What Leaders Need to Get Right for 2027
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As executives plan for 2027, growth is only part of the equation.
How do you protect profitability when costs remain under pressure? How do you make sure your strongest performers are actually prepared to manage? And if AI is improving productivity, why aren't employees necessarily experiencing less work?
On this episode of the ExecutiveEDGE Podcast, Abby White and Geert De Lombaerde examine three leadership challenges shaping the year ahead: protecting margins, building a stronger management bench and making sure AI creates real capacity rather than simply higher expectations.
Because a stronger top line doesn't necessarily mean stronger margins. A great individual contributor doesn't automatically become a great manager. And AI productivity gains mean a lot less if they simply translate into more work.
Episode Resources
Economist: 2027 Success Predicated on Protecting Margins and Preparing for More Inflation
Geert De Lombaerde
The Hidden Pitfalls of Promoting Based on Performance Alone
Bridget McCrea
AI Isn’t Letting Workers Off the Hook Yet. Why Centering People Matters Even As The Tech Matures.
Geert De Lombaerde
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About the Author
Abby WhiteAbby White
Vice President, Content Studio
As Vice President of EndeavorB2B’s Content Studio, Abby leads client-driven custom content programs across 90+ brands and the content strategy for topic and role-based newsletters serving executive audiences. An award-winning journalist with a marketer’s mindset, Abby brings 25 years of experience leading editorial, communications, marketing, and audience-building efforts across industries.
Abby launched her first magazine, Abby’s Top 40, in 1988 and made everyone in her family read it. While attending the University of Illinois, she paid her rent as a professional notetaker, which might explain why she still gets asked to take notes in meetings. Since then, she has held editorial leadership roles at an alt weekly, a newspaper, a luxury lifestyle magazine, a business journal, a music magazine, and regional women’s magazines, developing a sharp writing edge and a conversational tone that resonates with professional audiences.
She expanded into marketing while leading communications for an entertainment industry nonprofit and later drove rebranding and audience-building efforts for an NPR music station. At EndeavorB2B, she has been instrumental in driving editorial excellence, developing scalable content strategies across multiple verticals, and building the foundation for EDGE, the company’s portfolio of executive newsletters.
And if you’re a writer interested in contributing to ExecutiveEDGE, she’s the person you need to (politely) bug.
Geert De LombaerdeGeert De Lombaerde
Contributor
A native of Belgium, Geert De Lombaerde joined EndeavorB2B in September 2021 to cover public companies, markets, and economic trends primarily for IndustryWeek, FleetOwner, Oil & Gas Journal, T&D World, and Healthcare Innovation. His work focuses on strategy, leadership, capital spending, and mergers and acquisitions, and he also works with Endeavor Business Intelligence on surveys and data projects.
Geert has been in business journalism since the mid-1990s. With a degree in journalism from the University of Missouri, he began his reporting career at the Business Courier in Cincinnati, initially covering retail and the courts before shifting to banking, insurance, and investing. He later was managing editor and editor of the Nashville Business Journal before being named editor of the Nashville Post in 2008. He led a team that helped grow the Post's online traffic by an average of more than 15% annually before joining Endeavor.
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