Why Human Navigation matters now.
Change brings both pressure and extraordinary possibility.
New possibilities are opening faster than familiar paths can keep up. At the same time, the pressure to decide, adapt and find direction is felt across countries, workplaces and families. These signals show why learning to navigate change matters — not only to cope, but to shape what comes next.
This isn’t only about work.
Who am I when my role changes? What deserves my time? What path do I want to create? These are human questions, made more urgent by accelerating change — and the familiar paths we inherited no longer answer them for us.
Who we become as work changes
As AI reshapes work, many people are reconsidering more than their skills: their identity, how they contribute, where their judgment matters and the direction they want to take. We see this as an opening, not a threat. The next challenge of AI is not only what technology can do, but who we choose to become as the world changes around us.
One signal: 66% of employees in a 2025 global study said they have relied on AI output without evaluating its accuracy (employees surveyed across countries; self-report). University of Melbourne & KPMG, Trust in AI, 2025
Across almost 20 years
Adults worldwide who experienced a lot of stress or worry during much of the previous day.
| 2007 | 29% |
|---|---|
| 2013 | 33% |
| 2019 | 35% |
| 2021 | 41% |
| 2025 | 36% |
| 2006 | 30% |
|---|---|
| 2013 | 34% |
| 2019 | 39% |
| 2021 | 42% |
| 2025 | 38% |
The long view matters: everyday stress and worry are higher than when Gallup began tracking them, even though both have eased since the pandemic peak. Curiosity has grown too — 54% of adults learned or did something interesting the previous day, up from 44% in 2006.
Source: Gallup World Poll, Global Emotional Wellbeing (global adults, 2006–2025)Meaning and purpose
The question isn’t only how to manage stress. It’s also what makes life meaningful.
51%
of Gen Z adults in the U.S. said they lacked a sense of meaning, purpose or both.
U.S. survey, December 2025. Adults aged 18–29.
79%
of Gen Z respondents wanted a job mainly focused on helping others or making a positive difference.
U.S. survey, December 2025. Includes adolescents.
That desire to contribute is the opening. Direction is what turns it into a path.
Source: Harvard Graduate School of Education, Making Caring Common with Gallup and the Walton Family Foundation (June 2026); Gallup.
Even our questions online reflect this: global Google search interest in “meaning of life” reached a peak in 2023 and rose sharply again in late 2025.
Source: DataReportal, Digital 2026; Google Trends measures relative search interest.
Work is one place that pressure becomes visible.
964,000
workers reported work-related stress, depression or anxiety.
Great Britain, 2024/25. Self-reported.
Source: UK Health and Safety Executive20.7%
of employees report burnout complaints at least several times a month.
Netherlands, 2025. Self-reported symptoms.
Source: RIVM / TNO
Strategy depends on people who know where they are going.
Skills, roles and ways of working are being reshaped. Teams that share direction can adapt with more coherence.
40%
of employees worldwide experienced a lot of stress the previous day.
Global employees, 2025 data. Self-reported.
Source: Gallup, State of the Global Workplace 202620%
of employees worldwide were engaged at work.
Global employees, 2025 data.
Source: Gallup, State of the Global Workplace 202639%
Employers expect 39% of workers’ core skills to change by 2030.
Global, WEF Future of Jobs 2025.
Source: World Economic Forum, Future of Jobs 2025
Raising children in an unpredictable world.
Parents carry many demands at once, and young people are growing up amid rapid change. Shared direction helps a family decide what matters together.
46%
of responding parents said they experience stress often to always.
Netherlands, 2026 survey of participating parents; not a representative sample of all parents.
Source: Staat van Gezinnen 2026 — NCJ, Voor Werkende Ouders, BMK, WIJ media2018–22
Life satisfaction among 15-year-olds declined in many wealthy countries over this period.
OECD and EU countries, 2018 vs 2022.
Source: UNICEF Innocenti, Report Card 19 (2025)
We don’t merely learn to endure the next wave. We learn to navigate, use and shape change.
Human Navigation is the method; Your North Star is one way to practise it. How the method works
Navigating together? Leadership teams · Families