4
min read
Get ready for tomorrow’s mindset
In our latest webinar, A Human Take on Our Future, we explored this question through a lens that’s both human and surprisingly practical for business planning.
In this article, we point out a few ideas to help you think differently about the years ahead. Because business and brand leaders currently feel the change. 2026 is not going to be more of the same. On the contrary, we are heading somewhere new. True leaders prepare their business for tomorrow’s mindset.
Anxiety is a phase, not a destination
One of the most common traps in business planning is assuming the future will simply extend the present. If the world feels uncertain today, we assume it will stay uncertain. If people feel anxious now, we assume anxiety will be the dominant mindset for years.
Let’s look back at 1985. It was a time of high unemployment, global conflict, nuclear fear, and major societal tension. It didn’t feel like the beginning of something hopeful. Only a few years later, the world changed dramatically: the Berlin Wall fell, apartheid ended, and the digital age accelerated. In the middle of an anxious era, it’s almost impossible to imagine what comes next. And yet, something always does come next. We can expect change and should prepare our businesses and brands for the new mindset.
Societies move in emotional cycles
A central idea comes from the work of Belgian political historian Professor Helmuth Gaus, who studied long-term cultural evolution and found a recurring pattern: societies don’t evolve in straight lines; they evolve in emotional cycles.
In broad terms, we move through long phases of trust, openness, experimentation, followed by anxiety, closure, protection, and then back again.
These aren’t just political shifts. They show up everywhere: in culture, fashion, entertainment, and even in the way we relate to technology. This is what makes the model so useful for brand strategy. Because it suggests something powerful: the cultural mood changes in patterns, and brands can plan for it.
What will happen in the near future?
When trust is low and anxiety is high, people look for reassurance. They prefer the familiar. They are suspicious of novelty. They gravitate toward symbols of safety, control, and strength. Now, we are approaching a shift. If we follow the cycle, we’re close to the bottom of the trust curve, where anxiety peaks. That means we’re nearing the moment when things begin to rise again: a move out of bunker-mode. Not into naive optimism, but into something more complex:
More confidence.
Sharper identities.
More willingness to take risks.
More comfort with ambiguity.
This matters because it suggests that the next era won’t reward the safest brands. It will reward those who understand the shift early.
Tips for brand strategy and communication
Neutrality becomes less safe
In anxious eras, brands often play it safe. They become minimal, product-focused, and careful. But as confidence rises, neutrality becomes boring and eventually suspicious.
Shift from icons to signatures
In low-trust periods, people buy icons because they feel socially “safe.” But in higher-trust periods, people seek choices that feel more personal, distinctive, and expressive.
Perfection gives way to honesty
As trust returns, brands can afford to be more human: more transparent, more direct, more opinionated. Not polished perfection. Real character.