Opinion
Trauma enters the organization: How 2026 will reshape leadership in Israeli tech
"The effective leader of 2026 will not be the one who insists everything is under control, but the one who can hold complexity alongside their people," writes Nitzan Ron, an organizational psychologist and CEO of Most Wanted.
In the year following the war, Israeli executives spoke often about organizational resilience. It became a buzzword, a promise that with support, team-building and a return to routine, things would eventually settle. It is now evident that this phase is over. The year 2026 is set to become the emotional year of the Israeli tech sector. The emotional reality we all experience in Israel is making its way directly into workplaces and organizations, leaving leadership with no choice but to confront it. The traditional focus on organizational structures, departments and operations is giving way to a clearer understanding: leaders must first look at employees and their emotional needs, and only then at operational efficiency.
The questions companies face today are no longer limited to who will cover for employees called to reserve duty or how productivity should be measured. Instead, they revolve around what happens when a reservist returns to a workplace that no longer feels familiar, how to support an employee dealing with post-traumatic stress, and what it means for a team when a family member has been injured or killed. Even standard organizational processes now carry emotional weight we have not seen before. Layoffs echo deeply not only for those leaving but also for those who stay; managerial decisions become entangled with collective anxiety; and attempts to motivate teams feel heavier when emotional turbulence sits just below the surface.
No one sees this more clearly than HR leaders. Their role, which has always touched the organization’s strategic growth and people development, has shifted into direct and deeply personal engagement. In terms of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, organizations have moved down several levels. From self-actualization only a few years ago, many now operate in a mode of basic survival. Some organizations have lost employees. Many employees know someone who was killed or injured. Boundaries between home and work blur. The attempt to “restore normalcy” becomes a daily act of support. In conversations today with CEOs and CHROs, this topic surfaces in nearly every discussion.
Economically, the quiet wave of layoffs is expected to continue into early 2026. Not due to pessimism, but due to structural change. AI is reshaping roles and shrinking entire domains. The investment downturn has not faded; it continues to deepen. Organizations are forced to streamline even when they would prefer not to. Senior leaders describe growing hesitation to switch roles, declining job security, and instincts that no longer match the new reality.
Geographically, the map is shifting as well. Development is once again moving to India and Eastern Europe, this time not only for cost reduction but as part of an intentional organizational efficiency strategy. It is a way to spread risk in an environment where a single week can cascade into an event that disrupts an entire company.
And within all of this stand the managers themselves. They too are navigating the same reality, while expected to carry both their own emotional load and that of their teams. Yet this is also where something meaningful is emerging: creativity, values-driven leadership, and the ability to truly see the individual in front of them. A new kind of leadership is taking shape, one that does not pretend to be all-powerful but recognizes that openness and vulnerability can create resilience of a different kind. The effective leader of 2026 will not be the one who insists everything is under control, but the one who can hold complexity alongside their people. From that place, a form of hope begins to appear organizations, leaders and teams that come out stronger.
Taken together, it becomes clear why 2026 will be the emotional year of the tech industry. Organizations will adopt a model that acknowledges there is no “return to self” at the press of a button, and leaders who learn to manage through complexity will define the next generation of organizational leadership. It may sound like the opening of a dystopian film, but in good Hollywood fashion it ends with a measure of optimism.
Nitzan Ron is an organizational psychologist and CEO of Most Wanted.
