Leadership + Hiring Trends: Insights from the Noto Group Team for 2026

About this episode

The episode discusses key hiring and leadership trends for 2026, including challenges and actionable advice for both employers and candidates.

Noto Group’s senior partners break down key hiring and leadership trends that they’re seeing for 2026 and beyond. Sara Spirko , John Copeland , and Tami Bumiller discuss common pitfalls, market forces, predictions, and actionable advice for those seeking top talent – and for candidates looking to be hired – in the year ahead. Highlights from our conversation include:  Unexpected obstacles to hiring top leaders in 2025 (3:08) Shifts in client, company, and candidate priorities and needs (4:59) Competencies and capabilities that are essential for leadership in today’s market (7:37) Best indicators to predict executive success in the current hiring environment (9:42) How CEOs and boards can get the best results when engaging a search firm (10:53) The team’s take on whether hiring in 2026 is shaping up to be smoother or tougher than in previous years (15:59) In-office versus remote versus hybrid trends for 2026 (19:24) The evolution of compensation packages (20:34) How companies are thinking about hybrid or remote leaders (23:38) Advice for executive-level leaders considering making a move in 2026 (27:15) How candidates can show up authentically, especially given AI trends…

People in this episode

Host: Roy Notowitz

Guests: Sara Spirko, John Copeland, Tami Bumiller

Topics covered

• leadership trends
• hiring trends
• executive success
• remote work
• compensation packages

Keywords

• top talent
• market forces
• hiring obstacles
• candidate priorities

More episodes of How I Hire

• Kate Williams on How Purpose Powers Performance at 1% for the Planet · June 3, 2026 · 43 min
• Transformation, Growth, and Innovation with Helayna Minsk (Johnson & Johnson, Walgreens, Unilever) · May 5, 2026 · 33 min
• New Belgium CEO Shaun Belongie on Human Powered Business Model · February 10, 2026 · 33 min
• "Business as Unusual" with fmr. Ben & Jerry’s CEO David Stever · January 13, 2026 · 35 min
• MALK Organics CEO Jason Bronstad on Simplicity, Purpose, and Building Teams that Deliver · December 9, 2025 · 25 min
• Thinking “Career Forward” with Christiana Smith Shi, former Nike Direct-to-Consumer President · October 7, 2025 · 59 min