In today’s volatile and opportunity-rich digital world, technology leadership is no longer just about technical delivery, it’s about transformational vision. As we launch your Leaders Beyond journey, we’ll reframe what it means to lead in a time when AI, cyber risk, and rapid technical change. This opening session will provoke your thinking, challenge assumptions, and create a shared foundation for the sessions ahead.

In this provocative introduction, you will:

• Explore how the role of the IT leader shifts from operational excellence to managing existential competitive risk, and what that means for your leadership role.
• Identify critical leadership behaviors that drive clarity, resilience, and trust in a technological world where innovation cycles are shrinking dramatically.
• Reflect on your adaptive capacity in the face of emerging tech like AI, beginning to shape a personal and professional roadmap to thrive through transformation.

Who defines expectations and how do we manage them? How well do we know our own organization and its people? This session builds skills and confidence in how to better manage expectations and present our ideas clearly to obtain executive-level understanding, buy-in and attention. Explore practical techniques and approaches that help technology professionals find their voice and be heard. In this session, you will:

• Describe how to formalize, then manage, expectations
• Identify the steps to clear, articulate, and impactful message creation and delivery of ideas, projects, or plans in a face-to-face (virtual or real-life) setting
• Practice how to pre-influence and prepare for handling objections to build effective joint sessions with the business
• Learn the art of presenting to the executive level in your organization and position your message, request, or proposal for understanding and acceptance

AI isn’t coming; it’s already here and embedded everywhere. With it comes a new frontier of leadership responsibility: ethical and responsible AI. In an environment where vendor hype cycles are measured now in weeks and days instead of months and years, and AI disruption is the new norm, innovative technology leaders must decide: will you lead your organization into a future shaped by purposeful AI, or be dragged behind it?

This session will cut through the vendor-driven adoption noise to examine what responsible, strategic, and ethical AI leadership looks like, including how to strategically deploy and manage AI-enabled business use cases, not just platforms. We’ll unpack the enterprise advantages of AI promises—but also the human, organizational, and reputational risks that come with unchecked or haphazard adoption.

In this urgent and practical session, you will:

• Understand the real distinctions between public and private AI platforms—and the implications for security, IP protections, data governance, bias control and trust.
• Explore a “SAFER AI” framework that balances innovation with regulatory compliance and risk governance to strengthen the ROI of your AI adoptions.
• Examine the rise of “Shadow AI” and the critical need to educate, empower, and engage employees before their workarounds become your organization’s liability.
• Learn how to lead through uncertainty when AI’s next evolution is always just around the corner—and your competitive edge depends on staying ahead.

All sectors of the economy are undergoing unprecedented transformation. The need for speed and flexibility has never been greater. As companies navigate consistently uncertain waters, leaders must lead through change in faster, nimbler ways. The future of the business depends on it. Over two sessions, you will learn the essentials of nimble change leadership, and participate in a virtual game simulation that reflects the challenges of today’s world. Participating in these sessions you will:

• Gain a deeper understanding of what it takes to successfully execute change in today’s unprecedented business environment
• Adopt 5 critical mindsets for nimble change leadership in the age of digital disruption
• Boost your effectiveness as a transformational leader with nimble tools, techniques and “game plans” that are highly practical and unique
• Invest your limited time, energy, and influence more strategically when driving change

At the beginning of the program, you will be provided with a real-world situation (case study) that poses a real-world problem. Building on your learning, prior to this session you will submit a written solution of your own, then work in your team to create consensus and generate a response and solution. 

You and your team will present your solution to a panel of experts and receive feedback. This session provides you with opportunities to integrate, practice and demonstrate the insights that you have gained in the program.