A comment on growth in 2026 by Johan Ekelin and Christian Ihre, Co-Founders and Managing Partners Lynxeye.

Purpose Index™ 2026

Stop coping. Start leading!

The need for great leadership has never been greater. Today’s business leaders are among the most influential forces shaping our future, capable of accelerating progress or stalling it. Great people lead businesses. Great businesses lead industries. And great industries lead society forward.

For too many companies, coping is a comfortable trap. Extraordinary leaders shift from reacting to shaping, set a bold purpose and charge ahead. The 2026 edition of Lynxeye Purpose Index™ highlights several inspirational examples of companies enjoying growth because they dare to act, in spite of challenging market and world conditions.

Microsoft is effectively holding back the competition from newer tech companies by continuing to rally around its purpose. Toy brand Lego is growing by living its purpose, focusing on the customer and investing in the power of community. In B2B, shipping company Maersk reignited growth by becoming a global, purpose-driven market integrator. And GE revived its fortunes by a corporate restructuring based on its purpose of “Building a world that works”.

Transformation is often necessary to achieve growth, but it will always be hard work. It asks leaders to rewire their organizations and recommit to long-term value. But purpose makes that hard work easier; it creates clarity, aligns people, and fuels momentum.

“For too many companies, coping is a comfortable trap. Extraordinary leaders shift from reacting to shaping, set a bold purpose and charge ahead.”

However, Purpose is easy to talk about — which is why many do – and harder to truly leverage. Turning it into a force that changes how a company acts, decides, and grows, takes equal parts discipline and courage.

Therefore, we not only highlight the leaders who are shaping the future, we also share what we’ve learned from decades of helping organizations make purpose real. In the 2026 edition of Lynxeye Purpose Index™, we explore three classic pitfalls to avoid for successful purpose implementation.

In the coming year, we hope to see more leaders and companies stop coping and start envisioning the future they want, so they can become creators of their own success. And our shared future.

“Transformation is often necessary to achieve growth, but it will always be hard work. It asks leaders to rewire their organizations and recommit to long-term value. But purpose makes that hard work easier.”