Courage to Create

Sonia Brown MBE
Jul 5
6 min read

Why 2026 Belongs to the Visionary Women Who Act Now!

In a world increasingly defined by artificial intelligence (AI), digital acceleration and the urgent need for skills transformation, the most powerful move a woman can make right now isn’t louder visibility or more hustle, it’s vision.

We are entering an era where courage isn’t about confrontation, but creation. For women who lead, whether in corporate boardrooms or the entrepreneurial trenches, this moment requires more than survival tactics. It demands bold reimagination. Not just of what leadership looks like, but of what it feels like, future-ready, soul-aligned and skill-intelligent.

Let’s celebrate the Visionary Women leaders whose impact may not always trend, but who are quietly transforming the future.

The Hidden Cost of Inaction

The data is clear. Women who do not begin to embed digital literacy, AI fluency and adaptive leadership into their business or career planning now will be left behind, not because they lack intelligence, but because they ignored the intersection of tech, talent and timing.

According to the World Economic Forum’s 2025 Future of Jobs Report, 85 million jobs may be displaced by automation by 2025, but 97 million new roles may emerge that are more adapted to the new division of labour between humans, machines and algorithms. The catch? These new roles require reskilling and upskilling at scale, particularly in areas like analytical thinking, creativity and tech design.

Yet, as Dr. Nicola Rollock, a prominent British academic, writer and racial justice advocate, widely recognised for her ground-breaking work on race, education and social policy in the UK observed, the pipeline for Black women in leadership roles doesn’t just leak, it haemorrhages. We are not being future-proofed; we are being side-lined.

For women who ignore the shifts in AI, digital intelligence and human skills innovation, the cost is not just economic, it’s existential.

5 Key Trends Visionary Women Must Embrace

The future won’t wait for permission and neither should we.

As AI reshapes economies, digital platforms redefine influence and the pace of change accelerates, today’s female leaders face a critical fork in the road. Adapt and evolve or risk becoming invisible in spaces they helped to build. Visionary women aren’t simply reacting to change, they’re anticipating it, shaping it and setting new rules for how success is defined.

But staying relevant in this era of disruption requires more than talent, it demands foresight, strategic action and an unshakable sense of purpose. Here are five key trends that forward-thinking women must embrace to lead boldly into 2026 and beyond.

1. AI Fluency Is the New Literacy

Understanding AI is not optional. It’s not about coding or becoming a data scientist, it’s about understanding how AI shapes your industry, customer behaviour, HR decisions and marketing strategy.

AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude and predictive analytics engines are becoming embedded in decision-making. Leaders who can’t distinguish between responsible AI and biased automation will unknowingly replicate exclusion in their business systems.

Take Mutale Nkonde a Zambian-born, UK-raised journalist, AI policy researcher and one of the most influential voices in the global conversation on algorithmic justice and racial equity in technology.

She is known for rewriting the rules on digital justice by advocating for ethical frameworks that protect Black communities from algorithmic bias and anti-racist tech policy. Her leadership demonstrates that AI fluency isn’t just technical, it’s equity-driven.

2. Skills Intelligence Is a Power Move

Visionary women leaders are investing not just in what they know but in how fast they can evolve. According to LinkedIn’s 2024 Global Skills Report, the most in-demand skills for women in leadership are now,

Digital communication
Strategic adaptability
Emotional regulation
Creative thinking
Human-cantered tech design

Black women, in particular, face “skills stacking” pressure, expected to be both culturally competent and technologically proficient to even stay at the table.

Co‑founder and CEO of Fearless Fund launched in 2019 to address the less than 1% of VC funding going to women of colour Arian Simone, has publicly integrated tech literacy into all her entrepreneurial incubators, advocating that the future of capital access will depend on understanding digital platforms and financial automation tools.

3. Radical Collaboration vs. Competitive Empire Building

The lone wolf model is outdated. AI is teaching us something counterintuitive, that innovation scales faster through integration, not isolation.

Visionary leaders are now architects of shared ecosystems. They use partnerships, communities of practice, cross-industry collaborations and peer mentorship as strategic leverage.

Whitney Wolfe Herd is a pioneering American tech entrepreneur best known as the founder and executive chair of Bumble, a women-centric dating and social networking platform. She is also a co-founder of Tinder, before launching her own venture.

The Bumble model didn’t just disrupt dating, it disrupted the very culture of digital business building by centering on safety, equity and female agency. In 2024, her focus on building collaborative, values-led leadership teams has become a blueprint for tech founders navigating ethical scale.

Likewise, the Black Women Disrupt is a global initiative and collective designed to break patterns of poverty, inequality and exclusion that disproportionately affect Black communities across the Americas and the African diaspora. The collective centers Black women as catalysts for change, using entrepreneurship, innovation and technology to drive sustainable growth and global recognition.

4. Emotional Intelligence Is a Competitive Edge

In an AI-driven world, the human edge isn’t knowledge, it’s nuance.

As AI takes over data and process work, leadership is becoming more about presence than performance. Emotional intelligence, empathy, clarity under pressure, values-based decision-making, is the new luxury skill.

According to the McKinsey 2023 Women in the Workplace Report, emotionally intelligent teams perform 37% better on innovation and women who lead with authenticity and self-awareness are more likely to be trusted in times of crisis.

Visionary leaders are building cultures where well-being isn’t a footnote, it’s infrastructure.

“I am not interested in building empires that exhaust women. I’m interested in building ecosystems that expand us" claims Priscilla J. Murphy, CEO of Nylex Educational & Counselling Services. She consistently blends executive leadership with mental health frameworks to make a difference.

5. Vision-as-Strategy, Imagining Boldly, Leading Softly

The most underestimated skill in today’s hyper-automated world is imagination.

Visionary women leaders aren’t waiting for the future to be handed to them, they’re designing it. Not through brute force, but through soft power, storytelling, visualisation and purpose-aligned planning.

In the UK, June Angelides MBE a trailblazing venture capitalist, entrepreneur and advocate for women in technology and inclusive leadership. She is widely recognised for her efforts to diversify the tech and investment sectors and empower underrepresented founders.

She is also the founder of Mums in Tech The UK’s first child-friendly coding school for mothers, launched while she was on maternity leave.

Her work is built on one simple question “what if the people most ignored by tech are the ones most capable of changing it?” That question has led to bold product innovation, inclusive hiring policies and VC-backed women-led start-ups across Europe.

The future will belong to those who can articulate a vision that includes others and whose strategy is wide enough to let others rise with them.

What Happens to Those Who Stay Stagnant?

They become obsolete, not just in skill, but in story.

Leaders who resist change or downplay digital transformation will not only lose relevance, they’ll lose resonance. Their message, their brand and their communities will shrink. Their businesses will plateau while the market accelerates. This means, in leadership circles, they’ll be known not for their wisdom, but for their inability to evolve.

It is clear that the world is not slowing down and if female leaders are not part of the design of the future, they will be designed out of it.

Legacy Over Likes, The Return of the Visionary Woman

The visionary woman is not defined by followers, likes or even titles. She is defined by her ability to think beyond the moment, collaborate without ego, upskill without shame and create without compromise.

She is not waiting to be invited into the future. She is building it.

So Ask Yourself, What Is Your Vision For the Future?

What skill, if learned now, would unlock a new level of leadership for you in the next 18 months?
Who in your network can you collaborate with to amplify mutual goals in 2025 and beyond?
How are you integrating AI or digital intelligence into your purpose-driven mission?
What legacy are you building and who are you bringing with you?

These aren’t just questions, they’re catalysts.

In a world shaped by disruption, your vision is not a luxury, it’s a leadership requirement. The most impactful women of the next decade will not be those who waited for clarity or permission. They will be the ones who dared to imagine boldly, skill up with intention and align with others to build what didn’t exist before.

You don’t have to have it all figured out. But you do need to take the first step. With courage, conviction and community behind you. Whether you’re navigating reinvention, re-entry or radical growth, remember, visionaries aren’t born, they’re built, one decision at a time.

The future isn’t something to predict, it’s something to create. So, what are you creating next?

Like what you’ve read? Then don’t keep it to yourself. Like, comment and share this post with a fellow visionary who’s ready to lead with purpose in a fast-changing world. Whether you’re feeling inspired, uncertain or somewhere in between, remember, you don’t have to navigate this digital shift alone.

The National Black Women’s Network (NBWN) is here to support you, offering strategy and real-world tools to help you grow, adapt and thrive. If you're ready to shape your legacy, elevate your voice and lead with confidence in this new era, get in touch at info@nbwn.org.

This is your time and this is your network. Let's rise, together.