The 2026 Director’s Agenda: General Outlook
Boards and senior management teams in 2026 face converging external pressure, regulatory complexity and sophisticated activist strategies, which are reshaping how governance, risk oversight and corporate strategy are judged. Artificial intelligence (AI), geopolitics, sustainability mandates and regulation, market volatility and cybersecurity are colliding in ways that directly influence long-term value, resilience and accountability. Activists, regulators and investors are increasingly tying their respective agendas to corporate performance and leadership credibility.
With the 2026 annual reporting and proxy season underway, Akin will be publishing a series of targeted insights to help directors, executives and investors navigate this fast-moving landscape. The series will spotlight risks and opportunities for corporate directors, emerging activist tactics, regulatory inflection points and governance blind spots. It will also outline concrete board-level imperatives such as scenario planning, committee design, skills alignment, disclosure discipline and crisis readiness, each aimed at strengthening resilience and trust.
Each piece examines a core pressure point that is likely to define board scrutiny and activist engagement over the next several years, including:
- A preview of issues expected to require focus during the 2026 proxy season, including key issues for directors and activists.
- Governance and oversight of AI.
- Rising importance of cryptocurrencies and digital assets.
- Developments across sustainability- and climate-related reporting frameworks.
- Capital allocation, liquidity and financial resilience.
- Human capital management.
- Increasingly fragmented regulatory regimes for multijurisdictional companies.
- The intersection of fiduciary duties and related litigation risks, including greenwashing.
Across our series, we will examine both the underlying risk drivers and how activists and other stakeholders may use these issues to challenge strategy, demand governance changes or push for specific, agenda-based outcomes.
A central and key theme will be the board’s shifting role in the current environment. Rigidity is out. Flexibility is in. Activists are and will continue to increasingly judge boards on execution: whether oversight structures align with strategic priorities, whether disclosures reflect real decision making and whether directors have the expertise to guide companies through regulatory divergence and market volatility. Simultaneously, boards will need to understand and navigate conflicting regulatory demands, political pressures and investor expectations, across jurisdictions, all while remaining agile in unpredictable geopolitical markets.
In the series of insights, we present three articles that touch on most, if not all, of the complexities mentioned above. First, we offer “Key Issues for Companies and Activist Investors Heading into the 2026 Proxy Season,” which previews issues that are top of mind for companies and activists as the 2026 reporting and proxy season heads into full gear, as well as considerations for corporate directors as they confront a rapidly evolving environment.
Next, in “Sustainability Disclosures: A Complex Legal and Regulatory Environment for Boards of Directors,” we present a snapshot of the current landscape for sustainability-related disclosures and the growing divergence among approaches in the U.S. and Europe and offer practical steps directors may consider taking when evaluating compliance obligations and risks.
Finally, “Board Considerations for Public Companies Engaging with Digital Assets” closes this first collection with a brief exposition covering issues faced by public companies and boards when dealing with digital assets.
This compilation is not, nor is it intended to be, exhaustive. Indeed, we recognize that the current environment presents unique and potentially contentious challenges requiring bespoke, fact-specific solutions, and that we partner with our clients and colleagues to assess issues and then develop and implement solutions to deliver long-term value for stakeholders. We trust you will enjoy this content, and we look forward to hearing your thoughts and working with you.
