Take Your Lead

A Residency for Experienced and Innovative Leaders
26-30 April 2027

Two facilitators. Ten leaders. Five days.

“It’s the most meaningful leadership course I’ve been on and I’ve been on a few over the years.”

CEO, Urban Development

A 5-Day Leadership Process in Piemonte, Italy.
26 - 30 April 2027.

Five days in a quiet valley in Piemonte to step back from your organisation, look clearly at your leadership intent, your professional environment and possibilities and how you lead. Return with a plan you believe in, tested with peers who understand the stakes.

Why you should participate

Time to think
Step away from the deadlines to a calm, beautiful setting and give the challenges you’ve been circling the attention they deserve.
Tools for real change
You’ll leave with practical tools for intentional change, strategic collaboration, and setting clear goals, tested on your own real challenges.
Peers
You’ll share the residency with experienced leaders from cultural and innovative industries, who will challenge you and support you during the week and long after.

You are invited to apply, if...

• You bring more than 10 years of professional experience and hold significant responsibility—whether for budgets, people, or a larger purpose

• You have already created work you are proud of—and feel a clear ambition for what comes next

• You have the courage and desire to change

To create a focused and committed learning environment, participation is by application.

You will receive the full program after applying and before you make your final decision.

The Process

La Cassera Leadership runs through 2 months integrating your leadership intent in your daily leadership:

1. Before – at home. A one-to-one conversation with Sune and Thea about where you are and what you want from the week. An online meeting with the group. A short reality check assignment.

2. Five days – at La Cassera. Up to ten leaders from across the creative and innovative industries, two facilitators, individual notebooks.
Each day takes you a step further, combining short theoretical inputs that help you reflect with practical training in how to embody the change

3. After – back at work. An online session with the group 4–6 weeks later to help you stay accountable.

The Method

Based on psychoanalysis and strategy in turbulent times as well as performance training, the process follows three steps:

1. Understanding: see the system you lead in. What is at stake for the people around your task, and how are you being drawn into it? We look at the dynamics that rarely get named in meetings.

2. Positioning: find your intent. What do you actually want, and what would it take to stand behind it? You’ll clarify where you stand and where you need to move.

3. Acting: make it real with others. How do you turn your intent into a shared direction and a culture of motivated collaboration? You’ll practise it in the room, with feedback on how you sound and come across, before you take it home.

Testimonials

CEO - Architectural Fim

“I became aware of the pitfalls and bad habits in my working life – AND I was given the tools to do something about them. Hugely inspiring!”

Creative leader

“It was a game changer. I feel I’m in a completely new place. I understand different roles and approaches to collaboration with a whole new clarity, and I’ve gained insight into what does and doesn’t work for me – and why. It helps me step into my collaborations with more strength and set clearer boundaries. I have a better understanding of who I am, both as a leader and when I’m not leading, and that helps me use my own energy (and other people’s) more wisely.”

Head of Research Projects

“Quite a lot, actually. I’ll admit I arrived with some rather vague ideas, but I’ve taken a great deal home with me on many levels – about myself (and my inner life), my work, and the contexts it has to unfold in.”

Solopreneur

“Time, and high-calibre professional and personal sparring, to step into a space where I could work on difficult, pressing challenges. An understanding of the concepts and dynamics you need to navigate change. The pleasure of calm and beautiful surroundings. And a reminder of how important it is to make room, time and focus for the issues at stake – ideally in cross-disciplinary settings.”

Founder

“A clearer awareness of my leadership and of what I want from my working life in the near future, plus tools to keep revisiting that awareness. I’ve also built strong relationships with the other participants.”

Head of Cultural Institution

“I got to dig deep into issues I’d been going round in circles with for a long time, and found a new lens for looking at my leadership – partly through the theory and partly by seeing myself mirrored in the other participants. I came away with a new picture of myself as a leader.”

Your Facilitators

The TAKE your LEAD Leadership Process is developed by Thea Mikkelsen and Sune Bjørnvig and brings the full power of our complementary expertise to guide you through a transformative process.

Thea Mikkelsen, chartered leadership psychologist
Executive advisor in leadership and innovation

Leadership coach and professional development designer with over 15 years of experience, specialized in leadership and collaboration in complex professional environments across Europe

Master in Psychology & Master in Cultural Studies, MA & MSc, and PhD candidate at NIODA, Australia.

External lecturer at Department of Psychology, KU and at Master in Organisational Psychology, RUC, DK 2006-16.

Board member ISPSO – International Society for the Psychoanalytical Study of Organisations 2020-23.

Author of four books on professional creativity – the latest Coaching the Creative Impulse – Psychological Dynamics and Professional Creativity, Routledge 2020.

Lives in Italy with her husband and two daughters.
Works in Copenhagen one week every month.

Sune Bjørnvig, communication and impact advisor

Executive advisor in leadership and communication
Partner FRIDAY

Communication expert and international advisor with over 15 years’ experience supporting executives and specialists in complex, high-stakes environments.

Master of political science from the University of Copenhagen and Stockholm University with a background as an actor and director in theatre.

Work spans leadership, executive communication, cross-cultural leadership and crisis communication.

Partner in Copenhagen based communication agency FRIDAY.

Has trained over 1,000 individuals across diverse industries and coached and advised leaders from more than 50 countries. Helps senior executives, leaders and board members craft messaging in moments of change, sustain trust under pressure and align their voice with strategic intent.

La Cassera, Piemonte, Italy

The course unfolds in a secret and silent wild valley in Piemonte. Our venue, La Cassera, is a tranquil nature resort nestled in Castelletto d’Erro, Piemonte.

With 12 double rooms, each with a private bathroom, as well as a swimming pool and tennis court, La Cassera offers the perfect venue for leadership development. The outdoor areas will be for walks, group explorations and time for your own process and reflection.

La Cassera

Your Investment

€4,000 per person — a complete, all-inclusive journey to uncover and elevate your unique leadership potential.

Email us for a pdf to show your sponsor.

What the fee covers:
Lodging & meals: €1,000
Facilitated course & coaching: €3,000

Payment & Cancellation

To secure your place in the course:
A €1,000 non-refundable deposit is required upon acceptance.
The remaining balance is due by April 1st, 2027.

Cancellation:
Cancel before 1 April 2027 and you lose only the deposit; after that, the full fee is due.

The all-inclusive fee includes:

Pre- and post La Cassera online individual and group sessions
5 days of learning and training sessions at La Cassera
Private room with writing desk and bathroom
Full use of outdoor swimming pool and tennis court
3 delicious home-cooked meals a day (incl. wine with dinner)
Transfer from Malpensa Milano Airport

Not included:
International travel

A room of your own...

When we need to rethink questions related to our professional lives time alone is precious. During your stay there will be group learning and reflection sessions as well as individual reflection time.

Your room will have a desk where you can work between sessions.