A leadership laboratory for womenLeading Consequential Work.
Women Igniting Leadership Lab is a place to practice leadership before the stakes are real.
Over six months, a small group of women work on the real challenges in front of them. They test new approaches, hear honest feedback, and refine what holds up under pressure. You leave with leadership you have actually practiced.
Who we work with
- The Clinton Foundation
- Trusted Doctors
- The Broad Institute of Harvard & MIT
- Columbia University
Spark Change
In the Lab, your leadership gets practiced, tested, and ignited.
You work the challenges that actually keep you up at night, until a new way of leading becomes second nature.
We provide immersive, practice-driven learning spaces powered by the lived wisdom of women leaders across sectors.
What we teach is grounded in frameworks and embodied - to transform the way you show up in moments that matter.
Why a laboratory?
We chose the word laboratory deliberately. Laboratories exist because some capabilities cannot be developed through theory alone. They require observation, experimentation, feedback, and repeated practice. We believe leadership deserves the same approach.
Most leadership training asks you to absorb ideas. The Lab asks you to test them - on your own challenges, with a cohort who will tell you the truth, until a new approach becomes something you can do when it counts.
“The faculty created a culture where I felt safe stepping out of the performance zone to try new leadership tools and approaches. That safety allowed me to experiment with more transparency and more compassion — and it turned out that was exactly what I needed most.”
Titles are adjusted and names withheld. Behind every quote is a real person, doing visible work, who deserves a protected space to reflect, reset, and grow.
The Method
How the Lab works
Every cycle in the Lab runs the same path: the 4As Journey™, the KS Insight development cycle for turning a leadership idea into behavior you can rely on under pressure.
Awareness
Bring a real leadership challenge, and notice how you default to handling it under pressure.
Ask
Test that default against honest feedback from your cohort and faculty. Find where your intent and your impact come apart.
Act
Run a small experiment. Try a new approach on the situation waiting for you at work.
Adapt
Come back with what happened, and refine the approach until it holds. Then practice it again.
Then you begin again, with the next challenge.
“The concept of diagnostic integrity really landed with me. That idea of hyper-objectivity — of being rigorous in how you define the real problem — is hard to do, but incredibly valuable.”
Your Journey
- 1Onboarding
- 2Pre-work
- 3Workshop 1: Foundations of Strategic Leadership
- 4Monthly Case Consultations
- 5Workshop 2: Skills for High Stakes Moments
- 6Self & Program Evaluation
Sessions
Every time we meet, in order.
Foundations of Strategic Leadership
November 5, 6 and 7, 2026
Three live virtual days. Step back to see the bigger picture, diagnose your live leadership challenge, and lay the groundwork for the months of practice ahead.
The Practice Cycle
December 2026 – April 2027
Monthly virtual case consultations. Bring what happened, test new approaches with your cohort and faculty, and refine them until they hold.
Skills for High Stakes Moments
April 2027 - two days
Two live virtual days to close the Lab. Practice the skills for visible, high-stakes leadership moments, when the spotlight is on and your voice must land.
The Three Capabilities You Build
These three capabilities build the mindset, the skill, and the support system required for leadership in high-stakes moments. Each offers a distinct entry point, and together they create a full arc of development.
Strategic Insight
In Foundations of Strategic Leadership you'll gain the perspective and tools to diagnose what’s really going on in complex systems. This helps you move beyond surface-level symptoms and make more intentional, adaptive choices. It is knowing which kind of work you are in - technical or adaptive - before you act.
Personal Mastery
In Manage Yourself, you'll take a deeper look at your own patterns and leadership style. This is where frameworks come alive in real time, supported by coaching and consultation, strengthening your ability to lead with clarity and composure. It is seeing your own defaults under pressure, and choosing your response instead of repeating it.
Presence Under Pressure
Skills for High-Stakes Moments equips you with the practical tools to show up powerfully when the stakes are high - whether in a boardroom, a crisis, or a negotiation. This module helps translate insight into visible, influential action. It is what lets you hold a room when the stakes are high and the outcome is not yet clear.
The Modules
Your Leadership Lab
The Lab runs in three modules. Each one puts the 4As Journey to work on a different part of your leadership.
Foundations of Strategic Leadership
Step back to see the bigger picture. Join a curated community of accomplished peers to build your capacity for strategic insight and systems thinking. This immersive experience sharpens your ability to diagnose complex leadership challenges and deepens your self-awareness - laying the groundwork for bold, adaptive leadership.
- Learn sophisticated adaptive leadership tools for navigating complexity
- Apply new insights to a live leadership challenge
- Build a foundation of peer connection and reflective practice
Manage Yourself
Sustain your leadership in the real world. In these monthly case consultations you’ll examine your patterns, test new approaches, and develop the internal capacity to lead with intention - even under pressure.
- Engage in guided group consultations with expert faculty
- Receive personal coaching on your leadership habits and blind spots
- Practice frameworks that support resilience and growth
Skills for High Stakes Moments
Show up powerfully when it matters most. In this Lab experience, you’ll hone the practical skills needed for visible, high-stakes leadership moments - when the spotlight is on, the stakes are high, and your voice must land.
- Master tools to calibrate your power and expand your influence
- Strengthen your leadership presence and gravitas
- Deepen your network of allies and peers
What You’ll Learn to Do
Notice when you are solving the wrong problem.
Recognize the patterns that repeat across different situations.
Read the political dynamics shaping a decision before you are in the room.
Stay strategic when the pressure to react is greatest.
Act before the situation is clear, without waiting for certainty that is not coming.
Match how you use your authority to what the moment needs.
Influence without relying on formal authority.
“I’ve done other executive programs that were intellectually useful. But this one stayed with me. It changed how I relate to stress and how I relate to others. It built insight, not just knowledge.”
The Lab - Virtual
The full cohort experience, delivered entirely online.
$7,000
$5,000 early bird
- The complete 6-month curriculum
- Live virtual cohort sessions and monthly case consultations
- The Insight assessments and structured work between sessions
These prices are partially sponsored by KS Insight, to give better access to women leaders, who are less often supported by their organizations in accessing leadership training.
Need-based support is available - please contact us if cost would prevent your participation.
The Next Cohort
November 2026 · Virtual
A small cohort · $7,000 · $5,000 early bird
Places are offered by nomination
To nominate a leader, contact us.
“The cohort you’re in and the support system you build here will definitely help me tackle bigger challenges more effectively. One of the biggest takeaways for me was forming relationships with people I wouldn’t normally connect with — and getting to know their struggles.”
Step into something new.
If our approach resonates, let’s have a conversation. A 15-minute call is all it takes to begin your leadership journey.
FAQs on the Lab