Cultivating Leadership, a global organisation renowned for its work in leadership development, is set to enter India through a joint venture with The Core Questin, a Delhi-headquartered consulting firm. Since 2020, The Core Questin has worked with Indian and global organisations to help leaders and teams thrive in an increasingly complex world.
Cultivating Leadership, a certified B Corporation, is celebrated for its groundbreaking expertise in adult development and complexity. This partnership aims to bring Cultivating Leadership’s globally tested tools and approaches to Indian organisations, supported by its extensive community of coaches, advisors and facilitators worldwide.
Highlights of the collaboration include-
A new company will be established in India, trading and operating under the name Cultivating Leadership.
Keith Johnston (Cultivating Leadership) and Shweta Anand Arora (The Core Questin) will jointly serve as nominated Directors of the India venture, supported by the global and India leadership teams.
This venture will provide clients with leadership experiences, tools and frameworks grounded in rigorous theory, and tested through Cultivating Leadership’s work with global organisations. It will also bring access to the expertise and knowledge of 90+ coaches, advisors and facilitators from the Cultivating Leadership community across Australia, New Zealand, North America, Europe and the Middle East.
India as a diverse and complex market, presents unique opportunities. By combining The Core Questin’s extensive experience within the Indian C-Suite with Cultivating Leadership’s proven global capabilities this partnership strengthens its ability to address challenges unique to the Indian context.
2020 marked a milestone in the ongoing conversation around complexity. Even as early as 2021, an EY survey of global board directors revealed a stark reality: 87% of respondents agreed that “market disruptions have become increasingly frequent,” and 83% agreed that “market disruptions have become increasingly impactful”. Yet, only about half (52%) of these respondents felt their companies were effective at “understanding how different risks are interconnected”. Events like the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine, and rising socio-political tensions demonstrated that even the best-laid plans can falter when confronted with unforeseen realities. The World Economic Forum’s Global Risk Report 2024 underscores this, highlighting climate, conflict, and rapid technological shifts amidst economic uncertainty as continued risks. While the challenges are undeniable, they also carry a profound invitation: to reimagine leadership for a complex world. Leaders equipped to embrace uncertainty and interconnectedness can turn disruption into opportunity – rallying teams around a shared purpose, fostering resilience, and shaping a more adaptive, inspired future.
This is where the collaboration between Cultivating Leadership and The Core Questin becomes invaluable. Leaders need a whole new set of skills and ways of being, to meet the demands of today’s world- skills that help them navigate external complexity and unpredictability, while also managing the internal discomfort of not having complete control. Cultivating Leadership brings a deep understanding of rigorous theories in adult development and complexity, combined with global experience in applying these to real-world and client contexts. From this foundation, Cultivating Leadership has developed a toolkit that empowers business leaders to tackle problems through a sense-making lens – one that is better suited to complexity and unpredictability than typical problem-solving methods. By combining this expertise with The Core Questin’s profound knowledge of the Indian market, organisations can position themselves to not just navigate complexity, but to thrive in it.
Shweta Anand Arora, CEO of The Core Questin
Reflecting on this collaboration, Shweta Anand Arora, CEO of The Core Questin, stated, “This partnership marks a pivotal moment for leadership development in India. Over the past four years, we’ve observed that while the Indian market stands on the brink of significant economic growth, this is coming at a cost. We are asking so much of our leaders – delivering growth and profit, while managing the diverse expectations and dynamics of an inter-generational workforce, learning how to embrace and leverage tectonic shifts in technology, and dealing with external events that continue to create uncertainty. None of this is easy, and often the tools leaders have learned and that have served them so well in dealing with complicated problems – are just not sufficient here. We were excited to discover the work of Cultivating Leadership and to now bring it to India – not only because it is new and cutting-edge, but because it offers hope for leaders. It shows how we can grow ourselves to deal with all of this complexity – in very concrete and practical ways. We are looking forward to engaging with leaders and organisations through this work – that has the potential to empower them to deal with today’s complexities with greater ease and joy! “
Jennifer Garvey Berger Co-founder & CEO Cultivating Leadership
Elaborating on their decision to enter the Indian market, Jennifer Garvey Berger, Co-founder and CEO of Cultivating Leadership, remarked, “Around the world, leaders see India as a key frontier for growth-a place full of possibility, whether they’re entering the market for the first time or expanding their presence. But India’s rich cultural diversity and vibrant complexity require a thoughtful, tailored approach. Partnering with The Core Questin, we’re excited to explore this dynamic space together, creating experiences that help Indian leaders and global organisations not just navigate this complexity, but thrive within it.”
As the joint venture is finalized in the next month, Director Keith Johnston will travel to India at the end of November to engage in strategic discussions and chart the path forward. Looking ahead, members of the Cultivating Leadership community, including Jennifer Garvey Berger, will join the team in India in February 2025. Together, they will focus on alignment and host a roadshow to connect both existing and potential clients.
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