The Liberating Leadership Lab

Developing Leaders for Complexity

Today's leadership challenges rarely have simple solutions. The Liberating Leadership Lab is an experiential leadership development program designed to help leaders navigate complexity, foster collaboration, engage collective intelligence, and create the conditions for meaningful change.

Strictly limited cohort size · Secure application

leadership Today

Beyond Expertise and

Control

Many leadership approaches were designed for a world that was more predictable, hierarchical, and controllable. Today's leaders face a different reality. Complexity, uncertainty, rapid change, and competing perspectives require new capacities that cannot be developed through knowledge alone.

The challenge is no longer simply having the right answers. The challenge is creating the conditions where people can think together, adapt together, and move forward together.

Complexity

Leadership increasingly requires navigating situations where no single person has the answer.

Engagement

Traditional command-and-control approaches often fail to generate ownership, creativity, and commitment.

Polarization

Leaders must learn to work productively with diverse perspectives, tensions, and competing priorities.

Change

Organizations need leaders who can help people adapt, learn, and move forward in uncertain environments.

The Leadership Edge

Leadership as a

Practice

Leadership is not simply a role or position. It is the ability to create conditions where people can contribute their gifts, engage meaningful challenges, and participate in shaping what emerges.

The Liberating Leadership Lab is built on the understanding that leadership capacity develops through experience, reflection, dialogue, and practice. Participants do not simply learn about leadership; they actively engage in it within a highly participative learning environment.

Greater Presence

Develop the capacity to remain grounded, aware, and effective amidst uncertainty and change.

Facilitative Leadership

Learn how to create the conditions for meaningful participation, collaboration, and engagement.

Collective Intelligence

Discover how groups can access deeper insight and creativity than individuals working alone.

Systems Awareness

Strengthen your ability to recognize patterns, relationships, and dynamics shaping organizational outcomes.

What you will Develop

Capacities for

Generative Leadership

Hosting Meaningful Conversations

Cultivate the ability to convene conversations that deepen engagement, surface important insights, and strengthen collective intelligence.

Building Trust and Psychological Safety

Learn how to foster the trust, openness, and belonging that enable people to contribute their best thinking and work together effectively.

Working with Emergence & Uncertainty

Develop greater comfort with complexity and ambiguity, learning to work with what is emerging rather than relying solely on predetermined solutions.

Facilitating Coherence and Action

Help groups transform diverse perspectives into shared understanding, clear decisions, and meaningful forward movement.

The learning Experience

Learning Through

Participation

The Lab combines live experiential sessions, guided reflection, peer learning, and practical application. Participants experience many of the same approaches they will later use within their own teams, organizations, and communities. Leadership development becomes a lived experience rather than simply a transfer of knowledge.

Live Leadership Labs

Engage in highly participative sessions where leadership concepts are explored through dialogue, reflection, and real-world practice rather than traditional instruction.

Peer Learning Circles

Learn alongside a diverse group of leaders who bring different experiences, perspectives, and challenges, creating a rich environment for shared learning and support.

Reflection & Application

Bridge theory and practice through guided reflection, self-study, and practical experience that can be immediately applied within your own leadership context.

Community of Practice

Become part of an ongoing network of leaders committed to collaboration, learning, and mutual support, extending the value of the Lab beyond the formal program.

The Lab itself becomes a living example of the kind of leadership, participation, and collaboration it seeks to develop.

Who This is For

Designed For

Leaders Who Convene Others

The Liberating Leadership Lab is designed for leaders, facilitators, and change-makers who recognize that today's challenges require more than expertise alone. It is for those who want to create environments where people can think together, engage meaningful challenges, and contribute their best work.

Whether you lead a team, facilitate groups, support organizational development, or guide community initiatives, the Lab will help you strengthen your capacity to work with complexity, foster collaboration, and create the conditions for meaningful change.

Executive & Organizational Leaders

For leaders seeking more effective ways to navigate complexity, engage diverse perspectives, and foster alignment within teams and organizations.

Facilitators and Internal Change Agents

For those responsible for guiding conversations, meetings, strategic planning processes, and organizational change initiatives.

HR & Organizational Development Professionals

For practitioners committed to strengthening culture, collaboration, leadership capacity, and employee engagement.

Coaches, Consultants, and Community Builders

For professionals who want to deepen their ability to host generative conversations, facilitate meaningful participation, and work with emergence.

If your work involves bringing people together to address important challenges, this Lab was designed with you in mind.

Program Details

What You Receive

The Liberating Leadership Lab combines experiential learning, practical application, and ongoing support to help you integrate new leadership capacities into your work and life. Participants receive a blend of live learning experiences, self-guided resources, and peer connection designed to support lasting growth and development.

12 Live Leadership Sessions

Participate in twelve highly interactive online sessions where leadership concepts are explored through dialogue, reflection, experiential learning, and real-world application.

Self-Guided Learning Resources

Access a growing collection of articles, frameworks, reflection exercises, and learning materials that deepen and support your development throughout the program.

Session Recordings and Materials

Receive recordings, notes, transcripts, and supporting resources that allow you to revisit key insights and continue learning between sessions.

Practical Facilitation Tools

Gain access to sample meeting designs, conversation frameworks, and facilitation practices that can be adapted for use within teams, organizations, and communities.

Community of Practice

Build meaningful relationships with fellow participants and continue learning within an ongoing network of leaders committed to collaboration, growth, and positive change.

Optional Leadership Coaching

Participants may choose to deepen their learning through individual coaching and mentoring support tailored to their unique leadership challenges and aspirations.

The greatest value of the Lab is not simply what you learn, but who you become as a leader through the experience.

Program Schedule

Next Cohort

Begins September 29, 2026

12 Weekly Live Online Sessions

2.5-hour facilitated learning labs combining dialogue, experiential learning, reflection, and practical application.

Online Reflection & Collaboration Space

A dedicated environment for ongoing conversation, peer learning, resources, and community support between sessions.

Intentionally Small Cohort

Limited to 12 participants to ensure meaningful participation, personalized support, and deep learning.

Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis and spaces are limited. Early application is encouraged.

Meet YOUR GUIDES

Experienced Guides for

Generative Leadership

The Liberating Leadership Lab is facilitated by experienced practitioners who have spent years working at the intersection of leadership, dialogue, facilitation, organizational development, community building, and personal transformation. Together, they bring a unique blend of practical experience, relational depth, and a passion for helping leaders thrive in complexity.

Richard Schultz

Portrait of Richard, co-host of the Liberating Leadership Lab

Co-host · Generative Facilitator

Richard Schultz is passionate about the possibilities that emerge when people come together with openness, purpose, and a willingness to learn from one another. Drawing on decades of experience in facilitation, Dialogue, Open Space Technology, leadership development, and personal transformation, he helps leaders and organizations build trust, navigate complexity, and unlock their collective potential.

Lisa Persson

Portrait of Lisa, co-host of the Liberating Leadership Lab

Co-host · Generative Facilitator

Lisa Persson brings a deep passion for human development, connection, and the transformative potential that emerges when people come together with openness and purpose. With a background in Sport Psychology, Organizational Psychology, and transformational coaching, she helps leaders and groups cultivate the trust, awareness, and relational capacity needed to navigate change and unlock new possibilities.

The Next Step

Ready to Expand Your Leadership Capacity?

Leadership today requires more than expertise and technical skill. It requires the ability to work with complexity, foster collaboration, and create the conditions where people and possibilities can thrive.

Limited to 12 participants, each cohort becomes a living laboratory for generative leadership. Together, we explore how leaders can create the conditions for trust, participation, collaboration, and meaningful action in teams, organizations, and communities.

Explore whether the Liberating Leadership Lab is the right next step in your leadership journey.

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