OIC’s Reflections on 2025

Introduction 

What an interesting year 2025 has been…truly unprecedented in many ways.  As CEO of OIC, I wanted to share some reflections on the year in the categories of Purpose, People, Possibilities, and Predictions.  

Purpose 

We founded OIC almost three years ago to help companies large and small drive “Operational Velocity.”  When we use the term “Operational Velocity” we mean the state a company has achieved that enables them to grow, scale, operate, and pivot seamlessly.  They have strategic alignment internally, supported by the leadership, culture, processes, methodologies, and toolsets that enable them to quickly adjust to changing customer, partner, and market dynamics. 

2025 has been a year where we truly executed on our purpose for being.  From January onwards, our clients and we have operated in extremely difficult market conditions.  The promise of AI led very quickly to proactive staffing and budget cuts, despite most companies not yet having a vision for how they will leverage AI safely and ethically.   

That very quickly led to several dynamics: 

1. Companies that jumped to roll out AI quickly, yet without safety and ethical guardrails, have incurred significant risk and inefficiency. Without proper planning, these companies quickly found themselves less productive, accurate, and reliable than they were before.  
2. A lot of talented people were out of work, through no fault of their own, in what is the worst job market in recent history.  OIC’s founders have spent a lot of time this year helping these highly skilled people by making introductions to the few companies still hiring, by reviewing resumes, and by helping people think about adjacent markets where they could leverage their skills. 
3. Those leaders who are still employed have been burdened with budget cuts, additional rounds of staffing cuts, and having to execute multiple jobs to continue organizational progress.  We worked hard to support those leaders by helping them improve processes and tools, rethink organizational design, and set more realistic goals to negotiate with their executive teams. 

What we learned throughout this year is that, although 2025 didn’t look like we thought it would,  OIC’s purpose was to shift our focus to help those who are unemployed wherever we could and to help our current clients to reassess their strategies to address the changes in the market, their budgets, and their staffing. 

People 

As mentioned above, we worked hard throughout the year to support friends and ex-colleagues, providing support both emotionally and professionally.   

What surprised and disappointed us this year was the number of companies who quickly shifted away from their stated core principles in the face of AI-driven market changes to drive a greater bottom line.  Companies, who two years ago espoused core values of employees being their greatest assets, had a knee jerk reaction and laid off people in droves before even understanding how AI might change their business.  Executive leadership teams behaved in a reactive manner, and their employees paid the price.  I’m sure the current political landscape and new norms for “professional dialog” made it seem that this was ok, but a company’s core values should not shift with market changes, and if they do, it was just marketing in the first place.  

On the positive side, we have seen several companies who were more thoughtful about their reaction to the market, over-communicating to employees about the realities of what the coming months might bring.  We applaud those companies and their leaders. 

Possibilities 

We spent a lot of time in 2025 helping our clients think through the possibilities for the future.   

We observed significant free-floating anxiety across leadership teams.  People were worried about their own positions and unsure how to tackle transformation by leveraging AI across their organization.   

Many people felt like they were behind, almost from the start.  We know you have all observed companies whose “AI strategy” is nothing more than marketing, but the most mature leaders have taken the time to understand emerging technologies, to think through governance and their current risk posture, and to develop an executable plan.  They also recognize the need to retool their strategy and decision-making processes to accelerate their ability to react to market changes. 

 2026 will surely be a year of possibilities.  It’s hard to predict where the new year will take us —it’s ok to be unsure, but those who stay calm and proactive, and develop a solid plan, will be well positioned for success.  We truly appreciate our clients’ willingness to take the journey together -- the leadership you have shown in 2025 is nothing short of remarkable, and we expect nothing less in 2026.    

Predictions 

So, what do our blog readers think 2026 will bring? 

Given the volume of very poor content being generated by AI, with little or no review by a subject matter expert, will 2026 be the year when content ceases to be king? 

• OIC’s prediction: No, but the really good content will be much harder to find. 

Will there be more high-profile corporate AI scandals like the situation with Deloitte and the Australian government? (Deloitte AI debacle seen as wake-up call for corporate finance | CFO Dive) 

• OIC’s prediction: Absolutely. 

Will companies find the rare balance of an appropriate level AI governance without hampering innovation? 

• OIC’s prediction: 2026 will be a year of struggle with this balance for most companies, regardless of size. 

Will there be a swing towards more real-world connection as a rebellion against the sanitized world of AI?  

• OIC’s prediction: Eventually, but likely not as soon as 2026. 

For job-seekers looking to stand out, how will they effectively reposition themselves, when it is hard to predict what the market might demand?  

• OIC’s prediction: As always, those who leverage their networks will have the best success.  The fastest results will go to those who have broadly educated themselves, and stay up to date, on AI-related domains, including tools and technologies, governance models, security and compliance considerations, and applicable regulations (NIST AI Risk Management Framework (AI RMF 1.0), ISO/IEC 42001:2023 - AI management systems, General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)). 

Summary 

2026 will be nothing short of amazing for those who continue to build on solid foundations – nothing has changed in the necessity of that, it just needs to be accelerated. 

Best wishes for a phenomenal year to our current and future clients!  Please reach out if there is anything we can do to help accelerate your team’s success!  https://oicadvisors.com/contact