The UK’s first Festival of Leadership is to be staged in Bristol with the theme ‘rethinking leadership for an uncertain world’.
The festival on November 18 is the result of collaboration between UWE and the London-based Leadership Centre. Its three key streams will be innovation, resilience and people, place & politics. 
Organisers of the event say it will inspire creative thinking and encourage collaboration and innovation across and beyond public, private and voluntary sectors.
It will take place at Harbourside venues centred on Bristol Energy Hub. More than 20 sessions will run throughout the day including keynote talks, discussions and interactive workshops primarily taking place in the M Shed and Watershed.
The 40 contributors include Tim ‘Mac’ Macartney, public speaker, author and founder of Embercombe; Kalpna Woolf, founder of 91 Ways to Build a Global City and Chair of Trustees, Frank Water; William Montgomery, founder and CEO of TEN LTD, former navigating officer of HMS Ark Royal and Head of Strategic Change at Lloyds TSB; former professional footballer Iffy Onuora and Mayor of Bristol Marvin Rees.
The festival will launch on Thursday 17 November with keynote speaker Guy Watson, Founder of Riverford, Britain’s largest supplier of organic produce. Sue Austin, British disabled artist, best known for “’Creating the Spectacle!’ will also give a talk. She performed at the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad, watched by more than 150 million people worldwide.
The night also features live acts from Bristol performers, including poet Vanessa Kisuule, winner of several slam titles along with work featured widely in the media and prestigious events includingon Radio 4′s Woman’s Hour, and at TEDx in Vienna. Bristol Hornstars, a 24 pieces jazz band will round off the evening.
The festival will promote learning about leadership for individuals, groups, organisations, partnerships and communities by creating a space where people can share experiences and explore the nature, purpose and consequences of leadership – good and bad – in contemporary business and society.
It is likely to be of particular interest to people working in complex and changing environments, such as health, education, social care and local government, where they are juggling competing priorities such as improving services while cutting costs.
There will also be practical hands-on sessions that will appeal to those working in business and community contexts; a symposium for doctoral students; and a number of open events for the general public.
UWE director of Bristol Leadership Centre, Prof Richard Bolden, said: “In volatile times, effective leadership is seen as key to success but many existing frameworks and practices are no longer fit for purpose.
“Social, economic, political, cultural and environmental pressures demand flexibility and adaptability as well as clarity of purpose and direction.
“The Festival of Leadership invites people to connect, collaborate and engage with others from diverse backgrounds in order to better understand the challenges we face and to explore alternative ways of working and leading together.”
Leadership Centre director Joe Simpson added: “There has never been a stronger need for adaptive leadership that crosses boundaries. We live in an increasingly complex, interdisciplinary world. Unprecedented financial pressures on public, private and voluntary sectors have combined with ever-higher expectations of outcomes, making effective leadership all the more pivotal.”
For more information on the festival, including speakers, programme and sponsors, and to buy tickets, visit www.festivalofleadership.org
