Brave Space Leadership Program

Leading When No One is in Charge

“It only takes one person to go out of their comfort zone to initiate something that everybody follows.” — Villars Fellow, St George’s International School, Switzerland

The Brave Space Program helps you navigate the messy ‘in‑between’: where no one has formal authority, agendas collide, and the context can quickly shift from complex to chaotic. Brave Space equips you to lead when no one is in charge but action is urgently needed.

Through a blend of virtual sessions and an immersive in-person experience, learn to center yourself, build trust fast, address issues where everyone else hesitates, and hold space for collaboration that drives change.

Apply by 13 March 2026

*Cohort limited to 18 participants

*2 day in-person meeting

Apply now

In a time of growing fragmentation, the leaders who make a difference are those who can build bridges amid uncertainty and lead from the ‘in-between’ — where authority is shared and outcomes are unpredictable. It’s the space where both the challenges and the responsibility for action are co-owned.

Brave Space Leadership develops your capacity to:

Center under pressure, leading from calm and presence rather than control.
Build trust and connection across diverse perspectives.
Create the conditions for collaboration and innovation to emerge.
Hold space for transformation, turning complexity into collective action.

You are asked to bring a challenge that helps you translate the learnings and apply it to your own context. The challenge requires the engagement from various actors, which you don’t have authority over. Together, we will test how the Brave Space practice can help you navigate that challenge and create the necessary energy around action

This program is designed for experienced professionals and change agents who find themselves leading across boundaries rather than within hierarchies. These are leaders who must influence without formal authority, align competing agendas, and mobilize others toward collective action.

It is particularly suited for:

Corporate leaders required to work across business units or sectors to drive change.
Leaders in international organizations, philanthropy, and civil society who must convene diverse stakeholders for impact.
Public sector and academic leaders navigating complexity and cross-institutional or cross-party collaboration.
Entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs building new ventures or partnerships for the common good.

All participants share one thing: they operate in contexts where control is not an option, yet leadership is urgently needed — and where success depends on their ability to hold space for collaboration rather than command it.

The program combines structured learning and lived experience: 4 virtual sessions (2.5 hours each), a 2 day in-person meeting, and a final reflective integration call.

Session 1 — Connection Before Coordination (virtual) Thursday, 16 April at 4pm CET (2.5 hours)

The work starts with connection, not action. How we meet each other shapes everything that follows. The human groundwork before any coordination.

Session 2 — Shape the Conditions for Collaboration I (virtual) Thursday, 30 April 2026 at 4pm CET (2.5 hours)

The conditions for collaboration can be designed and it starts with igniting shared purpose and collective energy.

Session 3 — Shape the Conditions for Collaboration II (virtual) Tuesday, 12 May 2026 at 4pm CET (2.5 hours)

The container determines what becomes possible. Boundaries create safety. Variety creates intelligence if chosen and held wisely.

In-Person Immersion (Gland, Switzerland) Tuesday, 19 - Thursday, 21 May 2026 (2 days)

The heart of the program. A full dive into leading in the in-between, where no one is in charge but leadership is needed. This part of the program is the pivot from understanding to embodiment.

Session 4 — End Well (virtual) Thursday, 4 June 2026 at 4pm CET (2.5 hours)

Every collaboration has an arc. Endings matter.

Post-Program Reflection (virtual) Thursday, 24 Sept 2026 at 4pm CET

A check-in several months later. Reflect on what changed, what endured, what fell away — and how Brave Space practices have integrated into daily leadership and the live case each person brought.

The fee for the Brave Space Program is CHF 4’900. The program fee includes accommodation (2 nights) and meals during the in-person immersion. Travel to and from Gland, Geneva is the participant’s responsibility.

Participants join small cohorts of six, forming circles of trust that provide a foundation for shared learning and open reflection. These circles often continue long after the program ends and serve as a peer network for mutual support, courage, and accountability.

Patrick Frick

Patrick has spent over 25 years convening and enabling large-scale collaboration across business, philanthropy, government, and civil society. He has helped build initiatives such as the Global Commons Alliance and the New Vision for Agriculture, and communities of practice such as The Value Web. Patrick is the initiator and curator of Brave Space and currently dedicates his time to writing a book titled Brave Space and to teaching and spreading its practice.

Alfredo Carlo

Alfredo is a designer and facilitator of collaborative processes, and a co-founder of Brave Space. For 17 years, he built and led Housatonic, a creative studio supporting leaders and organizations in navigating complexity and designing conditions for meaningful collaboration. He is the founder of No-Control, a Design and Art Factory focused on liberating creative energy and potential. His work is grounded in practice, bringing Brave Space principles into lived, real-world experience.

Zoe Tcholak-Antitch

Zoe holds the pen on all things written for Brave Space. She is a strategic communications expert with two decades of experience shaping narratives and crafting compelling messages together with, and across, diverse communities. Zoe co-founded Campaign Collective Global to provide bespoke strategic communications support to non-profit clients. She serves as an advisor to the UN Foundation, Global Optimism, and the Friends Provident Foundation's Shifting Cultural Perspectives grant stream. In previous roles Zoe was Communications Director of the Global Commons Alliance; Communications Director for the Mission 2020 campaign. She was the founder and director of CDP North America.

Michel Bachmann

Michel facilitates the co-creation of planetary communities – a practice he brings to Brave Space. He works with a variety of global networks such as the League of Intrapreneurs, Bioregional Weaving Labs and WWF to help grow community and cultivate a culture of genuine co-creation. Previously, Michel co-founded Impact Hub Zürich and led the transition of the global Impact Hub network towards a distributed organization with 100+ spaces across the world. He is a co-author of the Community Weaving Framework and brings an embodied dimension to his work through his practice as a contact dancer.

Brave Space Leadership Program