OPINION — On January 1, 2026, in his planned first message for the 59th World Day of Peace, Pope Leo XIV will reflect on peace, justice, and global harmony.

On December 18, 2025, Pope Leo published his first major peace message themed “Peace be with you,” in preparation for his and the Catholic Church’s annual January 1st exhortation on World Peace. Pope Leo’s December message urged the faithful to not surrender to the idea that fear and darkness are normal, but to see peace as not only possible but necessary. “When we treat peace as a distant ideal, we cease to be scandalized when it is denied, or even when war is waged in its name… and to justify violence and armed struggle in the name of religion.” Pope Leo called on believers of all religions to guard against the temptation to weaponize words and religion to commit violence in its name. He ended with two searing eyewitness accounts of European horrors: the Bosnian war and the domestic terrorism that tormented Italy in the 1970s and 1980s.

The World Day of Peace is an annual Catholic observance celebrated each January 1. Established in 1968 by Pope Paul VI, it is an opportunity for each pope to write a peace message and to reflect on peace, justice, and global harmony. The messages offer moral guidance to the Church and the world on how to pursue peace in a contemporary context.

For his first message for the 59th World of Peace, Pope Leo chose the theme “Peace be with you” as a call not only to desire peace, but to make it a lived reality. Indeed, peace is not just the absence of war, but rooted in justice, trust, dialogue, forgiveness, and shared humanity.

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Seeking peace in a world in disarray

The annual Preventive Priorities Survey, produced by the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) and the more than six hundred American foreign policy experts who contributed to the survey, was just published and viewed five conflict-related scenarios as highly likely to emerge or escalate and to have high impact on U.S. interests in 2026.

The experts were most concerned about conflict-related risks in the Middle East and eastern Europe, including the potential for increased clashes between Israeli security forces and Palestinians in the West Bank, renewed fighting in the Gaza Strip, and intensified attacks in the Russia-Ukraine war. Also, the possibility of direct U.S. military strikes in Venezuela and of an increase in political violence and popular unrest in the United States are similarly worrying scenarios.

Renewed armed conflict between Iran and Israel, artificial intelligence-enabled cyberattacks on U.S. infrastructure and a cross-strait crisis between China and Taiwan are concerning. And North Korea was elevated to a Tier 1 concern for 2026 – a top-priority global threat due to its nuclear weapons, ballistic missile programs and potential to destabilize Northeast Asia.

“The world continues to grow more violent and disorderly. Last year’s unprecedented level of anxiety among experts about the rising risk of conflict remains undiminished, according to the director of the CFR survey.

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Pope Leo, the first American pope, has an opportunity to put words into action, in the pursuit of peace. Since his election in May 2025, “peace be with you all” has been the foundation for his peace mission. In October 2025, at an interreligious meeting in Rome, Pope Leo declared: “Peace is holy, not war”, urging religious leaders to act as “mothers” who encourage people to treat each other as family. And in December 2025 during a trip to Lebanon he met with Muslim and Druze leaders, stating that authentic unity and friendship are the only ways to “put aside the arms of war.”

Pope Leo could and should convene a meeting of interreligious leaders to draft a strategy to bring peace to a troubled world. This, obviously, would be a monumental task, seemingly beyond the reach of any person, nation, alliance, and religion. But a leader that has the respect of peers and the public could be the catalyst for such a “peace movement.”

Pope Leo has my vote.

This column by Cipher Brief Expert Ambassador Joseph DeTrani was first published in The Washington Times

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So you’ve been offered your dream job. But… it doesn’t come with your dream salary. It can feel disheartening to think you’ve wasted all your time, interviewing for a job with a salary that doesn’t end up meeting your expectations. But it’s not time to throw in the towel just yet.

Because while it may be scary, an offer is negotiable. We negotiate salaries on behalf of our candidates every day. And we’re here to give you the 9 steps on how you can negotiate the salary you deserve.

If you are looking to negotiate a pay rise for a job that you are currently working in, we have a separate guide here to ask for a pay rise here.

How to Negotiate a Salary In 9 Steps

1. Make Sure You’re Being Offered a Fair salary
2. If you’re looking to be paid higher than the average salary for your position, you need to be creative with your argument.
3. Consider the business’s circumstance: can they afford to and can they afford not to pay you more.
4. Look for remote jobs with a higher salary than the one you’re being offered
5. Create an evidence based and compelling argument for why you deserve to be paid more. 
6. If there are more things to negotiate than salary, negotiate them all at once.
7. Set out clear expectations for your desired salary. Or if they can’t offer a higher salary, what would you accept instead?
8. Have a plan beforehand what you will do if they reject your request.
9. Let someone do the negotiating for you, by working with an IT recruiter.

1. Make Sure You’re Being Offered a Fair salary

Salaries are changing constantly. And with the current state of the job market and rising inflation, the average salary for your job a year ago may have risen significantly since you last looked however many months ago. And there are a few different ways in which you can check this online.

Salary Comparison Websites: Websites like Glassdoor, Reed and Indeed all have their own individual salary comparison tools. By using a few of these you can get a general salary idea of the position you’re applying for.

Job Boards: For a real time and accurate idea of the salaries you can expect, you can do your own research and look at live adverts on job boards. Job boards like Indeed can be a great resource due to the amount of roles they have, but a specialist job board in your niche will give more accurate salaries. For example, if you’re an IT Professional working in the Network, Infrastructure or Cyber Security industry, you can use the Dynamic Search job board for research into salaries. 

Speak With An Expert: One of the best resources you can use for salary research is to speak to a recruitment consultant in your niche. These are people whose job it is to understand their marketing inside and out, and they can give you an accurate idea of the salary you can expect, taking into account location, years of experience and market demand for your skills.

2. Why Do You Deserve To Be Paid More Than This?

But let’s say you are being offered the market salary for your position. Then you might need to give more thought to why you deserve to be paid more than the industry average. Here are some examples of a few of the different things you should consider:

Location

Location can be a huge determining factor in negotiating a salary. Depending on the location of the role, you could easily make a case for why the higher cost-of-living means it is essential that you are paid more than the national average.

Do You Have More Experience Than They’re Asking For?

If the job description is asking for 2 – 3 years of experience and you have 3 or more, you can be in a strong position to argue for a higher salary. The company will have budgeted for the job advert and position with the experience in mind. And if you have more then they’re asking for making you the strongest candidate, then you can use that as a strong case for why you deserve to be paid more than originally advertised for the position.

The Same Again With Skills

Use the same logic again for skills as experience. If the job description asks for some skills as “desirable but not essential” and you have them. Or if you have additional, complimentary skills that will help you in your job. You can argue that this makes you qualify for a higher salary by being more effective in your position. 

3. Can The Business Afford What You’re Asking?

Can They Afford To?

Something to consider before you step into the negotiation is can the business afford to offer you more. This is essential for setting relevant expectations on what to expect.

Some businesses will be more flexible with the salaries they offer. For example, with international network agencies there can be layers and layers of red tape for a hiring manager to navigate in salary negotiations. Or there can be no option for negotiation at all.

Can They Afford Not To?

An alternative angle for your argument could be on whether or not the business can afford not to pay you more. Is the business looking to hire immediately or do they need the position filled ASAP? If so, then this puts you in a greater position of power. 

Have they brought on a new client that needs extra hands to work on, or has someone left that is putting the team under pressure? Whatever the reasons means they might not have the time to restart the hiring process.

4. Look For Remote Jobs With a Higher Salary Than You’re Being Offered

A SEMrush study shows that “remote jobs” has increased in monthly searches by over 234%, from July 2021 to 2022. While “remote jobs near me” has experienced a staggering growth of 654%.

Here at Dynamic we’ve firsthand witnessed the amount of remote working opportunities increase in reaction to this demand. And remote salaries for the same jobs can have a large discrepancy based on the location in the UK that the company hiring is based.

If you can demonstrate that there are higher salaries out there for the exact same job you will be doing, you can create a case for why they should be offering you more. But it’s important here to stress that while yes, you could apply to those jobs, you want to work for the company you’re interviewing with. And that’s why you want it to be them that offers you the salary.

5. Create an Evidence Based Argument For Why You Deserve to be Paid More

When negotiating a salary offer, we would advise that you keep your argument factual and backed up with evidence. Because while it is a personal request to you, cases based on emotion will be unlikely to sway your future employer’s decision. Instead, use statistics and data to argue the case for why you’re worth a higher salary than they’re offering.

Similar to how you should structure your CV: Use examples of how successful you have been in  your previous work. If you can show examples of times where you’ve won new business in your previous role at a Managed Service Provider and relate it to your new position, you’ve got a strong argument for why you’re worth the extra money. 

Of course not all examples are as clear cut as this. So you might have to be a bit more inventive with your argument…

6. Negotiate Everything You Need To All At Once

Before you open up negotiations about salary, consider if there is anything else that needs to change as well. This could be anything, from hybrid working to a bigger holiday allowance. 

Because you should negotiate all of these at once, instead of one after the other. Because you don’t want your future employer to think that you are taking advantage of the negotiations and moving the goalpost further and further, just to see how much you can get. 

You want your employer to know that you are available and interested, and that if they can meet your expectations you’ll accept.

7. Set Out Clear Expectations: But If They Can’t Meet Them, What Would You Accept Instead?

Sometimes a higher salary simply isn’t possible. It could be not in the budget for the company for that year, or outside of company policy to pay more than your colleagues in the same position. 

So you may want to consider beforehand if you would accept anything instead of an increased salary. This could be financial such as a potential bonus scheme for new business acquisition or a higher pension contribution: Or something to support your work-life balance, like hybrid working or more holidays.

Because while it may not be the answer you were looking for, it’s worth considering if any of these alternative options are as good as a higher salary.

8. Have a Plan Beforehand What You Will Do If They Reject Your Request

To give yourself the most confidence in the negotiation, you should prepare yourself for what you’re going to do if your attempts to negotiate a salary fail. If your request isn’t met would you consider accepting the offer anyway? Or would you decline and continue your job search?

We would advise you to continue with any other interview processes that you are currently going through, to make sure that you have the most amount of options. And to be open with the company that has made you the offer of the situation. Because showing that you have other interested parties may influence your potential future employer’s decision to offer you a higher salary…

9. Let Someone Do The Negotiating For You

Not everyone is comfortable negotiating a salary. Which is why it can be helpful having someone who can argue your case for you. 

Here at Dynamic we do the negotiating on behalf of our candidates. If the salary isn’t quite right for one of our candidates, we’ll fight their corner for them. Because it’s our job to represent the candidates we work with to the best of our ability. 

So if you’re working in the network, infrastructure or cyber security industries and looking for support through your journey, you can reach out to us here, for advice unique to your individual situation.

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