by Katarina Billing, MiL Institute

How do we develop managers that lead with the end in mind?

Lars Cederholm, MiL Senior Partner, was also this year’s Dilworth Award recipient for ”Outstanding professional achievement in the field of Executive Education and Action Learning”.


This was one of the many challenging questions raised at the start of The 17th Global Forum on Action Learning in Yokohama. The theme of the year is: ”Global Leadership: Greater Understanding, Sharing and Solidarity”. Present in Yokohama were a team of representatives from MiL Institute, consisting of Katarina Billing, Jonas Janebrant and Lars Cederholm hosting a seminar on ”Action Reflection Learning and Leveraging the Space In-Between”.

One of many noteworthy contributors was General Electric’s Senior HRM Asia Pacific, Nina Nijs Dankfort, who shared GE’s way of working with Action Learning and Business Driven Leadership Development. For Nina Nijs Dankfort, one of the objectives of their development initiatives is for the leaders to realize that one of their tasks is to leave a real legacy behind. This, at a conference, taking place in a country where the Fukushima accident still has an immense impact on the nation and its people. Sustainability issues are really at the core in Japan, presently struggling with a shortage of energy of at least 30 % .

One of the most thought provoking moments of the conference, was Unilever’s Jacqueline Yew’s seminar on ”Common Dilemmas of Executive Development”, where for example the term VUCA-world was introduced. A Volatile world of Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity. That is the environment where the leaders will have to be able to lead today in Asia and elsewhere. Looking at the first follower and not only at the leader was one of her recipes for leadership development.

It has been four days with lots of concern for our common future and for the great tasks that are in front of us which need to be led, and that there are no perfect solutions more like a lot of really demanding questions.

The Shunmyo Masuno, Zen Priest at the Kenjio Temple and a renowned Landscape architect really captivated it beautifully at the session in the lush Japanese Sankeien Garden: If we seek for perfection where will spirituality and humanity find its place?