A World in Dire Need of Strategic Communication Leadership

Adedoyin Jaiyesimi:

In the middle of January, world leaders gathered at Davos for the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting to “engage in forward-looking discussions to address global issues and set priorities”.

I have followed the Annual Meeting virtually for a couple of years, but I was particularly keen on listening to the conversations and speeches from this year’s meeting. The reason is simple – there has been much disruption in the world order, systems and institutions over the last few months. I wanted to understand how world leaders across different sectors were thinking about navigating these disruptions. More importantly, I wanted to understand the role that communicators need to play within this disrupted global world order.

Through the different well-articulated speeches and thought-provoking panels, several things stood out to me, but I’d like to highlight three:

The first is that trust, on a global, national and organisational level, is very fragile. The situation is made even more dire by the fact that there is no clear direction on how this trust will be rebuilt.

The second thing that stood out to me is that world leaders are scrambling for solutions to manage the disruptions that have emerged and will still emerge. It is clear that no one has the answers and as Christine Lagarde put it, there is an urgent need to “distinguish the signals from the noise.”

This leads me to the third thing I found striking. Not only are world leaders aggressively seeking solutions, citizens, employees, but everyday people are also seeking answers. Trusted answers. While the latest Edelman Trust Barometer pointed out that “my employer” has seemingly become the most trusted institution today, there are deeper implications for the fact that people do not know where to go for answers in an age of information overload and who to trust.

Even though the global economic outlook and geopolitical forecasts appear somewhat gloomy, what has become apparent is that there is a clear and urgent need for strategic communications leadership.

As I watched the sessions from the 2026 World Economic Forum Annual Meeting, I kept asking myself, “What is the role for communicators here?” Of course, I do not pretend to have all the answers but allow me to highlight a few opportunity areas for communications professionals.

Support Leaders to Rebuild Trust

Communications professionals are the custodians of reputation and trust. This is an important area where we need to demonstrate communications leadership by adopting a strategic approach to reputation management and relationship nurturing. We can show this leadership by giving counsel that helps leaders to take action that rebuilds trust rather than fragment it even further.

Leverage Insights to Guide Decision-Making

Our communications leadership needs to show in how we gather and distill stakeholder, industry and global insights and convey the implications and open windows to guide decision-making. It is clear that the world isn’t going back to the way it was. To navigate the future effectively, timely insights and strategic foresight will be a critical leverage for organisations and for communications professionals.

Create a Credible Space for Stakeholders to Get Answers

We cannot talk about communications leadership without touching on the impact of Artificial Intelligence. While leaders are still grappling with how to properly regulate the use of AI, communications professionals can begin to think about how to create credible spaces where stakeholders within and outside the organisation can find trusted information and required answers. This will mean rethinking our content and messaging approach for our owned channels. It will also mean providing guidance on the safe and proper use of AI by internal stakeholders.

2026 is a year where we can continue to expect the unusual. There will be more shocks and risks to navigate. In the midst of this, there is room for communications professionals to shine through trusted counsel, guidance and leadership that helps organisations and institutions to steer through the choppy waters of disruption.

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Adedoyin Jaiyesimi is the Co-Founder of The Comms Avenue, Africa’s largest professional development community for communication leaders.

Based in Nigeria, Adedoyin is a Communications Advisor and Corporate Trainer, and is a #WeLeadComms honoree and a Strategic Columnist.