Evolve, don't just optimise

Many organisations feel stuck; too busy to move forward and optimising for a world that no longer exists. This is not due to a lack of ambition, but because the model itself is under strain. This course addresses the challenges business leaders face today. It demonstrates practical strategies to move businesses forward and supports you in applying these strategies to your own context.

We have brought together leading thinkers at the intersection of business, creativity, and technology to develop a blueprint for growth in an uncertain world. This course integrates innovations in creative practice, systems design, and commercial strategy to reimagine traditional leadership development.

The programme draws on a team with experience working with organisations such as Nike, Adidas, Microsoft, Logitech, and Google. Each week opens with a presentation and discussion led by David Johnston, Founder of Accept & Proceed, whose work sits at the intersection of brand, systems thinking, and long-term strategic transformation. David draws on insights from projects with Nike, IBM, and NASA to reframe the role of business in this moment, highlighting the importance of building to evolve rather than simply to optimise.

He positions business as a story about the future: a proposition for how people will live, what they will value, and the role it chooses to play in the world. You will be introduced to the Three Horizons model; a way of thinking and working across time. Facilitators Matt Arnold and Denise Hicks draw on over 25 years of strategic workshop facilitation to guide you through one fundamental question: how will your business navigate a volatile, change-driven world to not only survive, but thrive over the next ten years?

By the end of this course, you'll develop:

• a Horizon 1 diagnostic of your business
• a scenario map of the forces most likely to
  reshape your market
• a Horizon 3 vision statement and guiding principles
• a Horizon 2 roadmap with prioritised actions for now, next, and future
• set of commitments shared with the group

To ensure impact extends beyond a single event, we also provide structured follow-ups to support application and measure impact
within your organisation, helping you drive real, lasting change. Because the real question is not what you are
building. It is whether it will still matter in ten years.