๐๐ถ๐๐ฒ ๐๐ฎ๐๐ ๐ถ๐ป ๐ก๐ฎ๐ถ๐ฟ๐ผ๐ฏ๐ถ: ๐ช๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ฝ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ป๐ ๐ช๐ต๐ฒ๐ป ๐๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ ๐๐ฒ๐ฎ๐๐ฒ ๐ง๐ต๐ฒ๐ถ๐ฟ ๐๐ผ๐บ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ ๐ญ๐ผ๐ป๐ฒ
There's research on what changes in a leader who spends a week among people they'd never otherwise meet. It's worth reading, but it can't show you what that looks like on the ground. This July, we found out: 32 Aiducation alumni and 7 executive coaches, one room, one shared question how do I lead with purpose? led by Dr. Anke Houben and Dr. Kai W. Dierke.
Monday opened with strangers and a single assignment: find your purpose, by Friday.
Tuesday brought the first real insight, purpose isn't picked off a shelf. It comes out of your own life, the hard parts and the parts you're proud of. Groups spent the day exploring what shaped them, closing with a visit from Academy alumni who shared how their own purpose has played out since.
Wednesday was about blind spots. Everyone can name a strength. Fewer can spot the moment it turns against them, when confidence becomes pressure, or determination becomes rigidity. Participants named their strengths, then let their groups fire-test them. By now, strangers from Monday could place each other: who goes quiet under pressure, who pushes too hard, who tells the truth.
Thursday got harder still. You can know your pattern precisely and still repeat it the second an email lands badly. Insight alone doesn't change behaviour, so the group shifted from reflection to calibration, working out which behaviours to lean on and which need more room.
Friday closed the week with dancing, big smiles, and honest conversation that would have felt impossible five days earlier. One coach called it a journey back to parts of herself she'd nearly forgotten. Everyone left with a personal statement of purpose, one sentence to return to when the way forward feels unclear.
Watching a group arrive as individuals and leave as a community is what this week is really about: you grow by helping others grow.
A heartfelt thank-you to Dr. Anke Houben and Dr. Kai W. Dierke, the Aiducation International Kenya team, and every coach and participant. Asante sana. ๐ฑ
The next cohort runs in May 2027. If you know someone who might be a fit, an alumni, a coach, anyone ready to do this kind of work, we'd love an introduction.