates clarity, builds trust, and sustains energy even under pressure. At Sellar Strategic Advisory, we partner with organizations to reduce cultural friction, strengthen leadership consistency, design inclusive systems that hold under stress, and build the clarity, trust, and connection modern work requires.
2025 showed us what breaks under pressure. 2026 is the year to design what holds.
Culture by Design.
At Sellar Strategic Advisory, this is the work we do.
We partner with organizations to:
Reduce cultural friction
Strengthen leadership consistency
Design inclusive systems that hold under stress
Build the clarity, trust, and connection modern work requires
Because culture doesn’t improve by accident.
Leadership doesn’t scale without intention.
And inclusion only lasts when it’s built into how organizations operate.
2025 showed us what breaks under pressure. 2026 is the year to design what holds.