On February 24, 2026, we brought together our senior leaders from around the world, both in person at our Atlanta headquarters and virtually across global markets, for Leadership Summit 2026.

The summit focused on alignment around our multi-year transformation, clarity on 2026 priorities, and on reinforcing how we will continue to strengthen Newell Brands in a dynamic global environment.

Aligning on Our Multi-Year Transformation

Over the past several years, we have been strengthening core capabilities across our organization. During the summit, our enterprise and segment leaders reviewed progress across key areas and outlined the operational priorities that will guide us in 2026.

Our transformation continues to emphasize:

  • Deeper consumer and customer understanding

  • Stronger brand building and communications

  • Greater innovation discipline

  • Improved go-to-market and retail execution

  • Simplification across supply chain and operating structure

  • Expanded data integrity and digital enablement

Leaders reinforced the importance of disciplined execution and accountability as these capabilities mature.

Importantly, discussions throughout the summit tied these capabilities directly to how we compete in the marketplace — ensuring that stronger foundations translate into sharper consumer engagement, more precise commercial activation, and improved retail execution across channels.

Advancing Digital and AI Enablement

One of the most energizing themes of Leadership Summit 2026 was the scale and momentum of our AI transformation.

Throughout the day, leaders across functions and regions highlighted how artificial intelligence is becoming a core capability at Newell Brands. Through our enterprise program, Quantum Leap, we are embedding AI into how work gets done — not as isolated tools or side experiments, but as a coordinated, operational transformation supported at the highest levels of leadership.

What began as grassroots experimentation has evolved into a coordinated, cross-functional effort with executive sponsorship and embedded AI Navigators serving as change agents inside their functions across the organization. Today, hundreds of teams are actively using AI across more than 100 workflows spanning innovation, marketing, analytics, supply chain, and commercial execution.

AI is helping us:

  • Accelerate concept-to-launch timelines in innovation

  • Enhance consumer insight and co-creation

  • Scale digital content and marketing activation

  • Improve reporting, forecasting, and decision quality

  • Redesign workflows for greater speed and effectiveness

Just as importantly, Quantum Leap represents a cultural shift. We are building AI fluency across the enterprise, enabling teams to rethink how work is structured, how decisions are made, and how value is created.

Our continued ERP integration and simplification efforts provide the data backbone that supports this transformation. Together, simplification and AI are strengthening our ability to operate with clarity, speed, and precision.

AI is becoming a foundational capability that supports our brands, our people, and how we compete in a changing marketplace.

Executing in a Changing Consumer and Retail Landscape

Our leaders also examined the 2026 consumer and retail environment. Volatility, pricing sensitivity, digital discovery, and channel evolution remain important dynamics across markets.

We discussed how consumers are increasingly seeking clarity, value, and proof in their purchase decisions — and how our brands must show up with relevance, authenticity, and differentiated performance.

Across segments and geographies, our 2026 priorities emphasize:

  • Disciplined innovation focused on meaningful consumer solutions

  • Precision in pricing, mix, and channel strategy

  • Strengthening partnerships with scaled retail and e-commerce customers

  • Winning key seasonal and category moments

  • Maintaining operational rigor and cost discipline

Leaders reinforced that winning in today’s environment requires excellence in go-to-market fundamentals — from assortment and pricing architecture to digital shelf activation, content optimization, and in-store execution.

As retail models evolve and discovery increasingly happens across digital platforms and AI-driven feeds, we are sharpening how we build brand trust, simplify choice, and meet consumers where and how they shop.

The focus remains on steady progress, competitive execution, and long-term resilience.

Reinforcing Leadership Expectations

Leadership Summit 2026 also reinforced shared leadership expectations:

  • Inspect what we expect

  • Apply economic thinking in decision-making

  • Operate with agility and speed

  • Address performance gaps early

Bringing our global leaders together ensures alignment around these expectations and shared accountability for results.

Looking Ahead

Leadership Summit 2026 reinforced a unified direction for the year ahead. By strengthening our brands, sharpening execution, simplifying how we operate, and advancing digital capabilities, we continue to build a stronger and more focused Newell Brands.