Original Research & Workplace Evidence
We didn’t
build this
on instinct.
Two bodies of evidence. One converging argument. The research behind every conversation, every workshop, and every engagement we bring to your organisation.
Why Two Streams Matter
Facts spoil a good argument.
One piece of evidence is interesting. Two bodies of evidence pointing to exactly the same conclusion are something else entirely.
The workplace data — Gallup, the Happiness Index, the IC Index — establishes the commercial crisis. Engagement is collapsing. Trust in leaders has fallen off a cliff. Manager wellbeing is deteriorating at speed. The organisations investing most in their people are pulling furthest ahead. This is not a values argument. It is a P&L argument.
Our original research, conducted in early 2026, names what is missing. When 105 people were asked to define brilliance in others, 54% put kindness and empathy first — above vision and creativity. The things that drive performance are the things organisations systematically underinvest in.
Stream One
The Commercial Crisis
Global engagement at a twenty-year low. Manager wellbeing in freefall. UK trust in senior leaders down nine points in a single year. The workplace data establishes the scale and urgency of the problem — and quantifies the commercial cost.
Stream Two
The Original Research
Our n=105 study names what is missing. Kindness, empathy, and inspiration — the qualities people consistently place at the top of what makes someone brilliant — are exactly the qualities the workplace data identifies as the strongest commercial drivers.
The Convergence
The Same Answer, Twice
Two separate enquiries, starting from different lenses, arriving at the same destination. The case for human-centred leadership is not built on instinct or optimism. It is built on convergent evidence.
Workplace Data
The commercial case,
in numbers.
These are not cherry-picked statistics. They are the headline findings from three of the most rigorous workplace studies published in 2026 — each converging on the same conclusion.
Gallup — State of the Global Workplace 2026
20%
Of employees worldwide are engaged at work — the lowest level since 2020, down for the second consecutive year.
This falls to just 10% in the UK
Gallup, State of the Global Workplace 2026
$10tn
Annual global cost of low employee engagement — approximately 9% of global GDP.
Gallup, State of the Global Workplace 2026
27%→22%
Manager engagement fell five points in a single year (2024–2025). The people who set the culture for everyone else are running low on the very thing they need to give.
Gallup, State of the Global Workplace 2026
Global Workplace Happiness Report 2026
37%
Of employees believe their company genuinely cares about them. The gap has direct commercial consequences.
Global Workplace Happiness Report 2026, 80,000+ workers
#1
Inspiration is the single strongest driver of happiness, collaboration, and advocacy at work. Belonging is second. Feeling valued is third. The things organisations invest most in rank lowest.
Global Workplace Happiness Report 2026
56%
Increase in job performance associated with high workplace belonging. Plus a 50% reduction in turnover risk.
BetterUp, cited in Global Workplace Happiness Report 2026
IC Index 2026 — 5,000 UK Workers
50%
Just half of UK employees now trust their CEO or senior leaders — a nine-point drop in a single year.
IC Index 2026, IOIC & Ipsos Karian and Box
49%
Of UK employees agree that people in their workplace can share opinions without fear of negative consequence.
IC Index 2026, IOIC & Ipsos Karian and Box
−9pts
The proportion rating their organisation’s communication as excellent has declined nine points in a year. The organisations scoring highest are those where leaders are visible, empathetic, and act on feedback.
IC Index 2026, IOIC & Ipsos Karian and Box
The Brilliant Humans Study
Original research.
105 people.
Five findings.
In January 2026, we surveyed 105 people and asked them, among other things, what makes a brilliant human? The findings were not what most leadership content would predict.
The methodology is honest, the sample is self-selecting, and the patterns are striking. What follows is what 105 people told us about brilliance, kindness, gratitude, and the gap between the world we actually live in and the world we are told we live in.
105
Respondents, Jan–Feb 2026
40
Days of data collection
71%
UK-based respondents
61%
Aged 35–54
Finding One
The Brilliance Hierarchy
54%
Chose kindness and empathy as the #1 quality of a brilliant human
48%
Placed creativity and innovation last — sixth of six qualities
When asked to rank six attributes from most to least important, respondents put kindness and empathy first by a wide margin — and creativity and innovation last. The ranking is overwhelmingly relational and moral, not productive or performative. Integrity and authenticity came second. Humility and self-awareness third. The qualities most leadership content spends its energy on — creativity, courage, energy — came at the bottom.
This is not because people don’t value creativity, or think it’s important. It is because, when forced to choose, they don’t consider it the thing that makes a human brilliant. Brilliance, it turns out, is a moral category — not a productive one. The leadership industry has been optimising for the wrong end of the list.
Finding Two
The Big Paradox
89%
Say most people they know are generally good and kind
87%
Agree we give more attention to negative behaviour than positive
81%
Had a small, ordinary act make their day better in the past week
Here is the central paradox: the world people actually live in is mostly kind. The world they are told they live in is mostly hostile. Both things are true at the same time — and most people cannot explain the gap.
Three forces reinforce this: biology (the brain weights bad more heavily than good because a missed threat is more costly than a missed kindness), technology (platforms optimise for outrage over decency), and narrative (bad behaviour is more novel than good, so it travels further). The work of Brilliant Humans is not to make people more kind. The data suggests they already are. The work is to make kindness visible.
Negativity is in the news; in real life, we actually care and are kind to one another.Survey participant
Finding Three
Quiet Heroes
86%
Were shaped most by someone the world has never heard of
3%
Named a boss or manager — the same proportion as celebrities
Asked who had the biggest positive impact on their life, respondents answered with remarkable consistency: it was almost never anyone famous. 53% named a parent or family member. 26% a friend. 14% a teacher, coach, or mentor. Only two respondents out of 105 named anyone widely known. Bosses came in at 3% — equal to celebrities.
The cultural script around influence and impact is dominated by visibility — followers, audiences, brands, public profiles. The data says the opposite: the people who actually change us are invisible to algorithms. They are parents, teachers, neighbours, and friends. The most influential people in the world are people no one has heard of. We believe that with the right leadership and communication, businesses have a real opportunity to change this — to make managers and leaders the brilliant humans that people will remember, talk about, and be genuinely grateful for. 3% is too low. We think it should be much higher.
Someone I worked for a very long time ago who recognised in me things that I wasn’t able to see because of my shyness and lack of experience. He has since died but I always remember him.Survey participant
Finding Four
The Gratitude Gap
23%
Have never told the person who shaped their life what they mean to them
11%
Now never can — the person has since died
This is the most quietly devastating statistic in the data. After identifying the person who shaped them most, respondents were asked whether they had ever told that person what they mean to them. 77% had. 23% had not. And within that 23%, just over half — 11% of the total — have left it too late.
The 11% is the emotional centre of gravity at the heart of everything Brilliant Humans does. It is not a number about failure. It is a number about timing. It asks a direct question without needing to say it aloud: is there someone you are thinking of right now? The commercial implication runs in two directions: recognition inside organisations is chronically underdelivered, and its cost is not just retention — it is the accumulated weight of people who did something remarkable and never knew it.
Finding Five
The Algorithm Verdict
59%
Disagree or strongly disagree that tech platforms reward the qualities humans value most
0%
Strongly agreed that technology rewards positive human qualities. Not a single respondent.
Respondents were asked whether modern technology platforms reward the positive qualities that humans value most. The verdict is near-unanimous and unusually one-sided. On a five-point scale that should pull an even distribution, not one respondent strongly agreed. Only 6% agreed at all. The relationship between digital platforms and human kindness is, by the assessment of the people living inside those platforms, fundamentally broken.
This finding sits alongside the Big Paradox and amplifies it. The tools most people spend their working and personal lives inside are structurally biased against the qualities they most value in each other. The opportunity — commercially, creatively, and culturally — is to build environments that run in the opposite direction.
I think good people outnumber bad people, but bad deeds are more impacting and drown out the good. By their nature, good people won’t go against that to beat down the bad, so bad can flourish.Survey participant
Commercial Implications
The research doesn’t just describe
a problem.
It points to exactly what to build. When Gallup tells us that manager engagement has fallen five points in a year, and our own research tells us that 54% of people put kindness and empathy first in any definition of brilliant humanity, those two findings are not separate stories. They are the same story told through different lenses.
The organisations already pulling ahead are the ones that treat inspiration, belonging, and empathy as operational priorities — not HR initiatives. The Global Workplace Happiness Report is explicit: organisations are investing most in what matters least. Workload management scores high in surveys and delivers almost nothing on performance. Inspiration scores low and delivers everything.
The commercial case closes here. Not with a values argument. With convergent evidence that the qualities people already associate with brilliance — kindness, empathy, inspiration — are exactly the ones that drive engagement, retention, innovation, and profit. They were always the same thing. The data just makes it undeniable.
Implication One
Leadership is the leverage point
Gallup is explicit: the strongest predictor of engagement — and of AI adoption — is whether the direct manager actively champions it. Manager engagement at 22% is not a wellness problem. It is a strategic emergency.
Implication Two
Recognition is chronically underdelivered
The Happiness Report identifies acknowledgement as the lowest-scoring dimension across virtually every country — and among the highest drivers of retention and advocacy. Doubling recognition frequency increases productivity by 9%.
Implication Three
Inspiration is not a nice-to-have
The strongest predictor of team productivity is not workload management or role clarity. It is inspiration and team enjoyment. The things organisations optimise for are pulling the least effective levers available to them.
Implication Four
Kindness is already there
89% of respondents say most people they know are good and kind. 81% experienced a small act of human decency this week. The work is not to create kindness. It is to stop hiding it — and to build environments where it compounds.
What happens next
The evidence is in.
It’s time to act.
We work with founders, CEOs, and senior leaders who want to build on the evidence — not just read about it. Find your Leadership Profile to see where you personally stand, or book a call to explore what this means for your organisation.