The 2025 Cosmic Conference
The System
is the Strategy
From Agent to Architect
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Saudi Arabia has shown the world what ambition can achieve. Over the past decades, the Kingdom has transformed industries, reshaped cities, and built new futures. This bold journey has been made possible by leaders who understood how to design systems that deliver on vision.
As the country continues to pursue its great ambitions, it becomes even more important for today’s leaders to pause, reflect, and learn from these examples. This Riyadh Masterclass, part of the 2025 Cosmic Conference, offers exactly that space: a chance to learn from pioneering leaders, to explore the principles of systems thinking, and to reflect on how we can architect organizations that sustain growth and unlock future possibilities.
What to Expect
This evening is designed to spark insight, equip you with tools, and connect you with peers who care about leading differently. Together, you will:
✨ Hear from Remarkable Leaders
Our Guest of Honor, Ibraheem Sheerah, Group Chief Transformation Officer at Saudi Airlines, will share stories from his 24-year journey across aviation, logistics, rail, electronics, and Vision 2030 programs—demonstrating how transformation begins with people, purpose, and the systems that connect them.
🔍 Explore Your Own System
In a facilitated segment, Wissam Adib, Executive Leadership Coach and former Advisor at the UAE Prime Minister’s Office, will guide us on how to move from reacting inside a system to reshaping it with intention.
🤝 Build Meaningful Connections
Engage in dialogue and reflection with like-minded leaders, founders, and executives who are reimagining how systems, and the people within them can thrive.
The session will be moderated and co-facilitated by Marilyn Zakhour, CEO & Founder of Cosmic Centaurs.
Who this is for
This gathering is for executives, founders, and change-makers who understand that the true work of leadership is not only solving today’s problems, but also designing the systems that create tomorrow’s opportunities.
If you’re ready to:
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Reflect on the lessons of Saudi Arabia’s bold transformation,
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Learn from leaders shaping the future, and
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Explore how to architect systems that inspire, connect, and deliver—
then this Masterclass is for you.
Tuesday, October 21
8 PM to 11 PM KSA Time
Riyadh
Masterclass
OUR GUEST OF HONOUR
“Transformation is never just about structures or strategies. It starts with people, with purpose, and with the systems that connect them.”
These words from Ibraheem Sheerah, Chief Transformation Officer at Saudia Airlines and Guest of Honor at our Riyadh Masterclass, capture the essence of his leadership journey.
Across 24 years in aviation, logistics, rail, electronics, and Vision 2030 programs, he has delivered impact that reshaped organizations, elevated industries, and aligned people and institutions behind Saudi Arabia’s transformation journey.
In a fireside chat with Cosmic Centaurs CEO & Founder Marilyn Zakhour, Ibraheem will share how he approaches transformation as both a human and systems challenge. Together they will cover how to:Start with purpose and inspire hopeBuild the “human system” of trust, security, and psychological safetyBridge between front-line teams and decision-makersDesign roles, routines, and feedback loops that enable executionLead with humility and optimism under pressure
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Register
This Year's Stops
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Conference Experiences
Conference Program
Leaders' Circle
A 3-hour peer circle to explore systems thinking for managers and leaders.
Offsite
A half-day of growth and learning featuring keynotes, meaningful conversations, and embodied experiences to drive the shift from heroic leadership to systems design.
MasterClass
An evening Masterclass where experts and leaders come together to share personal stories of how they moved beyond quick fixes to build smarter, more resilient organizations.
Webinars
1-hour online webinars with experts, academics, and leaders from all over the world.
Webinar
Monday, September 15 | 4 PM UAE Time
Conference Opening
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Leaders' Circle
Friday, September 26 | 9 AM UAE Time
From Agent to Architect
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Leaders' Circle
Friday, October 3 | 9 AM UAE Time
From Agent to Architect
(INSEAD NAA Exclusive)
Leaders' Circle
Friday, October 10 | 5 PM UAE Time
From Agent to Architect
Leaders' Circle
Thursday, October 16 | 9 AM Beirut Time
From Agent to Architect
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Masterclass
Tuesday, October 21 | 8 PM KSA Time
Riyadh Masterclass
Offsite
Friday, October 31 | 9 AM UAE Time
Dubai Offsite
Webinar
Tuesday, November 4 | 5 PM UAE Time
Conference closing
Exploring Systems
Thinking at 3 Levels
At the
leader’s level
At the leadership
team level
At the
organizational level
The most powerful systems are the least visible. You carry one within you, formed by years of habits, assumptions, and inherited ways of working. These inner mechanics shape how you show up, what you notice, and how you lead.
This level of the conference invites you to surface those patterns, examine the architecture beneath your instincts, and build the mindset and muscle to design systems, starting with your own.
When your inner system shifts, everything around you follows.
Some leadership teams operate like well-tuned engines; others grind under the weight of bottlenecks, repeated breakdowns, or competing priorities. The difference isn’t talent, it’s the system leaders operate in.
We’ll look to the patterns that shape the team’s effectiveness: how purpose is shared, how trust, psychological safety, and inclusion are built, and how effort, ideas, decisions, and collective performance flow.
When the system is tuned, the team’s collective capacity multiplies, unlocking performance.
As complexity rises, so does the cost of misalignment: strategies lose coherence, decision-making slows, and once-effective operating models struggle under new realities.
This is where leadership shifts from driving performance to designing the system that delivers it. We’ll explore how to shape an organization using our proprietary model, The Omnichannel Organization™ where people, process, structures, tools, and culture work in concert to deliver enduring results.
When the system works as one, the organization moves with clarity, coherence, and unstoppable momentum.
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PREVIOUS EDITIONS
The Cosmic Conference Over the Years
Great leaders are holistic thinkers.
They recognize that managing in a complex world requires them to master their range, developing the ability to embrace seemingly opposing tensions.
The 2024 Edition of the Cosmic Conference brought leaders in Dubai, Riyadh, and online together to learn how to master these dualities alongside other leaders, experts, and coaches.
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You developed a strategy, now what? A strategy, no matter how brilliant it is, remains wishful thinking if not implemented properly. In fact, bringing the strategy to life is the toughest part because it requires alignment, action, and collaboration.
Join us and learn how to lead your organization to execute strategy with unparalleled precision, and turn plans into real-world victories.
Hybrid work comes with a big set of challenges. Organizations cannot risk having less productive workers and employees don’t want to miss out on creating meaningful connections with others.
With that in mind, we invited thought leaders, experts, academics, entrepreneurs and teams to join us for the 3-day virtual event and share their insights and experience.
The global pandemic catalysed a shift in the way individuals and organizations work. The widespread adoption of remote work has changed how we view the 'where' and 'how' of work.
We set out to help attendees navigate the remote work landscape, learn about its impact on organizations in the region, and how teams and leaders can adapt to our ‘new normal'.