As never before, leadership today is about leading change. It is the key leadership skill.
COVID-19 has changed the way we work and live. The world’s reaction to the virus has upended the status quo, sending many industries and businesses into a frenzy of financial survival and drastic reorganisation, while a few industries, notably technology, have boomed.
Many of our people are anxious; worried about their jobs, their livelihood, their parents, their children, their health, their mental health. As the Northern Hemisphere threatens to retreat back into lockdown once again, anxiety levels and concerns over the dangers of isolation are, understandably, on the rise once more.
Meanwhile, we have organisations to run. Only those organisations with leaders who are able to lead change and with people who are ready, willing and able to embrace change will thrive.
Change is inevitable. Successful change isn’t. 88% of change initiatives fail to deliver.
We are living in times of unprecedented volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity. And as leaders, it is our job to lead our people through all of this change. To provide them with the clarity, the guidance, the support and the confidence they need to embrace today’s changes and the changes that lie ahead – and look for the opportunities.
If we are not leading change, we are not leading anything: we are just managing the status quo. Pre-pandemic, managing the status quo was akin to going backwards. Not anymore. Managing the status quo is no longer an option. It no longer exists.
This MasterClass is designed to help you to be the 1 in 8 change leaders that succeed. Campbell Macpherson, Executive Fellow of Henley Business School, will be covering the following topics around leading successful change:
- What has 2020 taught us about change?
- Why change fails
- Essential ingredients to successful change
- How we react to different types of change, introducing the change matrix and featuring the change curves
- Helping people to overcome their barriers to change
- The essence of successful change leadership
In addition, Jan Vapaavuori, Mayor of Helsinki, will share how the City of Helsinki has navigated through the current COVID-19 crisis and how the requirements for leadership have altered during this time. He will also give insights how political leadership and organisational leadership can clash in questions of strategic target setting and definition of success.
Agenda
17:30 | Welcome words Annu Matula, Managing Director at Henley Business School Finland |
17:35 | Leading in times of crisis. Lessons for the most functional city in the world Jan Vapaavuori, Mayor of Helsinki |
18:10 |
Leading change
Campbell Macpherson, Executive Fellow at Henley Business School
|
19:15 | Short break |
19:30 | Embracing change Campbell Macpherson, Executive Fellow at Henley Business School |
20:30 | Closure |
Keynote speakers

Campbell Macpherson
Campbell is a high-energy keynote speaker and facilitator with decades of experience enabling CEOs and leadership teams to instigate strategic change. He is also author of ‘The Change Catalyst’, the 2018 Business Book of the Year. His career has spanned strategy, HR, marketing, eBusiness and change with a wide range of organisations across the UK, Australia, US, Europe, Middle East and Asia as a board director, in-house executive and external business advisor via his consultancy Change & Strategy International.

Jan Vapaavuori
After an extensive career in Finnish national politics Jan became the first Mayor of Helsinki in June 2017. As his first task, he set forth a city strategy, laying ground for an ambitious four-year agenda. The strategy champions Helsinki as the “most functional city in the world” with a special focus on sustainable growth, digitalisation, global problem solving, creativity and the best possible conditions for happy everyday city life. Jan graduated as Master of Laws from the University of Helsinki and holds an Honorary Doctoral Degree from Hanken School of Economics.
Registration for this event is closed. For further information or questions, please contact Sabine Doms (sabine.doms@henley.fi, +358 50 912 6955).
MasterClass 19.11.2020: Leading successful change in a COVID world
For this MasterClass, we offer the option to participate physically (40 seats) or online. Please ensure to choose your form of participation when signing up!