Pre-Conference Workshop | 23rd March

Māori Leadership Journey

9:00 AM - 5:00 PM

This one-day interactive workshop invites Māori leaders and aspiring changemakers to embark on a transformative journey of growth and empowerment, guided by the enduring wisdom of Māori philosophies, values and practices combined with modern leadership concepts.
A space for safe self-reflection, where participants can connect with their cultural identity, embrace the essence of tino rangatiratanga, and identify the limitless potential within whānau, hapū and iwi contexts.

Through thoughtful and interactive dialogue, this programme empowers participants to explore the connection between self-awareness, behavioural patterns, and the quality of relationships that define effective leadership. Attendees will learn to navigate the challenges of leadership with greater vision, shaping decisions that honour both their cultural heritage and the aspirations of those they serve.

Above all, this workshop nurtures cultural confidence and inspires participants to lead authentically, from a place of humility and higher consciousness. By drawing strength from their heritage and fostering collective growth, participants will not only transform their own leadership journeys but build the foundation for empowering the next generation of leaders.

Your Expert Facilitators

Conference Day 1 | 24th March

9:45 AM: Opening Remarks and Introduction from Emcee

Welcome address and framing of the summit theme: Te Ara ki 2040 — The Road to Two Hundred Years.

SESSION 1: OPENING KEYNOTE FIRESIDE CHAT

10:00 AM:  Ka Mua, Ka Muri — Fifty Years Behind Us, Thirteen Years Ahead

Tāme Iti has been at this longer than most people in the room have been alive. He has watched governments come and go, structures rise and fall, and the same arguments return wearing different clothes. In this fireside kōrero he looks back across fifty years to ask what actually survived — and what the next thirteen years demand of the leaders who will still be standing in 2040.

11:00 AM: Networking & Morning Tea

SESSION 2: KEYNOTE ADDRESS

11:40 AM: Beyond the Mandate: Building Commitments That Outlast the Cycle

What happens to a commitment when the requirement behind it changes? This session is for leaders who have watched hard-won structures reviewed, narrowed or wound back — and who need their work to survive the next election, the next restructure and the next executive team.

SESSION 3: KEYNOTE ADDRESS

12:30 PM: The Long Game: Māori Partnership as Commercial Strategy

The organisations getting this right are not doing it because they are told to. They are doing it because it makes them better businesses. This session explores partnership with iwi, hapū and Māori enterprise as a commercial decision — how it shapes strategy, unlocks opportunity, and builds relationships measured in generations rather than quarters.

1:20 PM: LUNCH

SESSION 4: 2:20 PM: Tiriti Partnerships That Hold: From Framework to Practice

Every organisation has a framework. Far fewer have a relationship. This session moves past the document to the daily practice of Tiriti partnership — how leaders embed it in strategy, culture and decision-making, and what it takes to keep it alive when the people who championed it move on.

SESSION 5: 3:10 PM Leading Where You Are the Only One in the Room

For many Māori leaders the hardest part is not the work. It is being the only one at the table, carrying the expectations of your people and your organisation at the same time. A personal kōrero on holding your ground, drawing strength from whānau and tikanga, and leading with mana in rooms that were not built for you.

4:00 PM: AFTERNOON TEA

SESSION 6: EXCLUSIVE KEYNOTE SESSION 4:20 PM:  The Story We Tell About Ourselves

Who gets to tell the story shapes what the country believes is possible. This session looks at narrative as a leadership tool — how the stories organisations and communities tell about themselves drive change, hold power to account, and decide what the next generation inherits.

5:20 PM: END OF DAY ONE & NETWORKING DRINKS

Conference Day 2 | 25th March

09:00 Opening Remarks and Introduction from Emcee

SESSION 1: 9:10 AM: Hauora and the Long Horizon: Wellbeing as Leadership Infrastructure

You cannot lead for thirteen years on an empty tank, and neither can your people. This session looks at hauora as something organisations build rather than something individuals are expected to manage alone — and at what it takes to design workplaces, services and systems that keep people well for the long road.

SESSION 2 10:40 AM: Beyond the Checkbox: Cultural Capability That Sticks

Most organisations have done the training. Fewer have changed how they make decisions. This session is about the difference — moving from awareness to capability, from a workshop to a way of working, and building cultural understanding deep enough that it survives staff turnover and budget rounds.

SESSION 3: KEYNOTE SESSION 11:30 AM:  Changing the System From Inside It

Some of the most significant change is made by people working within institutions that were never designed with Māori in mind. This session explores what it takes to shift a system from the inside — the patience, the positioning, and the moments where insider leverage achieves what pressure from outside cannot.

12:30 PM: LUNCH

SESSION 4 1:30 PM: Te Ōhanga Māori: The Māori Economy to 2040

The Māori asset base keeps growing regardless of who is in government. This session looks at where that economy is heading over the next thirteen years — iwi and post-settlement investment, Māori enterprise at scale, procurement, and what it means for organisations that want to be part of it rather than watch it from outside.

SESSION 5 2:20PM: Who Will Be Leading in 2040?

The leaders who will be in charge when Aotearoa marks two hundred years of Te Tiriti are in the workforce right now. In this panel, emerging Māori leaders talk about what they are inheriting, what they intend to do differently, and what they need from the people currently holding the roles they are heading towards.

3:10 PM: AFTERNOON TEA

SESSION 6: He Reo Ora: Forty Years On 

In 1987, te reo Māori became an official language of this country. It did not happen because the law led — the law followed, because people held on for a generation until it did. Forty years on, this closing kōrero asks what that fight teaches us about the long game, and what we owe the language between now and 2040.

4:10 PM: CLOSE OF CONFERENCE

Post-conference Workshop | 26th March

Your Expert Facilitators