
CONTENT GUIDE
20-21 october 2025
PLENARY SESSION
20 OCTOBER 2025
Leadership 2030: Navigating Influence, Innovation and Entrepreneurship
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Professor Jonatan Pinkse
Jonatan Pinkse is Professor of Sustainable Business and the Director of the Centre for Sustainable Business at King's Business School.His passion is sustainability, strategy, and innovation. He is a regular speaker on topics related to strategy and innovation for net-zero and sustainability, business model innovation for disruption, the green transition, cross-sector partnerships, and digital platforms.
In his research, Jonatan analyses how firms make strategic decisions to create a sustainable economy and deal with tensions between issues and actors. He investigates opportunities and barriers for firms to adopt disruptive and sustainable technologies from cognitive, organizational, and institutional perspectives.
Jonatan has authored more than 60 scholarly and practitioner articles in journals such as the Academy of Management Review, Journal of Management Studies, Research Policy, Journal of International Business Studies, Organization Studies, California Management Review, Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice.
In 2020, he was included in the prestigious Highly Cited Researcher list, and in 2023, in the Stanford University list of the top 2 per cent of the world's scientists. Before moving to London, he held positions at the University of Manchester, Universiteit van Amsterdam, and Grenoble Ecole de Management.
He is deputy editor for the journal Organization & Environment and has edited numerous special issues. He is theme lead of Social, environmental & technological transitions of the ESRC-funded The Productivity Institute.
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Moderator: Dr. Gillian Brooks
Panellists:
Dr. Declan Woods, Professor of Leadership Practice at King's Business School
Aekta Mahajan Patel, Executive Fellow at King’s Business School.
Juan Diego Du Bois, Customer Growth Associate - Google Customer Solutions (GCS)
Dr. Declan Woods is a Professor of Leadership Practice at King's Business School, designing and delivering innovative executive development programmes for c-suite clients. He is a Chartered and HCPC-Registered Psychologist, accredited Master Coach, and trained team coach. He earned a master’s degree in psychology from the University of Cambridge, an Executive MBA from Warwick University and an Executive MA in change consulting from INSEAD.
Aekta Mahajan Patel is an Executive Fellow at King’s Business School. She is the Head of the Venture Capital Team at the Department for International Trade. In 2012, Aekta was selected as one of Management Today’s “35 Women Under 35” list. More recently she was featured in the TimeWise Power list.
Juan Diego Du Bois has rejoined Google's EMEA Headquarters in Dublin as a Customer Growth Associate, helping Spanish small-to-medium-sized businesses grow through Google Ads advisory. He recently graduated with First Class Honours in Business Management from King’s College London, where he completed a placement year at The Walt Disney Company’s Destinations division and a semester abroad at The Wharton School of Business. Originally from Peru, Juan Diego has long been passionate about using leadership for social impact, such as founding a social organisation that raised over $75K to deliver more than 183,000 meals to 2,000 families in the Peruvian community of Manchay. With leadership training from both King’s and Wharton, and experience within tech and media, he is eager to share how today’s graduates are shaping the future of leadership in an AI-driven world.
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Digital Disruption – How will emerging technologies redefine service delivery and guest engagement?
The Resurgence of Sustainability – How will environmental and social responsibility (again) become central to luxury value propositions?
Political Fragmentation – How will geopolitical shifts and regulatory divergence create new complexities for global operations?
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Understand how emerging technologies are transforming guest expectations and service models in luxury hospitality and events.
Evaluate the renewed importance of sustainability in shaping future luxury value propositions and brand loyalty.
Identify key leadership skills needed to navigate geopolitical complexity and drive innovation in a fragmented global landscape.
Primed to persuade: the hidden switch behind powerful marketing influence
Brought to you by Dr. Gillian Brooks, this session explores the science of priming - how subtle cues shape perception, influence decisions, and drive consumer behavior. You’ll see how brands use priming to build trust and appeal, learn practical applications, and examine the ethical boundaries of these techniques in today’s transparent marketing landscape.
LEADING WITHOUT BORDERS: INFLUENCE STRATEGIES THAT WIN IN GLOBAL AND COMPLEX MARKETS
Brought to you by Dr. Robyn Klinger-Vidra, this session examines the true value of corporate innovation, exploring its aims, tools, and measurement. You'll learn how to leverage external ideas through methods like accelerators, contests, and corporate VC, while applying clear KPIs and data-driven evaluation. Practical exercises will help you assess and strengthen your own innovation practices.
High-Performing Behaviours that Inspire, Align and Deliver Results
Brought to you by Dr. Mladen Adamovic, this session helps leaders in the luxury hospitality and events industry sharpen the behaviours and values that drive exceptional team performance and guest experience. Through interactive discussions and practical exercises, you'll leave with actionable insights to become a better leaders and to inspire your teams.
THE CROSS-GENERATIONAL LEADER: EMPOWERING BOOMERS TO GEN Z THROUGH ADAPTIVE INFLUENCE
Brought to you by Dr. Gillian Brooks, this session helps you bridge generational divides by adapting to diverse values, communication styles, and expectations. You’ll learn to tailor your approach, foster collaboration, and unlock the potential of multigenerational teams through empathy, adaptability, and inclusive leadership.
STRATEGIC INFLUENCE: HOW VISIONARY LEADERS THINK, DECIDE, AND SHAPE THE FUTURE
Brought to you by Dr. Dana Minbaeva, this session explores how leaders can navigate complexity through influence, bold decision-making, and strategic storytelling. You’ll learn to apply both-and thinking, manage competing demands, and use narrative to inspire, align, and transform their organisations.
EMPATHY MEETS AI: THE HUMAN ADVANTAGE IN THE AGE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
Brought to you by Dr. Alexandra Budjanovcanin, this session shows how emotionally intelligent leaders can harness AI while keeping hospitality human. You’ll explore the roles of people and technology, learn strategies to stay human-centred, and see how emotional intelligence helps balance AI’s risks and opportunities. You’ll also gain tools to drive innovation, purpose, guest experience, and workforce wellbeing.
MASTERCLASS SESSIONS
PLENARY SESSION
21 OCTOBER 2025
Power Across the Top: Architecting Executive Teams
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Dr. Marc Lepere
Marc is an Executive Fellow of Kings College London and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and serves as a visiting lecturer at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He is an Economics graduate of Trinity College, Dublin and holds a Master of Science degree from King’s. Marc has published in leading journals including Stanford Social Innovation Review, the Financial Times and Discovering Truth (series 1) which was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.
Professionally, Marc has been an employee, entrepreneur and social entrepreneur. In 2021, he founded ESGgen which builds on his doctoral research. ESGgen is a new online accounting platform, purpose built for SMEs. It is designed to make it easy, fast and affordable for SMEs to get annual, assured ESG data and accounts in line with International Accounting Standards (to complement financial accounts). Marc has served as Chief Marketing Officer for Havas Worldwide; Executive Vice President for McCann Erickson WorldGroup and Deputy Chairman of Dentsu in Europe, Middle East and Africa.
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As climate risks rapidly evolve into immediate operational and financial challenges, executive teams must lead with sharper alignment, faster response, and deeper strategic foresight
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Learn how climate risks are becoming operational and financial risks - faster than companies realise.
Discover how to protect long-term value from climate risks whilst addressing short-term financial pressures.
Understand how to manage teams to design, and deliver, well-designed sustainability initiatives that can enhance customer/guest experience and revenue, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and lower operating costs.
WORKSHOPS
20 - 21 OCTOBER 2025
Building psychological safety to manage wicked problems
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Dr. Marc Lepere & Dr. Gillian Brooks
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This workshop is designed to help hospitality/event CEOs, CFOs and GMs understand how hospitality investors, insurers, and lenders expect climate disclosures to meet the same standards as financial statements. By mapping risks and opportunities and working with a case study, executive learn how climate-related risks are reshaping business priorities and how well-architected teams can protect long-term value whilst addressing short-term financial pressures.
Understand how climate reporting is financial reporting
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Dr. Marc Lepere & Dr. Gillian Brooks
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This workshop is designed explicitly for hospitality/event team leaders responsible for delivering luxury guest experiences. Through practical exercises, individual reflection and group discussion team leaders learn strategies to manage wicked-problems by cultivating team trust, resilience, and performance without compromising guest experience.
SPEAKERS & PANELISTS