The Leadership Shift at Scale

The Leadership Shift at Scale

Facilitators:
Jacqueline O'Sullivan, Consultant, Egon Zehnder, Amalia Grobler, Consultant, Egon Zehnder

Sponsor:
‍Egon Zehnder

A business can only scale so far before the leaders have to scale too.

What begins as a highly personal endeavour, built through determination, customer intimacy, and the ability to make countless decisions every day, eventually demands a different kind of leadership. As organisations grow, complexity increases, teams expand, and the stakes become higher. The challenge is no longer simply building the business; it is evolving alongside it.

For many founders and CEOs, this is the defining leadership transition: moving from being at the centre of everything to creating the conditions for others to succeed. Learning when to step in and when to step back. Preserving the entrepreneurial spirit that fuelled early success while building the structures, teams, and capabilities needed for the next stage of growth.

This event brings together female founders, CEOs, and leadership experts from Egon Zehnder for an open and candid conversation about the realities of leadership at scale. Drawing on experience advising founders and executives through periods of growth, transformation, and succession, we will explore how leaders navigate the transition from founder to enterprise leader while remaining authentic to themselves and their vision.

Through shared experiences and peer dialogue, we will discuss the practical and personal challenges that emerge as businesses grow: delegating decisions that once sat with you, building leadership teams that can carry greater responsibility, navigating increasingly complex relationships with boards and investors, and managing the tensions that arise as organisations mature.

Designed as an intimate and interactive discussion, the session will create space for reflection, honest conversation, and the opportunity to learn from others facing many of the same challenges.

Themes we will explore

• The founder's evolution: from hands-on operator to strategic leader
• Scaling yourself as your company scales
• Building leverage through others: delegation, empowerment, and leadership team development
• Knowing what to hold on to, and what to let go of
• Navigating the increasing demands of boards, investors, and executive teams
• Balancing entrepreneurial energy with the discipline required for sustainable growth
• Working on the business rather than in it
• Managing competing priorities and trade-offs as organisational complexity grows

Designed for Boardwave's female leaders, this session offers an opportunity to step back from the day-to-day, connect with peers, and reflect on one of the most important questions in leadership:

How do you continue to evolve as the company you built evolves around you?