APPROACH
A practice at the intersection of people, systems, and change.
Axelle Bagot is a leadership educator, learning architect, and executive advisor working at the intersection of organizational transformation, human development, and systems leadership.
Over the last decade, she has taught leadership and organizational change at Harvard University, Brown University, and Sciences Po Paris, and delivered executive programs for governments, international organizations, universities, and multinational companies.
Following a ten-year career in politics, diplomacy, and international development, she deepened her experience through advanced study and collaboration with faculty at Harvard and MIT. Drawing on Sociology, Social Psychology, Adaptive Leadership, Systems Thinking, Group Dynamics, and Adult Development, she helps leaders navigate complexity, mobilize collective action, and lead meaningful change.
01 — FRAMEWORK
At the heart of the work is the conviction that leadership must be understood simultaneously at three interconnected levels — and that meaningful change depends on the capacity to hold all three in the same field of awareness.
Three levels,
held together.
01 · INSIDE-OUT
The Self
The assumptions, emotions, identity, and patterns that influence how leaders make sense of and respond to challenges.
02 · OUTSIDE-IN
The System
The organizational context, stakeholders, power dynamics, culture, and broader forces shaping a situation.
03 · IN-BETWEEN
The Relationship
The quality of connection, trust, and productive tension through which leadership is exercised and change becomes possible.
Axelle’s approach combines conceptual rigor with experiential learning. Through collective dialogue and innovative teaching techniques, she helps leaders strengthen their capacity to perceive complexity, work across differences, and navigate uncertainty with greater awareness and adaptability.
02 — MODULAR CONTRIBUTIONS
Nine interventions,
infinitely combinable.
These modules can be delivered as standalone interventions or integrated into broader leadership journeys. Axelle is used to contributing either as core faculty — co-designing program architecture and faculty coherence — as a keynote speaker, or as a facilitator of targeted sessions.
01
Learning from Leadership Failure
FORMAT · WORKSHOP
Participants explore a real leadership situation that did not produce the intended outcome. Drawing on Edmondson's concept of intelligent failure and Adaptive Leadership, they examine the organizational, relational, and individual dimensions of the challenge and generate new ways of responding to similar situations.
OUTCOME
Develops leaders' capacity to diagnose complex situations, learn from setbacks, and expand their repertoire of responses in uncertain environments.
02
Leadership, Authority & Mobilizing Change
FORMAT · EXPERIENTIAL SESSION (CASE IN POINT)
Participants engage in a live group exercise designed to recreate some of the conditions leaders face in complex organizations: ambiguity, competing expectations, incomplete information, and the absence of clear direction. As the exercise unfolds, they observe how authority is granted, challenged, avoided, or assumed, and how leadership emerges through interaction rather than position.
OUTCOME
Strengthens participants' ability to distinguish leadership from authority, mobilize others without relying solely on formal power, and understand how change emerges in human systems.
03
Systems Thinking & Organizational Dynamics
FORMAT · REFLECTIVE AND DIAGNOSTIC WORKSHOP
Participants map themselves within a system to explore how formal structures, informal roles, assumptions, alliances, and patterns of interaction influence them and their relation to any social group. The exercise introduces both systemic and psychodynamic perspectives on organizations.
OUTCOME
Expands leaders' ability to recognize the dynamics that shape collaboration, decision-making, and organizational effectiveness, especially in times of crisis.
04
Decision-Making Under Uncertainty
FORMAT · SIMULATIONS
Participants engage in a multi-round activity in which they must make strategic decisions under conditions of uncertainty, incomplete information, competing priorities, and resource constraints. As new information emerges, they are required to balance short-term pressures with long-term consequences, while navigating conflicting stakeholder interests and differing interpretations of the situation.
OUTCOME
Strengthens participants' capacity to make decisions in complex environments, challenge their own assumptions, and recognize how narratives and group dynamics shape strategic choices.
05
Self-Leadership & Personal Transformation
FORMAT · WORKSHOP (STEP-BY-STEP ACTIVITY)
Using the Immunity to Change© methodology, participants identify competing commitments and hidden assumptions that may limit their effectiveness as leaders. They explore the connection between personal patterns and organizational outcomes.
OUTCOME
Increases self-awareness and supports sustainable behavioral change aligned with leadership objectives.
06
Collective Intelligence & Productive Disagreement
FORMAT · STRUCTURED DIALOGUE AND PEER CONSULTATION
Drawing on tools such as DISC©, MBTI©, Leadership Circle Profile©, or the Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Assessment©, participants explore how their communication and conflict patterns affect group performance. Through peer consultation and structured dialogue, they practice interacting across differences and disagreement.
OUTCOME
Builds the capacity to leverage diverse perspectives, engage constructively with conflict, and improve collective decision-making under pressure.
07
Presence, Emotion & Leadership
FORMAT · EXPERIENTIAL WORKSHOP
Participants explore how emotions, attention, and presence influence perception, decision-making, and relationships. Drawing on Scharmer's work on Presencing©, Heifetz's Adaptive Leadership©, and Gauthier's Savoir Relier© methods, they examine how leaders can remain effective and trustworthy in situations characterized by uncertainty, complexity, and competing demands.
OUTCOME
Strengthens leaders' capacity to regulate themselves, listen deeply, and develop the personal capacity to build trust and engagement across the organization.
08
Mental Models, Framing & Strategic Decision-Making
FORMAT · WORKSHOP
Participants examine how assumptions, mental models, and cognitive frames shape the way they interpret situations and define possible courses of action. Through structured exercises and peer coaching, they practice reframing challenges and generating alternative responses.
OUTCOME
Expands strategic thinking, adaptability, and the ability to respond creatively to complex challenges.
09
Leadership Through the Arts
FORMAT · EXPERIENTIAL (CAN INCLUDE CO-FACILITATORS, ARTISTS AND CURATORS)
Through visual art, music, or movement, participants explore perception, attention, interpretation, and meaning-making. Art experiences serve as a laboratory for examining leadership challenges from new perspectives and engaging dimensions of learning often overlooked in traditional executive education.
OUTCOME
Enhances leaders' capacity for observation, reflection, creativity, and systems awareness while developing new ways of approaching organizational challenges.
Selected academic
& faculty roles.
01
Adjunct Lecturer in Organizational Behavior & Development
2025
Brown University — School of Professional Studies (Executive Education)
Designer and instructor of a course in Organizational Leadership.
02
Lecturer in Leadership — Executive Education
2025–26
Sciences Po Paris
Executive Masters of Public Administration; Hong Kong Government Seminar.
03
Faculty — Nexus Systems Leadership Program
2021–26
The King's Fund (UK)
One-year program for senior public sector executives (NHS, MI5/6, government).
04
Adjunct Lecturer in Leadership
2022–24
Harvard Graduate School of Education
Doctoral leadership program (EdLd).
05
Lecturer in Leadership
2020–23
Mohammed VI Polytechnic University — Africa Business School (Morocco)
Faculty in the MBA & Executive MBA Programs.
03
04
Selected executive
programs.
01
Program Director — BY VINCI
2025
in partnership with Sciences Po Exec Ed
Designed and led a 4-day leadership program for senior executives.
02
Program Consultant — Michelin
2026
Direction Opérationnelle Monde (DOMF)
Design and delivery of a 4-day executive seminar.
03
Program Director — UNICEF, You Are Leaders
2021–26
Global leadership program
9-month program, cohorts of 100 participants worldwide.
05
Leadership Advisory & Sensemaking
One-on-one and small-group advisory for leaders who want to think more deeply, see more clearly, and lead with greater wisdom in complex environments.
The leaders who work with Axelle have often reached a point where experience alone is no longer enough. They may be navigating growth, increasing complexity, difficult relationships, or significant transitions. Rather than focusing on symptoms, she helps them examine the deeper operating system that shapes how they interpret situations, exercise authority, relate to others, and make decisions. Through a rigorous - yet deeply human - advisory relationship, clients often leave seeing differently, responding more thoughtfully, and leading with greater clarity, courage, and wisdom.
Over the past fifteen years, Axelle has advised leaders across sectors where complexity, responsibility, and human dynamics are inseparable.
Government & Public Leadership
NATIONAL GOVERNMENTS AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS (EUROPE, NORTH AMERICA, AFRICA & MIDDLE EAST)
International Organizations
UNICEF • WORLD BANK • UNCHR
Security & Diplomacy
NATIONAL SECURITY & INTELLIGENCE • DIPLOMATIC SERVICES
Mission-Driven Organizations
SOCIAL ENTERPRISES • FOUNDATIONS • NGOs
Corporate & Executive Teams
GLOBAL CORPORATIONS • HOSPITALITY • TECHNOLOGY • EXECUTIVE COMMITTEES
Entrepreneurship
FOUNDERS • CEOs • SCALE-UPS