How should leaders act in a world defined by constant transformation?
Amid accelerating geopolitical, technological, environmental and societal transformations, traditional leadership models are showing their limits. More than ever, organisations need leaders capable of understanding complexity, acting with discernment, and sustaining long-term momentum.
Against this backdrop, ESCP Business School, the Fondation Prospective & Innovation, and the École du Leadership de Paris held the 2nd edition of the Leadership Forum on 8 April 2026. In partnership with L’Express, the event convened scholars, senior executives, and public decision-makers around the theme: Leadership & Business Transformation.
he speed of current and future change makes leadership a discipline of mobilising our thinking and our attitudes.
Former French Prime Minister and President of the Fondation Prospective & Innovation (FPI)
Jean-Pierre Raffarin, former French Prime MinisterAn initiative to connect business, public and academic leaders
This event builds on a dynamic launched in May 2025 with the Forum’s first edition, and continued through two workshops organised by the École du Leadership de Paris in November 2025 and February 2026. It reflects a long-term approach designed to foster dialogue between public decision-makers, business leaders, researchers and students.
“Leadership is built through action and dialogue,” emphasised Henri Giscard d’Estaing, President of the École du Leadership de Paris.
In discussions led by Jean-Pierre Raffarin and Henri Giscard d’Estaing, several key themes emerged across the Forum:
- The transformation of major institutions, with Philippe Wahl reflecting on how an organisation like La Poste evolves over time
- The role of leaders in an algorithm-driven world, with voices from BlaBlaCar, Schneider Electric and Thales questioning what human leadership means when technology “seems to decide”
- The challenges of public leadership in times of transformation, addressed by Jean-François Copé in dialogue with ESCP students
- Leadership as a collective lever for engagement, bringing together perspectives from business, the military, entrepreneurship and sport to explore how leadership can be shared and activated at all levels
This discussion highlighted the richness of dialogue between academic insight and professional experience—two forces shaping “the leadership of the future.”
Advancing research and education in leadership and transformation
On this occasion, ESCP Business School also announced the creation of the “Leadership & Business Transformation” Chair, supported by the ESCP Foundation and led by Professor Maria Koutsovoulou, with the aim of structuring research and teaching on these issues.
“Training leaders today means equipping them with the tools to understand the complexity of the world and to act concretely in transforming environments,” said Léon Laulusa, Executive President and Dean of ESCP Business School.
With this second edition, the Leadership Forum confirms its ambition: to establish a long-term platform for rigorous reflection, capable of fostering new leadership models that are responsible, embodied, and grounded in the realities of contemporary transformation.
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