I’m starting off 2026 with a post that likely won’t interest you at all. I’m only sharing it to 1) think it through and 2) make myself accountable. It’s inspired by this video:

Among other things, Pink suggests adopting a one-word theme for the year: “Not a sentence. Not a paragraph. A single word that captures the kind of year you want and the kind of person you want to become.” The point: focus. Rather than squander time and attention on whatever comes along, the word reminds you to align efforts in a coherent direction.

I love it. So here’s my theme word for 2026: Agency.

You may cringe. The word “agent” picked up a bit of a stench in 2025. But agency is more important than ever — on several levels. I’ll unpack a few of them here to give you a sense of how I expect this will unfold for me. That said, I’ll keep it high level. (I’m keeping my SMART goals private.)

Which Agency?

My Mac’s dictionary provides three definitions for “agency.” Here’s a summary:

  1. An organization that provides a particular service, as in an advertising agency.
  2. An action or intervention meant to produce a particular effect, as in supernatural agency.
  3. “The ability to make decisions and act independently.”

That last one is verbatim and the sense in which I mean it. Let’s unpack it.

  • Ability: freedom entailed by structural compatibility with proposed courses of action plus no external fetters. (E.g, I can walk around my neighborhood but unable take flight — not because anyone forbids it, but because I lack wings.)

  • Decide and act: our context and abilities imply latent possibilities; we must be able to choose among them and change our behavior accordingly.

  • Independently: we must be able to decide and act within our abilities and toward desired goals without coercion.

This is the heart of the matter: it must be through our own volition. As long as we can choose freely, our choice can include going along with others. But once we’re forced to act in particular ways either through structural constraints or physical threats, we’re no longer independent.

Hopefully, it’s becoming clear why I think agency is so important in 2026. More than ever, technological and social forces are changing our abilities to decide and act. Some of these changes are positive — i.e., they increase our scope. But many erode our independence.

Personally and professionally, I want to increase human agency — including my own. This doesn’t mean a free-for-all. We live in societies and must strive for their well-being and longevity. And that sometimes calls for sacrificing personal desires. (Again, without coercion!)

The drive toward more agency for myself and my fellow humans will inform all my efforts this year. But there are three areas in particular I expect to be affected: the subject of my work, my information flows, and how I deliver value. Let’s zoom in.

Agency Over Artificial Systems

There was much hype in 2025 about AI agents. While some people wrote thoughtfully about the subject, there was also much vacuous marketing. Lots of products overpromised and underdelivered: many “agents” were actually fairly standard workflows enhanced with LLMs.

It remains to be seen whether 2026 will deliver on the promise of truly agentic artificial systems. That said, I’m honing in on two questions:

  1. Where are agentic systems feasible, valuable, and desirable?
  2. How can we preserve human agency where it matters most?

The two are obviously related.

I’m not convinced of the desirability or feasibility of fully autonomous systems in many areas. In 2026, most actually useful solutions will consist of fairly standard workflows enhanced with LLMs. (I call these “assistants” rather than “agents.”)

But if we’re to develop truly autonomous agents — and many people are trying — then we must be mindful about how and where we want them to show up in our lives and work. This will be a focus in my consulting and writing this year, especially because…

Agency Over Information Environments

Information affects our ability to choose and act. Our mental models consist of what we know and how we understand things — including the contexts in which we experience them. New facts can change your mind, leading you to act differently.

Our information environments are changing. LLMs drive the cost of slop and propaganda to zero, so we can expect more this year. I’m grappling the implications as a consumer, producer, and designer of information systems.

On the consumer side, I plan to favor older, more trustworthy sources and reduce my reliance on social media. On the producer side, I will focus more on my own platform (e.g., this site, my newsletter) also at the expense of social media.

Design-wise, I will continue exploring the implications of AI for information architecture and information architecture for AI, but with a stronger sense of purpose. The goal in either case is increasing human agency.

BTW, I mean human individuals. Considering how central information is to our lives, we’ve become overly reliant on the services of too few organizations. Personally, I have too many eggs in others’ baskets. This year, I’ll take steps to reclaim my informational agency — and help others do the same.

Agency Over Income

Finally, I’ll share a more personal area of focus. This year, I will diversify my revenue streams to increase my agency over my income.

It’s been eight years since I started consulting independently. Fortunately, I’ve been busy much of that time. But some years have been better than others. I’ve done workshops, written two books, and launched an online course, but most of my revenue has come from hourly-based projects.

There are upsides to these kinds of engagements. For one thing, they’re easy to quantify and manage for everyone involved. For another, it allows for flexible, responsive delivery. Charging hourly has helped me develop excellent partnerships and generate lots of value.

But hourly pricing also reduces agency. Freelancers often can’t decide when we’re “on the clock.” If a client needs us, we devote as much of our time to them as we can — often at the expense of other important tasks. (E.g., marketing.) The result: lumpiness, unpredictability, and stress.

This year, I aim toward a healthier mix that includes more project-based (or ideally, value-based) engagements, in-house teaching, and products. At this point, I only have outlines about what these might be, but this post is intended to be more directional than specific.

Bootstrapping Agency

And that’s why I wanted to share it with you. This isn’t “here’s what you should do” (although that Pink video is worth your time.) Rather, it’s “here’s what I’m focusing on.” I shared it mostly to keep me accountable — but also because public writing is a powerful way to think and learn. And that, too, is an area where our agency is currently threatened.

I’ll circle back at the end of the year to see how this experiment turned out. But for now, consider this public declaration a first step toward bootstrapping greater agency. While it’s my effort, I encourage you to think about how you might grow your own agency — especially now, when there are so many opportunities to trade it for convenience.