A program of Symbiosis Leadership AB

Retreat to Progress

Three days. A handful of people. Honest conversations. About the change you seek to make, and what’s actually in the way.

Express interest in the founding cohort
The Swedish west coast, granite, sea, and open sky
Why this exists

You’ve made the commitments. Now comes the harder part.

If sustainability, climate, or building a genuinely regenerative business sits at the center of how you lead, you know that the mandate, the targets, and the public accountability are only the beginning. What you’re navigating now is something harder: holding your conviction through changing organizational structures, economic pressure, and a ground that won’t stop shifting.

The breakthroughs you seek won’t come from another framework, seminar, or mingle. They come from honest conversation with people carrying the same weight.

This isn’t a conference you attend to network, or a workshop you sign up for to be taught how to fix things. It’s a different kind of space built for one thing: real people, talking honestly about the work you care about most and the challenges you face, without the titles, the talking points, or an audience.

Why I built this

I want a different kind of space to exist.

Conferences can be useful. Keynotes can be informative. Networking events, panels, roundtables: they can all be beneficial. Yet none of these gave me what I was looking for: space and time for honest conversations.

Not an exchange of polished talking points, not a scripted discussion on stage, not another advice-giving slideshow. Real conversations. Between real humans. Who care about the change they seek to make. Showing up as who they are, not their organizational role.

Years of moving between sectors, organizations, and standards bodies showed me the same pattern, room after room: committed leaders, with real mandates and the desire to make a difference, stuck in surface-level conversations.

The real conversations about what they deeply care about and what’s actually in the way never happened inside those rooms. They happened outside. Accidentally. If you got lucky.

What if we could design space and time for those lucky accidents?

The space and time for people to work past limitations and obstacles. Past organizational boundaries and limiting beliefs. Past zero-sum competition, past the surface-level reasons change can’t happen. Toward commitments to concrete next moves.

Held by a community that provides the scaffolding of trust, experience, and accountability. Not another business network, not an exclusive membership club, not an expensive certification. A committed community of leaders.

This is the liminal space I want to exist. Retreat to Progress is my invitation for you to step into it.

— Alex

Dr. Alexander Schmidt
Dr. Alexander Schmidt Founder, Symbiosis Leadership AB
What makes this different

Designed for presence and progress.

Who’s there, how the space is held, and what continues after. Together, these are what makes progress possible. All three are expressions of Symbiotic Leadership, the view that individual thriving, economic performance, and planetary health are one system, not competing priorities.

The cohort

✓A handful of senior leaders, cross-sector, with the mandate for change
✓Curated around a shared problem space
✓Ready to show up as a person first, not a title
Leaders in conversation in nature
The Liminal Space

Outside the structures that make honesty hard.

Three days on the Swedish coast, away from boardrooms and inboxes. Corporate badges left at the door. That’s what makes honest conversation possible.

Cohorts are curated for pre-competitive safety: Chatham House rule throughout, a participation agreement signed before arrival.

A shared table
What Continues After

The three days are the beginning.

A community of trusted peers, a 1:1 check-in within two weeks, and regular cross-cohort gatherings keep the work alive. Insights, solutions, and perspectives gained live on in the shared tool shed on the community platform.

Each cohort grows the community.

How the days are held

Three days. Two rhythms.

Unstructured

Time to arrive and connect, shared meals and walks, space for reflections in your own time.

Structured

Sessions shaped by what participants bring, held by expert facilitation.

Both by design.

What you take home

Most retreats feel good in the moment, but their impact is limited. Retreat to Progress is designed for long-term change.

New moves

Not frameworks or theories. Specific next moves for your actual situation, shaped by people who’ve faced the same challenges.

Tangible commitments

One decision, one experiment, one relationship move. Witnessed and held by your peers, with a timeline.

A community

A handful of people who know exactly what you’re carrying, people you can call when it gets hard, long after the retreat ends.

Practicalities

Founding cohort, autumn 2026.

Dates

September–October 2026. Confirmed with participants to navigate the sustainability calendar.

Location

Swedish west coast, a restorative natural setting within reach of major European hubs.

Investment

The founding cohort is convened at a rate reflecting the pilot nature of this first gathering. Sponsor-supported places may be available. Details on request.

Founding cohort

If this resonates, let’s talk.

The founding cohort is being assembled through direct conversation and trusted referral. A short expression of interest is enough to start. There is no formal application process.

Three questions. Takes two minutes.

This is what most of our first conversation will be about. The founding cohort is curated around a shared problem space.

Your details are shared only with Dr. Alexander Schmidt and used only to follow up on your expression of interest.