Pioneering the Future – Leadership Retreat for Life, Work and World Change

An opportunity to bring your most ambitious dreams, pioneering ideas and innovative actions into sharper focus.
About this Event

Cost $2650 for 3 days (early bird until August 31st) includes accommodations and food. Also see https://aspirecompanies.com/pioneer-retreat/ for more information.

A 3-day professional development retreat for women who are ready to create a new chapter, launch something extraordinary or lead bold innovation in the systems shaping their lives, careers, organisations and businesses.

An opportunity to bring your most ambitious dreams, pioneering ideas and innovative actions into sharper focus. Strengthen your leadership and step forward with clarity and confidence into a vision that has the power not only to transform your own life, but to influence the world around you.

Come with a project or calling that matters deeply to you. This might mean reinventing your life and career, becoming a driving force for innovation within your organisation, transforming corporate culture, contributing to advances in technology including AI and quantum innovation, revolutionising education, helping to end world poverty, advancing global health, reimagining climate solutions or something else, equally important to you.

Many leaders, consultants, academics, coaches and business owners who care deeply about change find themselves operating within systems that limit what is possible. Over time, this can narrow thinking and constrain ambition.

Retreats aren’t indulgent, they are a recovery, new perspective and reinvention strategy. We are often exhausted holding it all together - work, family, caring, people leading and more. Stepping away helps us return with clarity and to be more sustainable leaders of our lives.

Aspire retreats offer an inspiring space where you can think beyond immediate life and work pressures. A place to engage fully with what needs to change, without losing yourself in the process. This is not a typical retreat. It is not a wellness escape. This retreat is for people who care deeply about making a difference to other people and to the world. You can expect:

• A compelling vision & greater clarity on the change you want to see and the role you want to play within it.
• Imagination, new ideas, toolkits and insights to finally overcome internal and external challenges.
• Deep connections, advice sharing and collaborations with others who are working beyond individual success.
• Space to integrate leadership, joy, wellbeing and change in a way that supports your sustainable impact.
• Renewed energy and power to take meaningful action and create a plan to get going on your vision.

Held at Serra Retreat, a retreat and conference centre which provides the space, in a beautiful setting, for peace, serenity and reflection. Located between the mountains and the ocean in Malibu, California with stunning views.

While it was founded and is operated by Catholic Franciscan Friars, the 26-acre centre welcomes individuals and groups of all faiths and spiritual backgrounds. Serra Retreat invites you to move forward in your life, embodying Serra's famous statement: "Always go forward, never turn back."

Serra Retreat is a short distance from shops, restaurants and beaches. Malibu is considered to have some of the most perfect waves anywhere. Its quiet beaches are a magnet for surfers, locals and families, and in winter, an ideal place for spotting migrating gray whales.

The three days are structured to include coaching, reflective exercises, practical tools, networking, facilitated discussions, visualisations and action plans. No PowerPoints, no lectures. Integrated high level discussion and practical implementation.

There is also plenty of unstructured time to step outside to walk in the meditation gardens, explore the mountains, spend time by the ocean (Malibu Lagoon & Surfrider Beach), drink coffee or do some shopping (and perhaps drink a little wine) in Malibu, either solo or with new friends.

Accommodations are simple, meals are shared, conversations and lots of laughs will happen. Set within a retreat centre with a strong sense of stillness and spirituality, the experience will allow you actual time to think!

Participants from around the world, bringing a rich mix of experience, perspectives, ages and backgrounds, creating cross generational views and diversity of thought that naturally accelerates learning for everyone.The agenda will be shaped around you and the others in your group, informed by an extensive pre-retreat questionnaire. This will be combined with a small group environment, allowing for personalised coaching, intuitive insights, advice sharing and tailored exercises for your unique journey.Highly interactive, participants are encouraged to share their goals, dreams and biggest challenges. There is a "give and gain" philosophy where everyone offers ideas, help, encouragement or even contacts to others where they can. This will be a very special, powerful and intimate experience that will change you and the world!

Led by Dr Sam Collins, this retreat offers a rare opportunity to work closely with a pioneering social entrepreneur and leader in equality & systemic change, with 25 years of experience coaching women leaders to expand their impact, make transitions, find balance and lead with greater clarity and authenticity.

Founder and CEO of Aspire, Sam has worked globally with corporations, charities, professional service firms, entrepreneurs and leaders at the highest levels. Serious about change but never overly serious, Sam blends bold thinking, intuition and intellectual rigour with humour, warmth and pace.

She has been honoured by Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II as one of the Top 200 Women to Impact Business & Industry and featured as one of the Top 10 Coaches in the UK by The Sunday Times.

Day 1

🕑: 09:00 AM - 06:00 PM
December 8 - Day 1 "LIFE"

Info: Official start day to the retreat. The first day focuses on the part of leadership many people avoid because it is so close to home. We look at the mental, emotional and social patterns that quietly shape our work and our lives. The beliefs that drain our energy. The habits that keep us over stretched. The ways we may have learned to prove, over give or hold everything together without asking what it is costing us. We explore integrated health, vitality, sustainable performance and how we resource ourselves to hold ambition, love, laughter and joy at the same time. This day is about creating a stronger foundation for the life, work and world contribution you are here to make.

Day 2

🕑: 09:00 AM - 06:00 PM
Day 2 - "WORK"

Info: Your leadership, your future, your passions, your next move. The second day turns to your work, stepping into greater leadership, influence and visibility or recognising that you are at a turning point and need to think differently about your work and career future. We will figure out what that looks like, what is actually in the way and the gap between what you are capable of and what you are currently allowing. We will also ask bigger questions. Do you want to advance? Pivot? Build something new? Move into work that is more aligned with what matters most to you? This is where you get clearer on your direction and determine the decisions needed to move forward.

Day 3

🕑: 09:00 AM - 06:00 PM
Day 3 - 'WORLD"

Info: Official end day to the retreat. The final day widens the lens. We are living through a time of global complexity and fragility. We feel a deep pull towards change but do not always know how to translate that into action. Together, we explore the causes and issues that matter most to you, the future you will help shape and the practical role you can play within that. Not as a fantasy, not as a distant idea but something real, thoughtful and possible. The retreat ends with tangible plans, commitments and a knowing of how your life, work and world connect to the change you want to create. We will close with a fun time of celebration drinks and food at Cafe Habana in Malibu.