We are starting a new year and a new phase in this blog, which has now been running for over fifteen years. And no, this first post of 2026 cannot be boring. It is intended to be a call to action for the sector: has the time come to stop talking so much about communication and start practising it with more weight, more judgement and more responsibility? It is time to prove ourselves.
In recent years, and particularly intensely in 2025, we have talked a great deal about what communication brings to organisations. We have generated rivers of specialised content, we have asserted our role in forums, conferences and networks, and we have broadened the narrative about our strategic relevance. At the same time, the nomenclature has changed: we are no longer just communication directors; we are now responsible for corporate affairs.
The problem is not the change of name. The problem arises when it is not accompanied by a real change in the way of intervening in decisions. “How many words, how many nomenclatures for one same confusion”, as Cortázar said.
Trends, yes, but with demands
When discussing trends for 2026, the diagnosis is widely shared: greater fragmentation of audiences, conversational environments that are increasingly more scattered every day, increasing pressure on reputation, private spaces that are gaining ground to public spaces and an artificial intelligence that accelerates processes, lowers the cost of producing content and I am not very confident that it raises the bar for what is considered a differentiator.
All of this forms part of the context that communication professionals will be dealing with this year. But the real challenge is not so much identifying trends – we have been doing that for many years – as ensuring that they do not remain a rhetorical exercise, something we also know a lot about. Because the risk is clear: talking about change without changing anything.
I don’t know if we’re going round in circles a bit, but we keep repeating the idea (which is now so obvious) that communication cannot continue to be a reactive function. It cannot be limited to explaining decisions made in other areas or strategically glossing over what has already been decided. If we truly aspire to be a structural area, communication must be part of the core where priorities are defined, risks are assessed, and decisions that affect the business and its reputation are made.
Less noise, more meaning
Paradoxically, while we demand greater strategic relevance, the sector contributes to saturating the ecosystem. New blogs, podcasts, newsletters and opinion formats emerge almost daily. In part, this is logical: if no one is talking about you—or your brand—it seems as if you don’t exist, especially in an algorithm-mediated environment, now more than ever as AI tracks your GEO like a bloodhound.
But: are we providing clarity or simply more noise?
An abundance of content does not always translate into greater influence. Often, the opposite is true. In an oversaturated context, value lies not in saying more, but in saying what matters, when it matters, and from a position of judgement. This requires giving up certain comfortable platitudes in favour of more thoughtful positions that are more connected to the reality of organisations and less dependent on passing fads.
AI as a mirror, not as an excuse
The emergence (now normalised) of artificial intelligence is perhaps the most obvious challenge of 2026. Not so much because of what it automates – a lot, as we know – but because of what it reveals. AI writes, summarises, translates, proposes and multiplies production. What it does not do is answer the question for us: what is important?
Here, it is worth turning the usual discourse on its head. AI has not come to make us think less; it has come to make us think much more. This is according to Xavier Marcet, and it is worth remembering. We cannot lose the value of thinking. He adds another recommendation that is worth bearing in mind: “thinking is done alone; reasoning is done as a team“.
In communication, AI can accelerate the “what”; but the value will continue to lie in the “why” and the “what for”. And that requires thought.
Thinking is not a luxury nor an intellectual gesture. It is a professional responsibility. Especially in a context where technology is accelerating, the noise multiplies and the temptation to express an opinion without criterion is always a click away from.
If communication wants to occupy the place it claims to want to occupy, in 2026 it will have to demonstrate this less in storytelling and more in decision-making. Less in overexposure and more in influence. Less in fashion and more in craftsmanship. In short: take action.
It means thinking before speaking. And acting accordingly. Or, in other words: from saying to doing.
Happy 2026, the year of action.
