the CommonWise cohort consortium

Because leaders need new institutions for thinking and acting together.

The challenges leaders now face—purpose under pressure, long-term value creation, cultural transition and systemic risk, at the confluence of AI, Climate and geopolitical disruption—can’t be solved through expertise or knowledge alone. They require new ways of seeing, which only become possible in relationship.

A Cohort is an environment engineered for new forms of thinking, collaborating, and decision-making that rarely occur inside organizations. We’re building a curated, cross-sector working community for organizations navigating complex transitions—strategic, cultural, generational, or systemic—that can’t be addressed within organizational boundaries alone. Members work on real, consequential challenges—not case studies—supported by peers who bring different contexts, constraints, and perspectives.

For two decades, we’ve created and led cohorts for senior leaders in Fortune 50 companies, foundations, family offices, service firms, and mission-driven organizations. We’ve defined purpose and aligned key communities in philanthropy, technology, manufacturing, healthcare, food and fashion. We have helped people trust airplanes after COVID, scale data security companies, create healthier urban neighborhoods, launch new services and experiences, produce products more efficiently, reset and invigorate identities and energize citizens to support environmental conservation. Across contexts, continents and sectors we have learned why and how cohorts deliver exponential value.

  • what participants gain

    • reduced isolation at moments of highest responsibility
    • access to peers who will tell the truth
    • increased capacity to navigate ambiguity and complexity
    • a disciplined practice of collective sensemaking
    • relationships that endure beyond the cohort

    • psychological safety without hierarchy
    • accountability without compliance
    • honest reflection without performance
    • shared language for ambiguity
    • permission to not know before deciding what to do

  • what people say

    “This changed how I think. It gave me a new discipline.”
    “We finally experienced conditions where things could get better.”
    “I learned as much from my peers’ challenges as from my own.”

    “I appreciated the connective tissue that was created among the cohort; the supportive nature and learning from each other. The ideas created can be leveraged.”

    “This helped us develop faster, more aligned innovation across silos.”

    “I’m excited to see that people can practice this in a low-risk environment where there’s already momentum, and where we can help the business do it better.”

  • learn more

    Please get in touch through the link below if you’d like more information or to tell us about yourself.

join a cohort to meet the challenges of this moment and the future.

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Lake Manigango, Eastern Tibet