A unique cross- sector programme to develop leaders' will and skill to harness the power of big business to address people and planet-positive system change.
A six-month immersive learning experience that stimulates both personal growth and organisational development through learning and action on a set of compelling industrial system-change initiatives.
We are facing mounting ecological, economic and social challenges that our current systems are unable and failing to address. We need to accelerate the growth and success of planet and people positive business if c.9 billion people are to live well on a healthy, liveable planet by the middle of the century.
Each year, the Leadership Vanguard works to empower cohorts of ‘intrapreneurial’ change agents, connectors, and senior organisational weather-makers (aka ‘Catalysts’) from a mix of global organisations to rise to this challenge.
The Leadership Vanguard experience supports leaders in developing the networks, mindset, and abilities to transform both their organisations and the systems in which they are embedded.
Through and beyond the programme, participants empower their leadership capabilities and networks for years to come by:
- Stepping out of familiar contexts via collaboration with peers from other sectors, entrepreneurs, and stakeholders
- Immersion in systemic problems guided by the entrepreneurs trying to address them, combining the commercial with people and planet
- Explore possible futures through enriched experiences in conjunction with cross-sector networks of innovators and change-makers
- Identify the system interventions necessary for new business models, technologies and ways of organising to thrive, scale and amplify impact
Watch our video to learn more
Our 2023 cohort programme
This year’s accelerator six-month programme is centred on themes that are both short and long term.
Our themes have been curated alongside our partners , towards exploring and developing specific transition opportunities to galvanise group inquiry, learning and action.
Clean and inclusive urban transport and logistics
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) estimates that urban transport is responsible for up to 40% of energy use, while air pollution leads to 4.2m premature deaths each year. Inefficient systems hinder productivity, limit access, and disproportionately affect low-income communities.
Transport and logistics are the lifeblood of modern hyperconnected cities. However, fragmentated service providers and blurred lines between physical, virtual, digital and hybrid offer the opportunity to re-think both the problems and solutions to an increasingly complex system.
Regenerative and resilient food systems
As the global population is projected to hit 9 billion by 2050, the demand for food is expected to increase 59-98%. The food system is already responsible for 34% of global greenhouse gas emissions, which make this a critical sector to decarbonise and find ways to reduce the impact on land health.
Evolving the way we grow, transport and consume food will be one of the biggest challenges of this century, but how do we move to more local and environmentally friendly production and shift consumer preferences towards sustainable, regenerative and resilient food systems?
Circular and socially just supply chains
The adoption of circular and socially just supply chains continues to prove challenging as businesses struggle with the level of investment and effort required to find ways to amend complex value chains.
But with 16.5 tonnes of plastic going into our oceans each year, and with 73% millennial shoppers saying they are willing to pay more for sustainable goods; how can we investigate and close the loop on material throughputs in supply chains while building economic and social value?
Resilient and inclusive energy systems
Distributed energy resources – renewables, behind-the-meter batteries, flexible grids - will be essential to building a net-zero energy system and providing solutions for the 800 million people that lack access to power.
The IEA estimates that achieving our net zero goals will require annual clean energy investment to triple to $4 trillion by 2030. But amid a cost-of-living crisis, the investment environment is fragile. How might we enable new forms of energy exchange that give communities more control of their energy future and activate prosumers to scale investment?
Our 2023 partners
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200+
Leaders who have participated in our Leadership Vanguard accelerator programme over the last seven years.
150
Creatives, artists, performers, and musicians who have brought new perspectives to our events and programmes.
220
CEOs who have brought their experience, perspectives, and impact to a range of Xynteo events, coalitions and programmes
Beyond LV Accelerator
The Leadership Vanguard programme offers three additional flexible options for participation in addition to our accelerator programme.
Vanguard Leap
An opportunity for emerging/high potential leaders from each partner organisation to develop their effectiveness as system change agents through facilitated virtual learning and development as part of a diverse cohort of like-minded talent.
Leap participants work both independently and in tandem with participants on the Accelerator programme to develop their transition leadership will and skills.
Vanguard Reef
A dedicated online community for both current Leadership Vanguard participants and alumni, designed to maximise collaboration, action and learning.
Reef enables users to network with others, form groups around common interest, complete courses, participate in ideation challenges and access live virtual events.
Vanguard Labs
A facilitated rapid impact ‘sprint’ across 4-6 week, Labs enables rapid collaborative exploration of a specific high-potential commercial opportunity.
In a fully facilitated process, participants form hypotheses about opportunities for positive growth, undertake exploration exercises designed to test them, capture insights and re-orient towards as the opportunity comes into sharper relief. At the end they are able to present their proposition to internal stakeholders or others with greater confidence and surety.
The Leadership Vanguard program gave me the inspiration, confidence and the tools to drive systemic sustainable change.
Hanneke Willenborg
CEO of Olly (Unilever)
This is a great programme - there is nothing more important than investing in future leaders.
N Chandrasekaran
Chairman of Tata Sons
Unilever joined Vanguard for the reason of wanting to nurture passions and create positive change within its leadership. To make change you need to make sure to put the right people in the right positions.
Barbara Scala
Unilever
I’ve came away from the London Exchange with the questions: How can I help and make a difference? What will be my footprint and legacy?
Duarte Bettencourt
EDP
How is what we’re doing contributing to making a better world? The Vanguard is a great opportunity to reflect on that, to take a step back and think of how we can take faster action and be better leaders.
Katherine Boesen
DB Schneker
It helped me see how interconnected very different industries are on the problems we're trying to solve. We fundamentally are all facing the same problems.
Mette Munkholm
Baker Hughes
