Become a leader for a sustainable future Senior management development at Forum for the Future

Forum for the Future brings together senior people with a common interest in developing leadership for sustainability through learning, reflection and, crucially, practical innovation.

Be ready for the sustainable development century!

Climate change, resource shortages, shifting supply chains, peak oil – the challenges of sustainability are now high on the business agenda. Business ethics are coming under greater scrutiny than ever before and can build or damage brands. What do these environmental and social issues mean for your organisation? And what do they mean for you as a leader?

Sustainable development isn’t just another problem that can be put aside to deal with after the recession. It’s a different way of looking at the world, at leadership and personal development. Learning this vision will be central to the future success of any good leader’s organisation and career.

More than at any other age, leaders of the 21st century need to be able to deal with the challenges of today and tomorrow, to understand a wide range of concerns beyond their organisational borders, and to find solutions that really address the complexity of many of the problems that we face. Sustainable development offers a framework for doing this.

We have observed that strong leaders who incorporate sustainability into their thinking display three key characteristics. They look further into the future, they engage widely with a range of stakeholders, and they embrace meaning from a personal perspective. We call this three dimensional leadership.   

Three dimensional leaders:
 
look further – leaders need to identify and understand future trends and issues so they can prepare for new challenges and opportunities;
engage widely – leaders need to understand how everything is connected so they can respond to a wide range of issues, perspectives and stakeholder concerns;
embrace meaning – leaders need to be authentic; and harness their personal values and beliefs in sustainable development to achieve the greatest impact.

This is smart leadership which anyone with serious ambitions for a positive future will embrace.

We provide unique learning experiences to develop leaders for sustainability.

Forum for the Future can help you develop the leadership qualities you need to be both successful and sustainable as an individual, company, organisation, or sector.

We have been working with leaders on sustainability for the last 12 years. We understand the qualities you need to be fit for the future – and we know how to set you on a journey to achieve it. 

Forward thinking, powerful leadership can’t just be created in the training room.  It needs to be tested through practical action, it needs be developed and nurtured over time, and it is better if it is shared.

That is why we design our leadership programmes to combine knowledge and reflection, action and collaboration. We bring people together on real, practical challenges to develop their skills and personal styles. 

Forum’s approach has real impact because leaders build their knowledge of what is possible while making something happen. We don’t just teach people about sustainable development, we empower them to take practical action. We believe that leaders are stronger working together, so much of our focus is on groups and networks addressing a common problem. 

Our programmes: tailored approach to meet specific needs

All Forum for the Future’s programmes are tailored to meet the specific needs of those we are working with. They are based on five core offers designed to cater for people with greater or lesser amounts of time available, at different stages in their career, and with different levels of sustainability knowledge. They all work on similar principles of creating leaders through knowledge, reflection, practical action and collaboration.

The sustainability masterclass

For senior leaders with little time, but a desire to be successful way beyond the next quarter and a thirst for sustainability thinking

Three dimensional mentoring and coaching

For leaders who want to increase their impact through 1:1 coaching on sustainability from leading experts in the field

Three dimensional organisational leadership

For senior leaders and management teams who want to transform their organisations to achieve sustainability and success

Three dimensional sector leadership for sectors, places and professions

For groups of leaders who come together to explore how their sector can be more sustainable and take shared action to make it happen

Reconnections 

For people who are already well versed in sustainability and want to find deeper ways to transform the situation they find themselves in

Find out more about our work on leadership.