January marked a strong and energizing start to 2026. I had the privilege of hosting our first CLO Customer Advisory Board of the year, followed by the opportunity to join global leaders in Davos at the World Economic Forum.

Across both settings, I was struck by the consistency of the conversations I heard. Regardless of geography, industry, or role, leaders are grappling with a shared set of challenges and opportunities and there was a notable alignment in how they are thinking about what comes next. I wanted to share a few of those insights and what they may mean for us.

Here are my key takeaways from Davos: 

1. AI dominated every conversation.
Not just in the technology sessions. In every room I walked into, private dinners, policy discussions or CEO roundtables, AI was front and center. At times, it felt less like the World Economic Forum and more like the World AI Forum.

2. The shift from concept to imperative is complete.
Last year, AI was largely discussed in the abstract. This year, the questions were tactical and urgent: How are you deploying it? What’s working? Show me the ROI.

3. Almost nobody has proven the ROI yet.
This was the quiet admission in many conversations. There’s plenty of experimentation, but measurable value creation remains elusive for most. That’s why CEOs leaned in when they heard what we’re actually delivering and wanted to know more immediately.

4. Skills are the new currency.
I had a great conversation with Ryan Roslansky (CEO, LinkedIn), Enrique Lores (CEO, HP), and Nicholas Thompson (CEO, The Atlantic) about how AI is reshaping the labor market. Enrique shared HP research showing workplace satisfaction has dropped from 28% to 20%. But Ryan’s point landed hardest: credentials matter less than agency. Can you build? Can you adapt? That’s what matters now.

5. Legal is emerging as the strategic function CEOs need most.
CEOs want CLOs who can see around the corner and help them navigate uncertainty. Yet most legal teams are still buried in contract churn. AI is the unlock giving legal leaders time back to focus on strategy, not volume.

My prediction for next year is simple: the conversation will shift from who experimented to who delivered real outcomes — and how they measured them.
I’m excited to be part of that conversation.

Omar Haroun

CEO, Co-Founder, Eudia

Thank you to everyone who joined us for such an energizing CLO CAB this month. Eudia’s CAB brings together a group of visionary legal leaders to help shape the future of legal technology and AI adoption.

At Eudia, we’re focused on enabling humanity’s highest potential by combining human expertise with AI so legal teams can stop measuring value by hours and start measuring it by outcomes.

That theme came through clearly in every discussion: how to move from experimentation to enterprise-scale execution, with provable ROI as the standard for legal AI.

Thank you for the candor, ambition, and commitment to building what’s next.

And a special thank you to Timothy J. Fraser (CLO, Toshiba), Rishi Varma (Chief Legal and Ethics and Compliance Officer and Corporate Secretary, Cargill), Russ Elmer (GC, ServiceNow) and Jeremy Jessen (Global GC, Bayer) for sharing how Eudia has helped transform legal from a bottleneck into a strategic asset for their businesses.

Here’s to a 2026 defined by shared goals, stronger outcomes, and legal teams delivering more impact than ever.