It is January 1st, 2026. At this precise moment, millions of people across the planet are making solemn promises to themselves, usually while holding a warm beverage and an unrealistic amount of optimism.

Lose weight. Save money. Learn a new skill. Become a better parent, partner, or friend, or failing that, a marginally more organized version of the person currently staring into the mug. I have personally resolved to write every day for the entire year and provide my network with interesting perspectives and philosophical musings, which experience suggests is the sort of declaration one makes shortly before being distracted by email.

By Valentine’s Day, most of these resolutions will have quietly dissolved, filed away with last year’s good intentions and the year before that, possibly under a folder labeled “Nice Try.” Gyms understand this perfectly, which is why they offer January-only specials. They are not cruel. They are simply realistic.

What is less obvious is that these gyms are practicing a form of intelligence far more subtle than calorie counting. They understand what people are reaching toward, even if they are not particularly optimistic about anyone getting there.

The Intelligence We’ve Been Missing

In 1983, Howard Gardner complicated everyone’s life in the best possible way by pointing out that intelligence was not a single thing you either had or didn’t. His theory of multiple intelligences suggested we had been measuring the wrong yardsticks entirely. Linguistic and logical abilities were merely two points on a much larger map that included spatial reasoning, musical ability, bodily awareness, interpersonal insight, intrapersonal reflection, and a knack for understanding the natural world.

This framework reshaped education, leadership, and how we think about human capability. But there is an intelligence Gardner never named, perhaps because it had not yet made itself annoying enough to demand attention.

Aspirational intelligence.

What Is Aspirational Intelligence?

I have spent a substantial portion of my adult life studying how people make decisions, first in customer experience and later at the intersection of human behavior and artificial intelligence. Somewhere along the way, it became clear that an important capability kept slipping through the cracks, largely because it refused to sit still long enough to be measured.

I call it aspirational intelligence, mostly because it needed a name and seemed to be wandering around unaccompanied.

Aspirational intelligence is the ability to recognize and act upon aspirations, both personal and collective, in a way that shapes meaningful decisions. It combines emotional insight with forward-looking intent. It asks not only what someone wants right now, but what they are reaching toward and why that direction matters.

Traditional intelligence helps you solve problems. Emotional intelligence helps you understand feelings. Aspirational intelligence helps you understand trajectories. Where someone is heading, and what they hope to become along the way.

This is not self-help optimism wearing a nicer jacket. It is a practical way to understand behavior in a world where machines can analyze, summarize, and optimize with astonishing speed, but still cannot wake up one morning wondering what the point of any of it is.

Why This Matters Now

Artificial intelligence will embed itself even more deeply into daily life throughout 2026. More tools. More automation. More capabilities that would have sounded like science fiction a decade ago and now sound like a subscription tier.

Interestingly, the question is no longer “What can AI do?” That part is being answered enthusiastically and at length.

The real question has shifted to “What do I want to do with my life, and how might this help?”

That is aspirational thinking, and it requires aspirational intelligence to navigate without drifting into either cynicism or blind enthusiasm.

Organizations that thrive in 2026 will understand this shift. They will not merely solve immediate problems. They will build experiences that help people become who they want to be. Transactions will quietly turn into trajectories.

Individuals who thrive will understand it too. They will stop trying to fix themselves and start allowing their aspirations to pull them forward.

Why Aspirational Intelligence Becomes the Differentiator

We are entering a year where artificial intelligence will handle increasingly complex business tasks. Analysis, prediction, personalization, automation. These capabilities are rapidly becoming table stakes. Any sufficiently motivated company can deploy AI to optimize execution.

But AI cannot dream. It cannot aspire. It cannot feel the peculiar human tug toward becoming something more than it currently is.

This is precisely why aspirational intelligence matters. As technology commoditizes execution, the organizations that succeed will be those that understand what their customers are reaching toward and design everything around enabling that movement.

A company with strong market intelligence knows what customers are buying. A company with strong customer transformation practices knows why they are buying it. A company with strong aspirational intelligence knows who their customers want to become and positions itself as essential to that transformation.

That creates a fundamentally different relationship. One that survives market shifts, competitive pressure, and the occasional bout of economic turbulence.

From Resolutions to Aspirations

Aspirational intelligence is not just a personal trait. It can be cultivated across teams, embedded in processes, and practiced deliberately. Organizations can begin by changing a few deceptively simple habits.

Listen for trajectories, not just needs. Most customer research focuses on pain points and preferences. Try asking different questions. What does success look like for this customer three years from now? What are they trying to become? What would make them proud? The answers tend to reveal far more than transactions ever will.

Build Customer Success around becoming, not just achieving. Traditional metrics track outcomes such as adoption and renewal. Aspirational intelligence asks whether the customer is closer to who they want to be. When engagement aligns with identity, outcomes tend to follow without much persuasion.

Recognize aspirations in employees. People are rarely just looking for jobs. They are looking for growth, meaning, and a chance to become something more than they were last year. Organizations that see this build cultures people stay in. Those that don’t spend a great deal of time hiring replacements.

Shift from value delivery to value trajectory. Stop asking what value was delivered this quarter. Start asking how customers were accelerated toward their aspirations. This reframes every interaction as part of a longer journey rather than a standalone event.

Make aspiration explicit in strategy. Do not just set targets for 2026. Articulate the aspirations of the people you serve. Write them down. Let them guide decisions about resources, products, and how success is measured.

The Aspirational Advantage

Organizations with high aspirational intelligence share certain traits. They build products customers see as extensions of their identity. They create communities organized around shared ambition. They develop relationships that extend well beyond contracts and pricing discussions.

They become indispensable not because of features or discounts, but because they are woven into the fabric of what their customers are trying to become.

In a world where AI can optimize almost anything, this human dimension becomes the advantage that cannot be automated. Machines can process data and predict behavior. Understanding aspiration and caring about it remains stubbornly human.

The Year Ahead

As 2026 begins, there is a simple question worth asking.

Do we truly understand the aspirations of the people we serve?

Not their needs. Not their preferences. Not their satisfaction scores.

Their aspirations. The future they are reaching toward. The version of themselves, their company, or their career they are working to become.

If you can answer that question with confidence, you have something most organizations lack. If you cannot, you have identified the most important work of the year ahead.

Develop your aspirational intelligence. Understand what people are truly reaching toward. Then build a company, a culture, a strategy, or a brand that serves that direction.

That is not just good business.

It is how relationships last.

Happy New Year.

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Chris Hood is an AI strategist and author of the #1 Amazon Best Seller Infailible and Customer Transformation, and has been recognized as one of the Top 40 Global Gurus for Customer Experience. His latest book, Unmapping Customer Journeys, will be published in April 2026.