As we step into 2026, it’s time to leave behind the things that no longer serve us and embrace the ideas that will drive us forward. For years, our language has reflected an era of survival: resilience, agility, disruption, war rooms, and so on. Today, “the new normal” is standard operating procedure. Yet, yesterday’s terms are still shaping our thinking about the future—and potentially holding us back.
As we plan for the year ahead, here are some of the concepts we’re rethinking.
From disruption to opportunity
In recent years, “disruption” became the universal explanation for complexity. Every challenge—supplier failure, demand swings, transportation delays—was framed as an external shock.
In 2026, we’ll finally acknowledge disruption is no longer disruptive. It’s normal. Treating volatility as an exception keeps organizations reactive and defensive. Reframing it as opportunity changes the posture entirely. Opportunity-focused supply chains ask different questions:
- Where does volatility reveal unmet customer needs?
- Where does it expose rigid policies or outdated assumptions?
- Where can faster insight create competitive advantage?
In 2026, the winners won’t be those who complain least about disruption but those who learn fastest from it.
From resilience to adaptability
Resilience defined the last chapter of supply chain evolution. However, resilience also implies recovery, returning to the way things were when what you really need is to move things forward.
In 2026, the defining capability will be adaptability. Adaptable supply chains are designed to change continuously. They don’t rely on fixed rules or quarterly planning cycles. Instead, they sense shifts early, predict the potential impacts, prescribe next steps, and execute instantly, enabling your company to adjust course seamlessly. Adaptability means:
- Planning that updates as conditions change
- Decisions that meet the moment and inform the next opportunity
- Teams that focus on long-term outcomes, rather than daily firefighting
Resilience helped us endure. Adaptability will help us lead.
From perfect planning to intelligent decision making
For decades, supply chains were optimized around perfection: perfect forecasts, perfect plans, perfect efficiency. In 2026, we’ll finally admit to two truths:
- Perfection is risky.
- Speed isn’t reckless.
In the past, we aimed for perfect plans because we were confident in some level of stability and because accelerating decision making came with tradeoffs in the form of less information, accuracy, or transparency. Today’s environment has changed, and so have the technologies.
The paradigm of speed = compromise is over. Automation, AI, and agents are enhancing our supply chain capabilities and providing unrivaled insight at faster speeds. Now, intelligent decision making means:
- Tradeoffs are visible in real time
- Automation handles repetitive, rules-based tasks
- Execution reflects shared objectives, not siloed optimization
In a fast-moving world, speed and intelligence are tablestakes.
Why this reframing matters
Reframing supply chain thinking doesn’t mean forgetting the lessons of the past. It means building on them. Shifting our language refocuses our strategy, from how our teams behave, to where our investments go, and what gets rewarded.
A disruption mindset encourages caution while an opportunity mindset encourages initiative. A resilience mindset waits for what comes next while an adaptability mindset never stops advancing. A perfect planning mindset delays action, but a better decision making mindset empowers the entire organization.
In 2026, supply chain excellence won’t be defined by avoiding change, but by working with it.
