Five Masterclass interactive leadership sessions planned for 2023

Airmic is planning a series of five masterclasses for 2023. The two-hour interactive breakfast-style sessions will be free to attend for Airmic members.

Targeted at those in senior positions, the Masterclass Series is open to all Airmic members including those who want to develop essential leadership behaviours early.

Held in person at distinctive London venues, each masterclass will be led by a panel of leading speakers, in addition to providing networking opportunities.

The events are designed to offer members a deep dive into key leadership themes, through a risk and insurance lens, focused on the current and future business environment.

Masterclass One is titled, ‘The Economics of Now and The Future - Leading in Uncertain Times’, set for at 9-11am on 29 March.

Professor Michael Smets, Professor of Management, Fellow at Green Templeton College, University of Oxford, is already confirmed as a speaker for the first Masterclass. His bio follows below.

Adam Ireland, Airmic’s head of learning, said: “As domestic economies continue to grapple with the far-reaching international impacts of energy supply challenges, inflation, subdued growth forecasts, tight financial conditions, and threats of recession, leading organisations through such turbulent times is a challenge facing all leaders.

“Hear from economics and leadership experts as they debate the current economic landscape and how it can best be negotiated, future economic trends, the leadership competencies required to prosper, and the key risk management challenges for organisations,” Adam said.

The first Masterclass event takes place at the Royal Society of Medicine’s Naim Dangoor Auditorium, 1 Wimpole Street, London W1G 0AE. Venues will vary for each masterclass.

The full list of Masterclass 2023 topics, dates and details for how to attend, can be found on the Airmic website, here.

More about Professor Michael Smets

For almost 20 years, Michael has been studying, developing and advising many of the world’s leading professional and financial firms and their leaders. He has worked with globally recognized firms such as Freshfields, EY, Arcadis, BearingPoint and Lloyd’s of London as well as industry bodies such as the Financial Conduct Authority and the International Bar Association.

Michael is globally recognized for his pioneering research on leadership and the management of professional service firms. At Oxford Said, Michael is the Director of the Oxford Leading Professional Service Firm Programme and leads a faculty cluster specialising in the management of professional service firms. His own focus is on accelerating expert leaders in transitioning from technical into leadership roles. This encompasses personal, team and client leadership skills, as well as innovation, internationalization and transformation.

In their 2019 Radar list of management scholars to watch, Thinkers50 listed Michael as the “up and coming voice in leadership”. In 2016 he was ranked as one of the best ’40 under 40’ business school professors worldwide. He also won the 2012 Best Paper Award of the Academy of Management Journal, one of the most highly ranked journals in the field. His research has appeared in leading management journals and has been covered by Harvard Business Review, the Financial Times, Forbes, Bloomberg, CNN, CNBC, the Guardian and other international media outlets.

Michael holds the equivalent of a BA from Cologne University in Germany and a Master’s and Doctoral degree from the university of Oxford. He is an editorial board member of the Journal of Professions and Organizations, an advisory board member of the German Business Law Magazine and a founding member of the German Fee Council. He is a fellow of the Higher Education Academy and the Royal Society of Arts.