Leaders shaping tomorrow: Career advice for a new era of work

Leaders shaping tomorrow is our global toolkit for career advice, grounded in the real experiences of women leaders across our network. 

As careers become less predictable and skills become the primary currency of opportunity, this research focuses on what individuals can do right now to stay relevant and thrive. 

In 2025, we launched the first edition of our career advice toolkit, bringing together research‑based insights to support people at every stage of their career. 

In 2026, we evolved that research to reflect how quickly the world of work is changing. This year’s research goes deeper. We explore how to stay relevant, resilient, and impactful in a new era of work defined by AI's transformation of roles, careers, and industries.  

The result is an expanded and sharpened perspective. We present career advice for a new era of work, with a deliberate focus on skills, reinvention, and the most important human capabilities to complement technology. 

Work is being reshaped at unprecedented speed. AI is transforming how value is created, how decisions are made, and how careers unfold. Linear career paths are giving way to continual reinvention. While technology accelerates what’s possible, it also raises a fundamental question: What skills will matter most for long‑term career relevance and impact? 

To gather insights, we interviewed 65 women leaders from across our global network—leaders driving transformation, reinvention, and progress in real time. Their insights are the foundation of our Leaders shaping tomorrow career advice toolkit. 

This research was conducted across two waves (2025 and 2026), enabling PwC to track how career priorities, skills, and leadership expectations are shifting with the world of work. 

Through Leaders shaping tomorrow, we bring a career‑level perspective to the new era of work. This is not a traditional career guide. It’s holistic research that translates our leaders’ unique experiences into thoughtful advice that can be beneficial to all professionals. 

Together, these insights point to a new skills mix where technical fluency, meta‑skills, and human judgement combine to shape long‑term career resilience. 

Designed for individuals at every career stage—from early career to senior leadership—this research supports anyone navigating change in this new era of work. 

International Women’s Day provides a moment to pause and reflect on progress—but also to look ahead. This year, our IWD thought leadership focuses on the future of work and the skills people need to thrive in what comes next.  

The Leaders shaping tomorrow career advice toolkit is shaped by in‑depth interviews with our women leaders across geographies and in diverse leadership roles. While their journeys are diverse, a clear pattern emerged: Career success today is no longer defined by linear progression or technical expertise alone. It depends on how effectively people build, adapt, and apply skills over time—especially as technology reshapes work. 

While the insights are shaped by women leaders’ experiences, the advice is intentionally inclusive. It reflects the realities of modern careers and the capabilities all talent must build to succeed in a rapidly changing world. 

Whether you are starting out, progressing, reinventing, or leading through change, Leaders shaping tomorrow is designed to meet you where you are—today and as your career evolves. 

Our Global Workforce Hopes and Fears Survey 2025 provides critical context for this research. It captures how people around the world are experiencing rapid change, revealing strong optimism about the potential of AI alongside persistent concerns about skills, readiness, career security, and trust in leadership. 

Hopes and Fears is not only a pulse on workforce sentiment; it also offers clear insight for employers and leaders. The research shows that confidence, motivation, and readiness to adapt are shaped by the environments that leaders create: through clarity of direction, investment in skills, and cultures that support learning, reinvention, and trust.

Leaders shaping tomorrow connects these perspectives at the individual level. Grounded in the lived experiences of women leaders across our global network, it translates workforce expectations and leadership realities into practical, skills-focused career insight for the talent of today.  

The future of work will not be shaped by technology alone, but by the combined actions of leaders, organisations, and individuals. It will define how skills are developed, careers are supported, and human judgement is applied over time.  

Explore our Hopes and Fears research to understand workforce sentiment globally and the leadership actions that matter most. Discover how Leaders shaping tomorrow turns that insight into practical career guidance for individuals and talent navigating a new era of work.