Who are we? Where are we really going, and how do we get there? These are questions that most of us come back to at different points in life, especially when things around us feel uncertain or are changing quickly. Answering them with courage and resilience is not an easy feat, but luckily it is something you can practise – and that practice is called self-leadership.
This Weekend Workshop combines reflection with practical tools to help you explore what motivates you, what tends to get in your way, and how you respond when things don’t go according to plan. You’ll look at your strengths, habits, boundaries, and ways of working, and experiment with approaches that can help you create more direction and momentum in your everyday life.
The workshop also connects self-leadership with an entrepreneurial mindset. Rather than waiting until you have everything figured out, you’ll practise taking small steps, learning as you go, adjusting when things change, and making use of the people, perspectives, and resources around you. In that sense, self-leadership is a bit of a paradox: it is about learning to guide yourself, while recognising that you rarely do that entirely on your own.
What to Expect
Across the weekend, you’ll work with a mix of reflection, practical models, group discussion, and hands-on exercises around self-awareness, decision-making, collaboration, and direction. By the end of the weekend, you’ll leave with a clearer sense of what supports your motivation and gives you direction, together with practical tools you can return to when you feel uncertain, stuck, or in need of a reset.
Participants come from different disciplines and stages of life, which means the questions you bring into the workshop may look very different. You might be thinking about your studies, your work, a project, a transition, or simply how you want to approach things differently. The exercises are there to help you better understand what matters to you and how you want to move forward, and you can choose how personal you want to make that reflection. Sharing some of that thinking with others can also open up perspectives you might not have reached on your own.
What You’ll learn:
- Your own motivation and what tends to get in the way.
- More clarity when you feel uncertain or pulled in different directions.
- Your strengths, habits, and patterns, and how to use them more intentionally.
- Ways to make decisions without needing to have everything figured out first.
- Boundaries that support your energy and attention.
- How to draw on other people, collaboration, and your network when you need support or a different perspective.
About the instructor
Dr. Ebba Laurin is a researcher, leadership consultant, and educator specialising in entrepreneurial mindset and self-leadership. She has spent more than two decades supporting entrepreneurs, executives, and teams in navigating uncertainty, shaping direction, and building the skills needed to work creatively under pressure. Ebba earned her PhD at the Stockholm School of Economics, where her research explored co-creation, business model innovation, and collaboration in complex environments.
Her teaching is known for its energy, clarity, and collaborative spirit. She designs learning experiences where reflection meets hands-on practice, and where students co-create insight together with startups, industry experts, and each other. Ebba brings a characteristically unconventional path to her work – from early days in internet startups to senior innovation roles in industry – and she continues to champion learning in uncertain, fast-moving contexts. Her approach blends academic depth with practical experience, always with the aim of helping people lead themselves and others with intention, resilience, and curiosity.
ELIGIBILITY & SELECTION
All students and alumni of SSES member universities are eligible to apply to this weekend workshop. We get many applications and unfortunately cannot accept everyone. The selection process is outlined below.
For this specific workshop, you as an attendee will be requested to present yourself and what motivates you to learn about frugal innovation by uploading a short personal video. We also ask that you share in what area you would like to identify opportunities for frugal innovation and why.
SELECTION PROCESS
- Application is reviewed
- Selection is made and a confirmation email is sent out
- Participants must confirm their seat in order to secure the spot
- If spots are not confirmed in time, the waitlist will be reviewed and new participants selected
