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As governor of South Dakota, one of the least populated states in the U.S., Kristi Noem still made an outsize name for herself nationally using public service announcement campaigns designed to capture attention. The topics of her PSAs have changed dramatically since then. Before assuming her current Cabinet post as secretary of Homeland Security, the former state lawmaker and member of the U.S. House of Representatives served as South Dakotas governor from 2019 to 2025. In her first year as governor, the state ran a widely mocked anti-drug campaign called “Meth. We’re On It,” followed by “Freedom Works Here,” a workforce recruitment campaign in which she was featured prominently. Once elevated to DHS secretary, Noem continued to utilize public funds for commercials promoting her particular brand of political communication, including a 2025 campaign in service of President Trump and his border and immigration policies. View this post on Instagram The nearly $1.4 million “Meth. We’re On It.” campaign ran on TV, billboards, and online (via the now defunct website onmeth.com), and it caught plenty of grief for its ambiguous tagline. Noem defended it at the time, writing on social media, “Hey Twitter, the whole point of this ad campaign is to raise awarenes. So I think thats working.” “Meth. We’re On It.” was made to combat a real problem in the state, as South Dakota ninth graders tried meth at twice the national average, according to the creative brief for the campaign. Ultimately, it saw some success. By 2020, 1,072 people had clicked the find treatment link on the campaign’s website, 184 people called or texted the campaign’s help line, and 44 were referred to treatment. “Meth. We’re On It.” would become a finalist in the public health category for the Shorty Awards, a social media and digital advertising industry awards ceremony. In spots for Freedom Works Here,” a South Dakota workforce recruitment campaign that aired nationally in 2023 and 2024, Noem dressed as a law enforcement officer, welder, and dentist as a play on the fact that there werent enough people to fill the state’s job openings, so she was doing them herself. As of July 2023, more than 3,500 people had applied to the program, Noem’s office said at the time. Yet the campaign was criticized as self-serving by some Republican state lawmakers. At DHS, Noem was the face of the biggest political ad of 2025. The agency spent upwards of $50 million of taxpayer funds to air the spot, in which Noem both thanked Trump “for securing our border, deporting criminal illegal immigrants, and putting America first” and called directly for people in the U.S. illegally to leave. Though DHS denied it was a political ad, it sure looked and sounded like one, with B-roll pulled straight from the tropes of Republican attack ads about border security, like shots evoking crime, drugs, trafficking, and chaos at the border. Through her political career, Noem has appeared in PSAs for vaccines and storm preparedness, though they didn’t receive the same multimillion-dollar budgets as her more controversial ads. She also starred in a video during last year’s government shutdown intended to be shown at airport security checkpoints that blamed Democrats for related closures and service slowdowns (although many airports did not air it). There is growing bipartisan pressure for Noem to step down or be removed from her DHS post following the fatal shootings of Minneapolis residents Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal immigration and border protection officers. Republican Senators Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Thom Tillis of North Carolina have called for her to resign, and House Democrats have threatened to begin impeachment proceedings against her if Trump doesn’t fire her. Noem built a national profile in part by using her public office as a platform, but from her time in Sioux City to her days in Trumps administration, that platform became less civic and more brazenly partisan. The anti-drug campaign Noem once defended caused eyerolls and snickers, but at least it was also the catalyst for more than a few calls to a hotline set up to help people facing addiction. Contrast that to 2025s “The Law,” in which she made herself the face of an immigration and border enforcement agenda that’s growing increasingly unpopular with the American public. Noem’s recent PSA appearances indicate the value the Trump administration places on government as showbiz, and that for Noem, public office is theater.
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For designers of the built environment, it’s necessary to take a long view. Years or even decades can go into the design and construction of a single project, and the best built projects can stand for centuries. But the business of designing buildings is also subject to the upheavals and uncertainty of any given moment, including this very tumultuous one. Looking ahead to the (relatively) short-term future of the next year, Fast Company asked architects from some of the top firms working in the U.S. and around the world to predict the biggest forces shaping the industry this year, and the potential bright spots they might see. Here’s the question we put to a panel of designers and leaders in architecture: What challenges do you see architects tasked with solving in 2026, and what are potential new opportunity areas? Collaboration is key Affordable housing and supporting community resources are in crisisprojects that deliver proximity to public transportation, social infrastructure, and offer cultural resources such as restaurants and entertainment will be in high demand. Understanding the role a building plays within a broader community is a vital part of the design process that is often lacking. Collaboration needs to extend beyond cities and design teams to integrate community needs. This year will bring many of the same challenges we have already seen: more pressure to deliver projects faster while maintaining the quality of the work, understanding what a high-performance building actually means, and streamlining public agency approvals. The latter is an area where AI would be a valuable tool to support innovation and efficiency. There is also a growing opportunity for greater partnership and collaboration with academia and architectural practice. It is important that there is heightened collaboration between the two, particularly because the skill sets of architects are expanding [to include] different job descriptions and needs.Nick Leahy, co-CEO and executive director, Perkins Eastman Resilience is a given 2026 is the year when designing for resilience becomes a given. Innovation will be as much about systems as function, form, and aesthetics. We will think more about embodied carbon, and derive ways to deliver low-carbon buildings without cost premiums. Clients will no longer accept “green is more expensive.” Opportunities: Reuse and reinventionthe second life of a building or district. Conversion of outmoded office buildings to residential and hotels where practical and possible, particularly with older, charming office stock in places where people want to live. Meanwhile, new office buildings will be A++ “luxury,” designed with new forms of amenities centered on wellness and socialization. In the suburbs, malls can become places where mixed-used districts arise, transformed into incubator or civic spaces, designed around health and wellness. Parking lots can be filled with characterful streets and special 24/7 precincts. Workforce housing will also be a big opportunity that fills the gap between luxury and market rate, while data and energy projects will be relevant and exciting for architects not for their novelty but rather for the spatial intelligence and thoughtful planning required in their successful realization.Trent Tesch, principal, KPF Sustainable design is harder than ever One of the most significant challenges facing the U.S. building market in 2026 will be maintaining momentum for sustainable and regenerative design solutions amid economic and policy headwinds. The U.S. construction market has always been driven by a first-cost first mentality, while sustainable design has held its promise of return on investment in the long life cycle of buildings. The hurdle has always been there, but now the bar is even higher with changes to the Energy Star program, the cutting of federal grants for clean energy, reductions to climate resilience programs, and more. So, architects and designers must move beyond purely ROI and well-being conversations to demonstrate how sustainability mitigates risk, ensures compliance, and drives long-term financial resilience.David Polzin, executive director of design, CannonDesign Economic headwinds At PAU we are continuing to incorporate artificial intelligence in aspects of our workflow, but only to augmentnever to replaceour teams talent and judgment. In 2026, architects will probably continue to face economic headwinds. The strong pace of firm consolidation through mergers and acquisitions continues, leaving the question of whether someday it will largely be a discipline split between boutique practices and behemoth corporations.Vishaan Chakrabarti, founder, PAU More than just buildings In 2026 climate volatility, housing inequity, infrastructural breakdown, and economic uncertainty will no longer be background conditions but active forces shaping every decision an architect makes. We will be asked to do more than deliver buildings; we will be expected to repair trust in systemspolitical and economicthat have too often failed communities and the environment. We must navigate these higher expectations, delivering projects with tangible social, environmental, and economic benefits while grappling with tighter timelines and fewer resources. The central challenge will be remaining responsible to both environmental and civic ideals within delivery models that are not designed to reward either.Claire Weisz, founding principal, WXY architecture + urban design Better decisions, earlier Architects are working in a moment where pressure is coming from all sides; climate risks are intensifying, housing affordability remains unresolved, and the industry is still constrained by limited labor and capacity. At the same time, clients increasingly expect early, data-backed answers that show how a design will meet sustainability goals and deliver on long-term building performance outcomes. The challenge is no longer just designing well but navigating increasing complexity and trade-offs without slowing projects down. This is driving the need to remove fragmentation of information across teams and project phases. The defining challenge that architects and designers will need to solve for in 2026 is making confident, defensible decisions early, when they have the biggest impact on [how] a projects environmental, cost, schedule, and performance outcomes are determined.Amy Bunszel, EVP of architecture, engineering, and construction solutions, Autodesk
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They lie. Repeatedly. Shamelessly. They lie even when the truth would be easier. They lie when the lie can easily be debunked. They lie to dominate, confuse, and assert control. They treat contradiction as an attack and disagreement as betrayal. These are defining traits of narcissistic leadership. Strangely enough, in politics and in organizations alike, we keep rewarding narcissistic leaders by giving them more power. We promote them, fund them, vote for them, excuse them, and normalize their behavior, even when there are unmistakable warning signs that should stop us from doing so. It is obvious that narcissists seek power. The big (and more burning) question is: Why do we keep giving it to them? {"blockType":"mv-promo-block","data":{"imageDesktopUrl":"https:\/\/images.fastcompany.com\/image\/upload\/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit\/wp-cms-2\/2026\/01\/PhotoLVitaud-169.jpg","imageMobileUrl":"https:\/\/images.fastcompany.com\/image\/upload\/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit\/wp-cms-2\/2026\/01\/PhotoLVitaud-11.jpg","eyebrow":"","headline":"\u003Cstrong\u003ESubscribe to Laetitia@Work\u003C\/strong\u003E","dek":"Women power the worlds productivity its time we talked more about it. Explore a woman-centered take on work, from hidden discrimination to cultural myths about aging and care. Dont miss the next issue subscribe to Laetitia@Work.","subhed":"","description":"","ctaText":"Learn More","ctaUrl":"http:\/\/laetitiaatwork.substack.com","theme":{"bg":"#2b2d30","text":"#ffffff","eyebrow":"#9aa2aa","subhed":"#ffffff","buttonBg":"#3b3f46","buttonHoverBg":"#3b3f46","buttonText":"#ffffff"},"imageDesktopId":91472264,"imageMobileId":91472265,"shareable":false,"slug":""}} We choose narcissists when were anxious Narcissism is often confused with confidence, ambition, or charisma. In reality, pathological narcissism is defined by grandiosity, a constant need for admiration, low empathy, intolerance of criticism, and a tendency to instrumentalize others. At high doses, narcissism is deeply corrosive. Highly narcissistic leaders take greater risks, manipulate more freely, break rules more readily, and do not learn from failure. They externalize blame, rewrite history, and prefer loyal sycophants over competent professionals. As organizational psychologist Adam Grant has argued, we are rarely naive about narcissistic leaders. Most of the time, we recognize them quickly. They boast. They monopolize attention. They perform outrage. They lie openly and repeatedly. We see itand we still choose them. One of the main reasons is that chaos makes us crave certainty. In moments of crisiseconomic instability, war, technological disruption, climate anxietywe mistake loud confidence for competence. Nuance feels weak. Complexity feels unbearable. Fear narrows our tolerance for ambiguity. It makes us vulnerable to leaders who promise control, simplicity, and absolute answersno matter how fictional those answers may be. Seen through this lens, Donald Trump is not really an anomaly. He is a symptom. His constant lying, grandiosity, and contempt for institutions are extreme, but the underlying dynamic is familiar. The same behaviorson a smaller scaleare rewarded every day in companies, startups, media organizations, and public institutions around the world. 7 Things We Must Change If We Want Fewer Narcissistic Leaders If narcissistic leaders keep rising, it is because our systems keep selecting and protecting them. Changing outcomes requires changing the rules of the game. Here are seven shifts that matter. 1. Stop confusing visibility with value Narcissistic leaders thrive on attention. They dominate meetings, interrupt others, and flood the space with what appears to be certainty. In too many environments, visibility is mistaken for contribution. To counter this, organizations must actively redesign how influence is expressedby limiting airtime and prioritizing written input, for example. Value should be measured by clarity created, not noise produced. Treating visibility as value creates a moral hazard: Those least constrained by doubt gain disproportionate influence. 2. Make lying costly Narcissists lie because it works. Lies are tolerated, minimized, or reframed as communication style. This tolerance is fatal. False statements must be corrected publicly and promptly. Repeated dishonesty should carry clear reputational and career consequences. Treating truth as optional corrodes institutions fast. The longer a lie goes unchallenged, the more it signals that reality is negotiableand that power, not truth, sets the terms. 3. Evaluate leaders on collective outcomes Narcissistic leaders often look impressive on individual metrics while quietly hollowing out their teams. Measuring leadership without accounting for turnover, burnout, disengagement, and loss of trust is profoundly wrong. Collective intelligence, psychological safety, and learning capacity must be treated as core performance indicatorsnot soft, secondary concerns. If results are achieved at the expense of trust, retention, and learning, they represent short-term extraction rather than sustainable performance. 4. Stop rewarding the will to power Aggressively wanting power is not proof of leadership potential. In fact, narcissistic personalities are statistically more likely to self-nominate, campaign for authority, and pursue promotion relentlessly. Systems that equate ambition with suitability all but guarantee poor outcomes. Leadership selection should deliberately include capable individuals who do not seek power for its own sakeand should treat excessive self-promotion as a risk signal. 5. Institutionalize dissent Narcissistic leaders fear contradiction and punish it, directly or indirectly. That is why dissent cannot rely on individual bravery alone. Organizations must structurally protect disagreement through formal devils advocate roles, strong whistleblower protections, and explicit rewards for surfacing bad news early. A leader who cannot tolerate dissent is fundamentally dangerous. Disagreement should be seen as a contribution to intelligence. 6. Redefine charisma Charisma is too often equated with dominance, theatrical confidence, and verbal force. But sustainable leadership can look different: calm authority, restraint, curiosity, and the ability to change ones mind in light of new evidence. As long as we glamorize the worst kind of strong personalities, narcissistic leaders will continue to thrive. Our dominant definition of charisma is also deeply gendered. Traits coded as charismaticassertiveness, verbal dominance, emotional detachment, physical presencemap closely onto traditionally masculine norms, while behaviors more often associated with women (like listening) are systematically undervalued. 7. Address the root cause: Fear Narcissistic leaders rise fastest in anxious systems. When people feel unsafeeconomically, socially, psychologicallythey outsource certainty to those who project it most loudly. Reducing precarity, increasing fairness, and building real psychological safety are not just mral imperatives. They are structural defenses against narcissistic leadership. Narcissistic leaders do not seize power alone. They are enabledby our fears, our metrics, our myths about leadership, and our reluctance to confront uncomfortable truths. If we want different leaders, we must become different selectors. The problem is not that narcissists exist. Its that we keep mistaking them for leaders. {"blockType":"mv-promo-block","data":{"imageDesktopUrl":"https:\/\/images.fastcompany.com\/image\/upload\/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit\/wp-cms-2\/2026\/01\/PhotoLVitaud-169.jpg","imageMobileUrl":"https:\/\/images.fastcompany.com\/image\/upload\/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit\/wp-cms-2\/2026\/01\/PhotoLVitaud-11.jpg","eyebrow":"","headline":"\u003Cstrong\u003ESubscribe to Laetitia@Work\u003C\/strong\u003E","dek":"Women power the worlds productivity its time we talked more about it. Explore a woman-centered take on work, from hidden discrimination to cultural myths about aging and care. 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