The CEO Accelerator Programme – a premier leadership development platform for C-Suite leaders – has organised its 4th CEO Breakfast Retreat themed ‘Leadership Resilience: Reassess, Realign and Rebound’.
The CEO Accelerator Programme continues to support C-suite leaders in navigating the ever-changing business environment by providing a platform for leaders to network, learn and embrace new possibilities in a time of intense change, complexity and uncertainty.
This period of economic uncertainty has taken a heavy toll on leaders and their teams’ emotions, health and physical outlooks. Leading in this challenging moment requires resilience.
Building resilience can support leaders to adapt to rapidly-changing economic scenarios, maintain a positive outlook, face uncertain futures with less fear, and bounce back from challenges. The main aim of the CEO Breakfast Retreat was supporting leaders of the programme to strengthen their resilience and be more resilient leaders, and lead resilient teams and organisations.
Robert Bennin, Convener of the CEO Accelerator Programme and Chief Learning Strategist at Temple Advisory Limited, led the discussion and various practical activities on the subject of leadership resilience. “Resilience involves how leaders use their thoughts, feelings and behaviour to avoid the negative effects of stressors,” he explained.
He encapsulated the concept of Leadership Resilience in the following words: “Leadership resilience is achieving your leadership purpose and emerging stronger despite adverse circumstances that are encountered on the journey”.
According to Robert Bennin, a leader’s ability to withstand the unexpected – which he said is unavoidable – proves how resilient they are. He indicated that the harsh realities in the business and work environment are always present. “The good news is that the leader has a choice to make. You can choose resilience.”
Using practical examples, Mr. Bennin demonstrated how a leader’s decision to reframe negative situations leads to better outcomes. The leaders present practiced various resilience routines and created a leadership resilience framework that will guide them going forward. The event was a fun-packed day with great learning.
Kristyne Twum, CEO of Kedar Health & Wellness, hosted a wellness lab for the CEOs present at the event. She shared strategies for living and eating healthily. She urged the leaders to minimise their consumption of processed foods, oils, alcohol, sugar, etc. Her concluding message was “You eat to live, and not live to eat”.
Below are comments from some of the CEOs who participated in the CEO Breakfast Retreat.
“A well-organised programme with so much to learn. I really loved the activity that revolved around the resilience framework. My key takeaways were that I am not in this alone, there’s hope at the end of the tunnel. Staying innovative and resilient as well as communicating effectively with my team during this period are key essentials.”
“This has been my best retreat so far. Well done to the entire team. My key learning was that resilience must happen on a personal level, for my teams and also for the organisation.”
About the CEO Accelerator Programme
The CEO Accelerator Programme is a strategically curated network of highly capable C-Suite leaders who connect to share expertise, peer coach, and challenge each other to accelerate personal and organisational transformation. Leaders on the CEO Accelerator Programme go through a 12-month learning journey that supports them to embrace a bold, new leadership mindset, take control of their calendar and learn to adapt in a rapidly-changing environment.
The mission of the CEO Accelerator Programme is to build a cadre of highly capable leaders who will usher corporate Africa into a glorious future. We believe that the future of Africa is in the hands of those who lead our institutions. There are currently 6 cohorts with 45+ leaders from 20 different business sectors on the CEO Accelerator Programme. Each cohort is made up of 8 to 12 enterprise leaders.
The key principles underlying the CEO Accelerator Programme’s design are: Mission and Context Clarity; Practice and Reflection; and Peer Coaching and Accountability. Leaders in the programme are inspired by the African proverb thaty says: “If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together”.
