Huma Siraj
If You’re the CEO of a Lower Middle Market Company, Here’s How You Get 2026 Right
In Chinese astrology, 2026 is the Year of the Horse; a time associated with forward motion and opportunity. For business leaders, it also marks a turning point in how companies are run.
I think of 2026 as the Year of the Centaur
In Greek mythology, the Centaur is half human and half horse. It combines judgment and strength. That image captures what leadership is becoming: human decision-making supported by serious operational horsepower.
How Technology Actually Evolves in Leadership
In Who Says, Joe Mechlinski outlines three stages of how leaders adopt new technology.
The first stage is Delegation. This is where tools help with small tasks drafting emails, organizing notes, or summarizing information. Most CEOs are already here.
The second stage is Automation. This is harder. Routine work begins to move off people’s plates. Systems take over tasks that once consumed time but added little value.
The final stage is Transformation. This is where leadership itself changes. The technology doesn’t just save time; it reshapes how decisions are made.
This is where the Centaur CEO emerges.
The Real Choice CEOs Face in 2026
Many companies drift into what I call Manager Mode.
Information is filtered. Reports move up layers. Reality gets softened along the way. By the time it reaches the CEO, it’s already been edited.
Founders hate this. And for good reason. Founder Mode is different. It demands closeness to the business. It values raw data over polished slides. It rewards speed, not comfort. For years, founders were forced to give this up as companies grew. Delegation became necessary, but it came at the cost of clarity.
That trade-off is finally changing.
The Centaur CEO System
In Founder Mode, your leadership system acts like a nervous system for the business.
Sales, finance, operations, and customer data are connected. When something goes wrong, you don’t just see that it happened; you see why. You can trace a problem from a top-line number down to a specific process or decision.
There’s no waiting for explanations. No political filtering. Just truth.
Solving the Founder’s Old Dilemma
For decades, founders faced an impossible situation. The same intensity and attention to detail that built the company eventually slowed it down. To scale, founders had to step back. And when they did, the soul of the business often went with them. In 2026, that dilemma starts to disappear. Technology now allows founders to stay deeply connected without being buried in day-to-day work. Control and scale no longer have to cancel each other out.
From Operator to Owner
Over time, your leadership system begins to reflect how you think. It mirrors your priorities. It flags what you care about. It pushes decisions forward without waiting for permission. Eventually, it may make better calls than you would on your worst day and sometimes even your best. That’s not failure. That’s progress.
It’s how CEOs finally move from being operators to true owners.
Why CEO Peer Groups Matter More Now
This shift won’t happen alone. The smartest CEOs in 2026 will learn together. Peer groups provide a private space to share what works, what doesn’t, and what’s just noise.
These groups shouldn’t be social clubs. They should be performance accelerators places where leaders compare systems, not just stories.
Done right, they help separate real progress from empty promises.
The Path Forward
The Centaur CEO doesn’t wait for perfect clarity. They build. They test. They learn with other serious leaders.2026 rewards those who combine founder energy with smarter systems and who move early.
