London Summit 2026
London Summit 2026
2 November • Guildhall, London
Celebrating 25 Years of Thinkers50
At the heart of the Summit, a simple equation
For one extraordinary day, the Summit brings together the world’s foremost management thinkers and leaders to challenge assumptions, spark fresh ideas, and shape the future of leadership.
Follow up the discussion the next afternoon in a smaller group Deep Dive session.
Insights from some of the world’s foremost management thinkers and business leaders, with practical applications built around the decisions you are actually facing. You’ll leave with fewer uncertainties and better answers.
Members of the Thinkers50 Ranking and Leaders50; recipients of Thinkers50 Distinguished Achievement Awards and broader Thinkers50 Community; bestselling authors, speakers, academics, and exceptional leaders. The audience is curated to just 700 seats, with tickets only via application.
The 2026 London Summit returns to the city’s iconic Guildhall for a special anniversary celebrating 25 years of Thinkers50, featuring an exciting new addition: the inaugural Leaders50 Awards Gala.
Financial Times
Member of the inaugural Leaders50; Executive Chair, Sahel Group; co-founder, Wealth4Impact.
Ndidi Okonkwo Nwuneli is an entrepreneur and business leader with 30 years’ experience in agriculture and food systems, consumer goods, strategic consulting, and philanthropy. She has worked extensively across Africa, driving business growth, shaping policies, and galvanizing the next generation of leaders through her roles as founder of LEAP Africa and African Food Changemakers, and co-founder of Sahel Consulting, AACE Foods, and Wealth4Impact.
Ndidi recently served as the President/CEO of ONE, overseeing teams in the US, Europe, Canada, and Africa, galvanizing billions in investment to ensure healthier lives and economic opportunities in Africa. She started her career as a management consultant with McKinsey.
Thinkers50 Ranked Thinker and 2019 Leadership Award; author of Impact Players and Multipliers; lectures at Stanford University.
A Thinkers50 Ranked Thinker since 2013 and recipient of the 2019 Leadership Award, Liz Wiseman is CEO of the Wiseman Group, a leadership research and talent development firm, and lectures at Stanford University.
Liz is a prolific researcher into leadership. Her bestselling books include Impact Players: How to Take the Lead, Play Bigger, and Multiply Your Impact (Harper Business 2021), and Multipliers; How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter (Harper Business, 2017). A former executive at Oracle, where she served as VP of Oracle University, Liz teaches leadership to top organisations including tech giants, entertainment platforms, and global airlines.
Thinkers50 Ranked Thinker; New York Times Best Selling author of Hustle & Float; executive director of the Red Thread Institute of Digital Culture.
Thinkers50 Ranked Thinker and executive director of the Red Thread Institute of Digital Culture, Rahaf Harfoush is a member of France’s National Digital Council. She formerly served on President Macron’s commission on the impact of AI and Democracy and was the associate director of the Technology Pioneer Program at the World Economic Forum.
Strategist and digital anthropologist, Rahaf is the author of Hustle & Float: Reclaim Your Creativity and Thrive in a World Obsessed with Work (Diversion Books, 2019) and Yes We Did: An Inside Look at How Social Media Built the Obama Brand (New Riders Pub, 2009). She is also co-author of Gold Axiom Winner The Decoded Company: Know Your Talent Better Than You Know Your Customers (Portfolio, 2014). Rahaf was recently named to the UN High Level Advisory for AI.
Senior advisor to the IKEA Foundation; former CEO/President of Ingka Group, IKEA.
Senior advisor to the IKEA Foundation, chair of The Earthshot Prize and The B Team, and vice chair of the UN Global Compact, Jesper Brodin is former CEO/President of Ingka Group, IKEA.
As CEO of Ingka Group, Jesper led two major transformations, driving its digital evolution and embedding sustainability at its core. A powerful voice for responsible business, he is passionate about contributing to people and planet-positive development and values-based leadership. Having joined IKEA in the mid-1990s, Jesper was appointed CEO in 2017, re-shaping the company into an omnichannel retailer with a conscience.
Thinkers50 Ranked Thinker; author of The Culture Map and No Rules Rules (with Reed Hastings); INSEAD professor.
A Thinkers50 Ranked Thinker and recipient of the 2021 Talent Award (with Reed Hastings) and the 2015 Radar Award, Erin Meyer is a professor of management practice at INSEAD.
Erin is the author of The Culture Map: Breaking Through the Invisible Boundaries of Global Business (Public Affairs, 2014) and co-author with Reed Hastings of No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention (Penguin Press, 2020). She helps leaders navigate cultural differences, build more adaptable, innovative organisations, and collaborate effectively across borders.
SVP, CTO, and President, Honeywell Connected Enterprise.
As CTO of Honeywell, Suresh Venkatarayalu leads the core engines driving the company’s innovation agenda, overseeing its global technology strategy, connected solutions, and software business. As the president of Honeywell Connected Enterprise, he oversees the full software lifecycle. Suresh also leads Honeywell’s Software Transformation Initiative and spearheads ecosystem partnerships across AI platforms, cloud hyperscalers, and edge computing.
Thinkers50 #7 Ranked Thinker; co-author of Move Fast & Fix Things with Frances Frei; founder of The Leadership Consortium.
Thinkers50 #7 Ranked Thinker, Anne Morriss is founder of The Leadership Consortium, a first-of-its-kind leadership accelerator that works to build inclusive executive teams and prepare emerging leaders for leadership.
Together with her co-author, Frances Frei, Anne is author of Move Fast & Fix Things: The Trusted Leader’s Guide to Solving Hard Problems (HBR Press, 2023) – a Thinkers50 Best New
Management Book for 2024; Unleashed: The Unapologetic Leader’s Guide to Empowering Everyone and You (HBR Press, 2020); and Uncommon Service (HBR Press, 2012). Anne and Frances are hosts of the Fixable podcast.
Thinkers50 #9 Ranked Thinker; author of Deep Purpose and How To Be Bold; Harvard Business School professor.
The Paul R. Lawrence MBA Class of 1942 Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, Ranjay Gulati is #9 in the Thinkers50 Ranking.
An award-winning organisational sociologist listed by The Economist and Financial Times as a top business school scholar for management practice, Ranjay’s books include Deep Purpose: The Heart and Soul of High-performance Companies (Harper Business, 2022) – a Thinkers50 Best New Management Book 2022 – and How To Be Bold: The Surprising Science of Everyday Courage (Harper Business, 2025) – a Thinkers50 Best New Management Book for 2026.
Senior VP and Chair for IBM Europe, Middle East, North Africa and Asia Pacific.
Senior VP and Chair for IBM Europe, Middle East, North Africa and Asia Pacific, Ana Paula Assis leads operations across more than 170 countries and is the brain behind IBM’s hybrid cloud.
An internationally recognised technology leader, Ana Paula champions initiatives focused on sustainable innovation, responsible AI, and large-scale skills development. As a committed advocate for diversity and inclusion, she promotes the impact of multicultural teams and equitable access to technology. Her leadership has also played a key role in strengthening ecosystem partnerships, scaling AI-driven offerings, and guiding clients through complex modernization efforts.
Member of the inaugural Leaders50; CEO, Visma.
A member of the inaugural Leaders50, Merete Hverven is CEO of Visma, one of Europe’s leading technology companies and among the world’s largest female-led tech firms.
At Visma, Merete champions a flat organisational culture, encouraging openness and transparency from leadership downwards, fostering a collaborative, inclusive environment. Under her leadership, Visma has achieved remarkable growth financially and as an employer, with employee engagement placing in the top 5% of the tech industry. Prior to her appointment as CEO in 2020, Merete was Deputy CEO and Chief HR Officer, a role she took on in 2011.
President & CEO, GE Appliances
President and CEO of GE Appliances, Kevin Nolan is a seasoned engineer with a career at GE and GE Appliances spanning 35 years, including 10 as Chief Technology Officer.
A passionate innovator, in 2014 he launched the open co-creation global community FirstBuild, based in Louisville, Kentucky and in 2023 he opened CoCreate in Stamford Connecticut, a manufacturing and design playground for the community. As CEO of GE since its acquisition by Haier in 2016, Kevin has led the company through a major transformation from traditional appliances manufacturer to an innovative, tech-driven, customer-focused business.
Thinkers50 Ranked Thinker, author of Proximity, Outthink the Competition, and Driving Innovation From Within; founder of Outthinker.
A Thinkers50 Ranked Thinker, Kaihan Krippendorff is the founder of global strategy and innovation think-tank Outthinker. A former McKinsey consultant and bestselling author, Kaihan’s books include Proximity: How Coming Breakthroughs in Just-In-Time Transform Business, Society, and Daily Life (with Robert C. Wolcott, 2024), Outthink the Competition: How Innovative Companies and Strategists See Options Others Ignore (2022), and Driving Innovation From Within: A Guide for Internal Entrepreneurs(2019). Kaihan is the host of the Outthinker podcast, the Chief Strategy Officer Podcast, and Strategy at Scale Podcast.
Executive Vice President and Chief People, Policy & Purpose Officer, Cisco.
Francine Katsoudas is Executive Vice President and Chief People, Policy & Purpose Officer at Cisco, where she leads a global team spanning People & Communities, Social Impact & Sustainability, Government Affairs, 3P Technology Office, Cisco Learning, and Cisco’s Digital Impact Office.
Francine’s work advances Cisco’s mission: to power an inclusive future for all. Her leadership on critical policy and social issues has forged strategic public-private partnerships addressing some of the world’s most pressing concerns. As a board member of ADP, she helps businesses create fair and efficient workplaces, and as chair of Global Citizen, she campaigns for the end of extreme poverty.
Thinkers50 Ranked Thinker, author of Never Lead Alone, Competing in the New World of Work, Leading without Authority, and Never Eat Alone.
A Thinkers50 Ranked Thinker, Keith Ferrazzi is founder and CEO of Ferrazzi Greenlight. He has coached the transformation fortune 500 corporations, the World Bank, fast-growth Unicorns, and governments.
His books include Never Lead Alone: 10 Shifts from Leadership to Teamship (Harper Business, 2024); Competing in the New World of Work (HBR Press, 2022); Leading Without Authority (Crown Currency, 2020); Never Eat Alone (Crown Currency, updated 2014); and Who’s Got Your Back (Crown Currency, 2009). Keith’s work has been published widely, including in the Harvard Business Review, Wall Street Journal, and Fortune.
fast forward
Three questions run throughout the London Summit:
Purpose
How can leaders stay grounded in purpose when everything around them is shifting?
Technology
How can we harness the power of technology while keeping humanity at the centre?
Talent
Where will the next generation of talent come from and how can we nurture it?
At a time of accelerating technological change and increasing fragmentation, leaders face a fundamental question: how do we make sense of a rapidly reshaping world — and act with clarity within it?
The Thinkers50 London Summit brings together leading thinkers and practitioners to explore three forces shaping the future of organisations: purpose, technology, and talent. Across a day of ideas, dialogue, and connection, the Summit creates space for leaders to challenge assumptions, exchange perspectives, and build new relationships.
host
Recipient of the Thinkers50 2023 Radar Award; professor at Ross School of Business, University of Michigan.
Recipient of the Thinkers50 2023 Radar Award and clinical professor at Ross School of Business, University of Michigan, Marcus Collins spent many years in marketing as an advertising executive, most recently as head of strategy at Wieden+Kennedy, New York.
Marcus leverages his scholarly work with his corporate career to bridge the academic-practitioner gap. He researches how cultural trends spread and influence our purchasing behaviours, organisational dynamics, and society. He is the author of For the Culture: The Power Behind What We Buy, What We Do, And Who We Want To Be (PublicAffairs, May 2023) – a Thinkers50 Best New Management Book in 2023.
Celebrating the Thinkers50 Best New Management Books for 2026
New to the Thinkers50 London Summit this year is an exciting new addition: the Thinkers50 Studio, brought to you by Kyndryl.
Featuring interviews and discussions with select authors, the Studio will come to life during breaks from the main program in the Great Hall and will provide a more informal setting for debate, discussion, and learning.
There will also be opportunities to collect signed copies!
host
Recipient of the Thinkers50 Innovation Award 2025; host and creator of The Innovation Show podcast.
Recipient of the Thinkers50 Innovation Award 2025, Aidan McCullen is the creator and host of The Innovation Show podcast and author of Undisruptable: A Mindset of Permanent Reinvention for Individuals, Organisations and Life (Wiley, 2021).
Aidan is a former Ireland international and professional rugby union player whose second career has been spent helping organisations reinvent themselves before the market reinvents them. An international speaker, his work spans the full innovation stack, from the neuroscience of creativity to the psychology of change – and the strategy and operating models organisations need to thrive in the AI era.
for Awards Gala ticket holders
The evening celebrates Leaders50, Thinkers50’s biennial recognition of outstanding leadership in practice.
Selected by the world’s leading management thinkers, the Leaders50 highlights 50 exceptional leaders whose ideas, decisions, and actions are shaping organisations and society.
At the London Gala, the new Leaders50 list will be revealed, alongside the presentation of the Leaders50 Awards, recognising individuals whose leadership stands out for its impact, innovation, and influence.
Co-host
Member of the Thinkers50 Ranking; associate fellow at Saïd Business School and professor at Hult International Business School.
An associate fellow at Saïd Business School, Oxford, and an adjunct professor of leadership and dialogue at Hult International Business School, Megan Reitz is a member of the Thinkers50 Ranking.
Megan’s research and practice focuses on how we can flourish in our workplace through the way we speak with, listen to, learn from, and care for one another. Her books include Speak Out, Listen Up: How to have conversations that matter (FT Publishing, 2024); Speak Up: Say what needs to be said and hear what needs to be heard (FT Publishing, 2019); and Mind Time: How 10 mindfulness minutes can enhance your work, health & happiness (Harper Thorsons, 2018).
In launching the Leaders50, our hope was to bring the world’s inspirational leaders closer to the brilliant thinkers of our Community. We are therefore thrilled that Leaders50 honouree Kenneth McGrath, CEO of the Lidl Group, will join Martin Lindstrom (Thinkers50 Ranking) on stage at the inaugural Leaders50 Awards Gala to announce an exciting new initiative. Stay tuned to find out what happens when thinkers and leaders come together to create impact!
Member of the inaugural Leaders50; CEO, Lidl.
CEO of grocery giant Lidl since 2021, Kenneth McGrath previously led the company’s Ireland division from 2009 to 2013, before becoming the chain’s first US CEO. He left Lidl in 2015 to join telecommunications company Digicel, and in 2017 was appointed CEO of Save-A Lot, where he oversaw a rapid transformation of the business, helping set it on a path to renewed growth.
Since returning to lead Lidl, Kenneth has driven an efficiency program, streamlining the management team and sharpening the company’s focus on the customer. This has included creating a unified customer division to deliver a more consistent shopping experience across online and physical stores, as well as introducing a single country board.
Thinkers50 Ranked Thinker; founder and chairman of the Lindstrom company.
A Thinkers50 Ranked Thinker and international branding expert, Martin Lindstrom is the founder and chairman of the Lindstrom company.
A high-profile speaker and New York Times best-selling author, his books have been translated into 60 languages and include The Ministry of Common Sense: How to Eliminate Bureaucratic Red Tape, Bad Excuses, and Corporate BS (2021); Small Data: The Tiny Clues That Uncover Huge Trends (2017); Brandwashed: Tricks Companies Use to Manipulate Our Minds and Persuade Us to Buy (2011); Buyology: Truth and Lies About Why We Buy (2008); and Clicks, Bricks & Brands (with Don Peppers and Martha Rogers, 2002).
Following the 2025 Thinkers50 London Summit & Awards Gala, one message came through loud and clear from the feedback: a desire for more space for discussion, exchange, and deeper exploration of the themes shaping leadership today.
In response, we are launching a brand new series of Deep Dive Sessions, developed in partnership with leading organisations and institutions across London. These will take place on Tuesday 3 November 2026.
Tickets are available only by application. Curating the audience is how we shape the quality of the conversation at Guildhall and in the breaks around it, and it’s why the person beside you is worth knowing.
To guarantee the intimacy and exclusivity Thinkers50 London Summit & Leaders50 Awards Gala attendees have come to expect in one of the most iconic venues in London, tickets are available only by application. Curating the audience in this way will help to shape the nature of the conversation and provide the best networking opportunities for participants.
£1,200.00 + VAT per person
Daytime London Summit access only. Excludes the evening Leaders50 Awards Gala.
£1,500.00 + VAT per person
Daytime London Summit access plus the evening Leaders50 Awards Gala.
The Leaders50 Awards Gala is officially sold out.
Tickets may be cancelled within 30 days of application, up until 30 September 2026. All cancellations must be in writing to events@thinkers50.com. Tickets may be transferred upon request, providing the new name and contact details are emailed to Thinkers50 no later than 30 September. However, the person or organisation liable for payment of the ticket may not be changed. All tickets are strictly non-refundable and non-transferable within 30 days of the event.
Address: 71 Basinghall Street, London EC2V 7HH
Nearest tube: Bank, Moorgate, St Paul’s
Doors: arrive by 08:45
Dress: business casual, black tie for the Gala
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