Our story
Traditional leadership mindsets, styles and ways of working are not suited to cope with the speed, volatility, complexity and ambiguity of our new operating environment. Leadership in these fast-moving times requires nothing less than a wholesale shift of our mental models, a step change in collaborative engagement and the ability to collectively envision the futures that we want to create. We need leadership that shapes and leads the changes underway with creativity, empathy and stewardship to get us to a level of solutions that matches the problems we face. Big ideas powered by big hearts. We call this Creative Leadership.
We gave our dream a name: THNK. Taking the “I” out of THNK gives us the humility and license to catalyze change without ego. THNK’s mission is to accelerate the development of creative leaders from across sectors to create ground-breaking solutions for the world’s most pressing challenges. We believe the best way to navigate and thrive in complexity is to be a continuous learner. As the American philosopher Eric Hoffer said, “In times of change, learners inherit the earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.”
THNK went live in March 2012. In the years following, THNK became a world-renowned school teaching leadership, innovation and system change through our flagship Executive Program and our tailor-made custom programs for companies and organizations around the world. THNK has built partnerships with esteemed educational organizations such as Stanford, Berkeley’s Haas School of Business and UCLA and with other high-profile organizations such as the World Economic Forum, Burning Man and the Museum of Tomorrow.
For THNK to achieve its mission, leaders in the geographies, sectors and demographics that determine the fate of the 21st century need support to amplify their reach and magnify their impact. In many cases, these leaders do not have the funds needed to participate in THNK’s programs. The THNK Foundation seeks to close this gap.