While everyone was looking ahead to 2026 with new plans, new tools and new promises, something else was happening to me. I wasn't scaling up. I was scaling down.

During a moment of reflection, I wrote down not what produces visible growth, but what actually moves. Choices that build freedom, force focus and deepen leadership. In all, they became seven strategic choices. And they all have the same core: simplify, change and enrich to strengthen my distinctive capability. 

Knowing again exactly what deserves your attention. And especially what doesn't. 

Not doing more, not going to offer more, just less. These seven strategic choices that will make a difference in 2026 for you as visionary frontrunners, women leaders who don't want to accelerate to escape, but want to build impact, peace and leadership that stays.

1. High-Value positioning and leadership is no longer a luxury. It is a core competency.

Distinguishing what, to whom and where you spend your time and energy. The ability to show sharply for whom you are there, where and to whom you are going to say yes. And even sharper: no. Not kindly, not doubtfully. But based on your time, energy and impact.

Most time, energy and impact leak away not from hard work, but from wrong choices. Unclear positioning. Non-fitting clients. Not because they are difficult, but because they are not the clients with whom you determine the best results and who will take you further, where you are moving.

If you take freedom seriously, you must develop the capacity to say no more often than yes. Even to clients who can pay. Because every non-fitting client costs you more than money. You lose focus, clarity and strategic space.

This is exactly where I guide my clients the most. Not in working harder, but in making strategically intelligent choices. Wisdom on multiple layers and integrated: EQ × IQ × AI. What do you stop. What do you deepen. What is essential now. Positioning, strategy and intelligent leadership are not an afterthought. It is your added value.

In my high-value premium collaborations like Scale to Freedom, we rarely work on doing more. The real work is in stopping, simplifying, enriching and strengthening.

Many of my clients are intelligent, successful and experienced. But they are losing energy to customers, positions, propositions or collaborations that were once right and now don't fit their next phase.

A wrong customer doesn't cost you sales. A wrong customer costs you leadership.

That's why we focus on discernment. Which customers belong to your next identity. Which business and revenue models sabotage your freedom. Which choices make strategic sense but are personally exhausting.

What clients give back is not a hype result, but something more valuable: peace in their schedule, head and body. Sharpness in decision-making. And a course of action they no longer doubt daily.

2. The value gap strategy for 2026 

Clarity and stratification in a value-driven offering. Build a simple but high-quality value ladder. Partly where your direct presence and interaction with your customers makes the difference. Your humanity, your EQ × IQ. High-value strategic coaching, advice and mentoring. Work where your value and presence make the difference. This has to be premium. Not because of time, but because of transformation.

And on the other side is leverage. High-value, strategically smart, AI-supported propositions that are scalable(er) and more accessible. These offerings are less dependent on you, but still valuable. The mistake I see is thinking you have to choose.

I see it differently. 2026 calls for closing the value gap between your time and energy investment and the transformation it brings to your customers. Away from valuation based purely on your hours, but toward:

Depth on one side. Freedom on the other.

Resilience is in dispersion. Not in dependence.

My business is deliberately built according to a clear value ladder strategy. And I teach my clients exactly the same thing. On one side is the work that cannot be automated: my premium 1:1 collaborations. On the other side are scalable propositions, frameworks, AI-supported tools. Less dependent on me, but built on my vision and methodology.

As a result, my clients experience more continuity, more revenue streams and sales without more hours, less dependence on themselves and a business that can withstand uncertainty.

3. Community as a strategic anchor

No one is short on information anymore. That's not the problem. What people are looking for is connection, depth and bedding. Reflection and recognition with like-minded people. Like-minded people playing the same game. 

The need for networking is great, so many have been developed in recent years. Because people still want human contact, perspective. Connection. 

But communities only work when they are intentionally designed. With rhythm, space and shared results. With contact, live and online. With real presence, safety and trust. Without that, attrition becomes inevitable. And customers feel that, even if they don't name it.

The ELLLE Board is not a standard community, but a strategic ecosystem. A movement.

People don't come to me because they lack information. They come because they no longer have an equal mirror. That's why The ELLLE Board is not a support group. It is a high-quality environment for women who carry leadership: in their business, in their family, in their wealth, in their legacy.

We combine strategic sessions, live reflection, high-level conversations and keep the size limited to maintain meaningful connection.

4. Those who do not own data do not own their own business.

Reach is not an asset. Followers are not an asset. Likes are ego-stirring but not yet customers.

E-mail and possibly SMS are. Not because they are innovative and novel, but because they are stable. In a world full of algorithm changes and AI noise, you want instant, unfiltered access to your people and to like-minded people.

Use social media and other platforms to create visibility. But always build on ground that belongs to you.

Confusion between reach and possession is a strategic mistake that later comes at the expense of your profitable growth.

That's why I don't depend on LinkedIn. Therefore, neither are my clients. My clients always build their own ecosystem: e-mail, direct communication or through their own community.

LinkedIn is visibility. Email is control.

That is why in my projects we work structurally on positioning content and then strategically distribute and share it through omnichannel.

Results: More stable inflow of new followers and the right leads, more quality inquiries, less stress when reach drops or challenges with your social media account(s).

5. Use AI to free up time. Not to disappear.

AI is supposed to enhance your humanity, not replace it. I see too many entrepreneurs and companies disappear behind generated content. That undermines trust.

 Deploy AI as a help, as that extra assistant that helps you structure, accelerate. But regardless: you are the brand, the heart of your business, and you must remain visible in your thinking, your words, your choices.

Precise writing is once again becoming a high-quality distinctive skill.

People feel the difference between generated and thoughtful. Trust does not arise from efficiency, but from genuineness.

How do we integrate AI into your business and use it without losing our authority? In my work, I use AI to free up time, not to replace my voice. I show my clients what AI tools they can use for structure, for analysis, for acceleration.

But never for their core message, their vision and leadership. Allowing them more room to think and more focus in their communication.

6. Your voice is your positioning.

Your voice. Your perspective. Your face. That's the distinction.

Most people have plenty of ideas, but too little repetition. Too little focus. Too little courage to articulate their worldview consistently.

It's not about more content. It's about having enough space to be the content yourself. So that the right people recognize you and the rest drop out.

Why my clients don't build a ‘personal brand’ but take a leadership position?

We don't work on content, we work on value and content pillars, on articulation and presentation of your value. How do you think, what do you stand for, what do you say that others dare not?

That is the core of my methodology and of my Integral Growth Systems™. So that they get noticed by their top clients. Not by sending harder, but by being themselves more consistently.

7. LinkedIn is not dead. Positioning has shifted.

Visibility works differently. Findability has become more strategic. If someone can't find you at the moment they experience your problem, you are leaving value.

Consistent use of your voice and your face makes you findable in this new ecosystem. Not only on platforms, but also through AI-driven search routes. That feels unreal at first. Until it becomes normal. 

2026 does not reward volume. It rewards positioning and value.

My clients learn to use LinkedIn as a positioning channel, not a dopamine machine 😊. Combined with long-form content strategy, strategic marketing for findability and a consistent message. That's why they don't hunt, they get found.

The question that remains

I truly believe that you cannot skip any of these seven if you want to build a relevant and future-proof business. One that leans not on being busy and full agenda, but on direction, value and simplicity. Not on working harder, but on intelligent strategic simplification.

The real question is not whether you recognize this.
 
The question is: which choice would you dare to be the first to make radically in 2026?

Not what you want.But what you are going to stop.

One Life. Lead it. Live it.

Warm regards,

Gerdi Hulsink

When you are ready to work less hard, live enriched with more meaning: 

The ELLLE Live Day
The strategic RESET 
On Friday, January 23, 2026, I am hosting The ELLLE Life Day. An exclusive, high-quality strategic RESET for up to six top women who feel it's time to reassess their value, systems and growth. A day of peace and space where we dive deep into your personal, leadership and business foundation, redesign your value strategy and you leave with focus, energy and a clear strategic growth plan for 2026.
Friday, January 23, 2026, from 10.00-16.00 in Zwolle

Scale to Freedom - Premium 1:1 Collaboration
Six months of intensive integral transformation. A strategic partnership in which we reset, redesign and rebuild. For women who want to scale in impact, revenue and freedom without losing their essence.
Discover Scale to Freedom: www.gerdihulsink.nl/scale-to-freedom

The ELLLE Board
The new movement for visionary women who want to build their legacy. Growing together. Strategically. Exclusive. The doors are open.
Sign up now for the online ELLLE BOARD meetings for the start in 2026 www.gerdihulsink.nl/ellle

PS: Are you looking for a fractional CXO, a strategic partner and want to exclusively enter into a long-term 1:1 partnership? Schedule your personal meeting via www.gerdihulsink.nl/strategiesessie. 

P.P.S. Simplicity and simplicity, without restrictions, limitations and hassles. It is the most beautiful and greatest assignment of your life. And 2026 is the year you finally choose what stays and what goes.