Navigating Forward: Reflecting on 2025 and Leading with Clarity in 2026

January 6, 2026

I am deeply grateful for the courage, clarity, and collective strength this community demonstrated in one of the most volatile years our industry has faced. What began as uncertainty reinforced our shared purpose and sharpened our leadership. I am inspired by what we will continue to build together in 2026.

As we navigate an increasingly complex legal, political, and market landscape, BRIDGE's role has never been more critical or more clear.

In 2026, we are moving beyond the line. Not to preserve what was, but to build what must exist next.

THE SYSTEM WE BUILT - AND CONTINUE TO BUILD

In 2025, BRIDGE sharpened and reinforced our core mission: inclusion is an enterprise-wide capability for growth.

That mission is now being realized through the BRIDGE System for Inclusive Growth (SIG). This integrated approach is designed to help organizations apply, measure, and scale inclusion as a driver of enterprise performance.

HOW THE SYSTEM COMES TO LIFE

1. Project FORWARD became our North Star:
   In a year shaped by executive orders, proxy battles, and legal ambiguity, Project FORWARD evolved into an indispensable leadership resource. Our weekly insights, which created a distinction between reactive chaos and strategic advantage, reached thousands of leaders making real-time decisions about inclusion strategy, legal risk, and brand positioning.
2. BRIDGE25: FORWARD Set a New Standard:
   Visionary leaders showed up at our third annual retreat ready to engage in the hard conversations, challenge assumptions, and keep moving the work forward. Unapologetically indelible, determined and audacious, BRIDGE25 proved, once again, that this community doesn't just talk about the future, we build it.
3. IMAX Comes to Market:
   Grounded in 150+ evidence-based business practices across six domains, IMAX, the Inclusive Market Advantage Index connects workplace culture and marketplace impact by translating inclusion from aspiration into measurable business capability across six domains to unlock growth and reduce risk. IMAX moves inclusion out of the margins and into the mechanics of the business so it becomes measurable, scalable, and transformational.
4. The BRIDGE Academy: Building Capability (Coming Soon):
   In 2025, we laid the foundation for the BRIDGE Academy designed to equip leaders to apply and measure inclusion as a core enterprise capability and driver of performance. The Academy will focus on building cross-functional fluency, practical application, and measurable impact. More to come in 2026.
5. Our Board Expanded Its Leadership:
   Under Sandra Sims-Williams' visionary leadership as Board Chair, we welcomed new board members who bring critical expertise in legal risk, AI ethics, and global market strategy. Our board represents 35 of the most influential voices at the intersection of DEI, marketing, and business. Their guidance has been instrumental in helping BRIDGE meet this moment with both courage and pragmatism.
6. Community Calls Became Command Centers:
   Together, we tackled the questions keeping leaders up at night: navigating legal precedent, interpreting consumer sentiment, supporting communities while advancing business priorities. And built an even stronger community!

LEADING TOGETHER WITH GROWTH IN 2026

The context we're operating in continues to evolve. Legal frameworks shift. Markets fragment. The environment remains complex, and signals are not always aligned.

And still, the opportunity is clear.

Inclusion, when applied, measured, and embedded as an enterprise-wide business capability, drives performance, reputation, and growth. It strengthens organizations from the inside out, enabling leaders to navigate change and compete more effectively in dynamic environments.

This year, BRIDGE will focus on three imperatives that bring our community together around shared action and shared impact.

OUR IMPERATIVES FOR 2026

1. Lead with Clarity

In a complex and evolving environment, clarity is a competitive advantage. In 2026, BRIDGE will continue to provide leaders with timely, grounded insight that supports confident decision-making across legal, political, and market dynamics.

Through Project FORWARD and our Community Calls, we will help leaders cut through noise, align stakeholders, and move forward with intention by connecting inclusion strategy to enterprise priorities and real-world outcomes.

2. Build Capability for Growth

This year, BRIDGE will continue to expand the System for Inclusive Growth to help organizations strengthen capability across functions and levels.

IMAX will deepen its role as a diagnostic and decision-support tool, while the BRIDGE Academy will begin equipping leaders with the skills and fluency required to translate inclusion into performance. Together, these efforts move inclusion from aspiration to execution.

3. Leading Beyond the Line - Together

BRIDGE26: Beyond the Line will convene leaders around a shared commitment to move from intention to impact, and from conversation to coordinated action.

We will continue to build our community and create a safe space for critical conversations, to have each other's backs even in the most difficult circumstances, and to recognize our wins as we prevail in this work.

To this courageous, collaborative, and committed BRIDGE community: thank you for your leadership, your trust, and your willingness to stay in the work. The work is demanding, and the opportunity ahead is significant.

To the extraordinary BRIDGE team: your dedication, care, and belief in this mission make everything possible. I am deeply grateful for all you bring to this work.

And to the BRIDGE Board: thank you for your guidance, partnership, and steady leadership as we continue to build what comes next together.

I invite you to navigate 2026 together.

Grounded in clarity, conviction, and courage.

SD
founder & CEO
BRIDGE