The Opportunity
The Leading for Impact+ (LFI+) programme sought to bring together SVP-level leaders as an investment in the future of the enterprise. Salesforce wanted the experience to go beyond traditional leadership training to truly prepare leaders for what’s next—broadening their exposure, deepening their expertise and strengthening their engagement across the organizations.
Leadership development at this level couldn’t be theoretical. It had to be real.
Instead of discussing leadership concepts in theory, leaders would work together on real cross-enterprise challenges: strengthening relationships while building the capability to lead across organizational boundaries.
At its heart, LFI+ focused on three priorities:
- Connect — Build a trusted community of peers
- Communicate — Strengthen the ability to inspire and align across teams
- Collaborate — Work across boundaries with a One-Salesforce mindset to solve complex challenges
This was an opportunity not just to learn about leadership — but to live it; and for leaders to bring it back to their day-to-day work contexts.
The Journey
Emerging World partnered with Salesforce to design a three-day immersive summit delivered in Hyderabad and San Francisco. Leaders stepped away from daily operational demands to focus on complex organizational issues affecting the wider enterprise.
Working in small groups, participants applied Action Learning, an approach that brings small groups together to work on real organizational challenges through disciplined questioning rather than immediate solutions. This process slows down decision-making just enough to surface deeper insights and broaden perspectives.
To further expand thinking, participants also visited community partner organizations. These encounters exposed leaders to different leadership contexts and highlighted how social challenges are addressed outside the corporate environment.
The Transformation
The programme created rare space for senior leaders to work on enterprise issues together. Participants left with stronger cross-organization relationships, clearer alignment around key priorities and how to move forward.
Participant feedback also included:
- 4.7/5 satisfaction rating on the partner visits having broadened participants’ perspectives
- 4.6/5 satisfaction rating on the value of the experience in addressing enterprise challenges
- 4.7/5 satisfaction rating on the opportunity to connect and collaborate with peers
One participant commented that “Time to connect with leaders and focus on real problems — and seeing the similarities across the room was so valuable. We really are aligned as a leadership group. Now we can move forward with more confidence and bravery.”
