Leadership Capacity
Helping leaders build the capacity to lead what’s next - with steadiness, clarity, and real-world impact.
We help leaders at every level grow the mindset, skills, and presence needed to lead through complexity, shape culture, and move systems - not just teams.
LEADERSHIP IN ACTION
Where real work becomes the classroom.
In rooms like these, we help leaders rehearse the decisions, conversations, and tensions that define their roles - so when the moment comes, they have more than insight. They have practiced judgment.
Inside a Systems Change Engagement
We work with leaders who are…
Senior executives navigating transformation, renewal, or rapid growth.
Cross-functional and research leaders shaping complex initiatives.
Emerging and mid-level managers stepping into bigger authority.
Mission-driven organizations building strong internal pipelines.
Innovation and culture leaders strengthening leadership at scale.
What makes our leadership work different
Our leadership development is grounded in original frameworks - including the Insight 4D Framework, the Leadership Challenge Map, and the Fog Filter - shaped by decades of field experience in conflict zones, public institutions, and high-growth organizations.
We don’t separate “strategy” from “leadership.” We work at the point where judgment, systems insight, and real authority come together - helping leaders read what’s really going on and respond with steadiness.
This is not generic leadership training. Our pedagogy is experiential, contextual, and human-centered:
Experiential - built around doing, not just knowing.
Contextual - grounded in your culture, politics, and constraints.
Strategic - linked to tangible business and systems outcomes.
Human-centered - focused on trust, collaboration, and clarity under pressure.
Leaders leave with more than inspiration - they leave with practiced moves they can use the next morning.
PROGRAMS
Example Leadership Engagements
Transformative Leadership Programs
Multi-month cohort journeys for senior and high-potential leaders, designed around your real strategic and cultural challenges.
These programs are designed to:
- Shift how leaders think, act, and collaborate under pressure.
- Build the judgment needed to lead in high-uncertainty environments.
- Strengthen leadership culture across teams, units, and functions.
One of our a multi-year cohort programs for senior scientist leaders is now in its seventh year, with dramatic impact on collaboration and alignment.
Immersive Workshops
High-intensity workshops focused on specific capabilities - from leading in the Fog Zone to running high-stakes meetings and consultations.
Workshop series can focus on:
- Adaptive leadership and leading through uncertainty.
- Cross-functional collaboration and influence without authority.
- Decision-making under pressure and systems thinking in practice.
Sessions are hands-on, case-based, and built around your leaders’ real situations - so practice transfers immediately back to the work.
Manager to Leader - Cohort-Based Training
A five-month development program for emerging and mid-level managers, focused on real performance, retention, and leadership advancement.
Manager to Leader is built to:
- Help managers shift from “expert doer” to leader of people and systems.
- Strengthen confidence, communication, and boundary-setting.
- Provide a proven track record of measurable leadership gains over time.
Available virtually or in-person, with tailored tracks for novice and more experienced managers.
SPOTLIGHT: A SIGNATURE LEADERSHIP PROGRAM
Manager to Leader - Building a Leadership Bench
WHAT SETS M2L APART
Grounded in live leadership challenges, not hypothetical cases.
Integrates frameworks, practice labs, and peer consultation.
Includes evaluation and longitudinal tracking of impact.
Supports both first-time managers and more experienced managers.
The program can be delivered as a stand-alone initiative or as part of a broader leadership pathway.
Manager to Leader is a cohort-based program that moves managers from individual contributors, to effective people-managers and leaders of culture, complexity and performance.
Across cohorts, we have seen measurable gains in leadership confidence, strategic thinking, and collaboration, as well as long-term shifts in culture and engagement.
TOOLS & METHODS
The Frameworks That Anchor Our Leadership Work
Leadership Challenge Map
Leadership Challenge Map
Maps challenges along urgency and uncertainty - from expert delivery to the Fog Zone - so leaders can match their response to the work the moment really requires.
Insight 4D Framework
Insight 4D Framework
Integrates self and system - Insight & Action - helping leaders see patterns in themselves and their context, then intervene with intention under stress.
Adaptive Leadership
Adaptive Leadership
Draws on the Harvard Adaptive Leadership tradition to distinguish technical from adaptive work, regulate heat, and lead people through real loss and change.
Leadership Case Method
Leadership Case Method
Uses live and hypothetical cases from your organization to explore complexity, test assumptions, and rehearse new moves in a structured way.
Experiential Learning
Experiential Learning
Applies Kolb’s experiential cycle so leaders move repeatedly between action, reflection, conceptualization, and new experiments - building muscle, not just insight.
A Leadership Rehearsed Model
A Leadership Rehearsed Model
Creates “rehearsal rooms” where leaders can practice the hardest conversations and decisions before they have to perform them in real time.
Thrive in Complexity
We help leaders expand their capacity to thrive amidst ambiguity and pressure - enabling them to embrace tension, navigate competing demands, and act decisively without pretending to have all the answers.
“This work didn’t just teach me how to lead. It changed the way I see leadership.”
- Senior Executive, Global Research Institution