Stefan Cousquer
September 24, 2026
On average, top teams want to shift 30% of their time from managing everyday concerns to building the future.
So, what’s actually getting in the way of their transformation conversations today?
In this video, Stefan Cousquer – Professor of Strategy and Leadership at Hult International Business School – illustrates the Three Horizons Framework (Sharpe et al., 2016) as a mirror for where leadership time actually goes.
Horizon 1 is about running today’s business
Horizon 3 is about future aspirations
Horizon 2 is the critical bridge – the transformation initiatives that take you from H1 to H3
When leadership teams use Three Horizons not just as a planning tool but as a mirror, they can see which conversations they prioritize, the tensions at play and, ultimately, where their time is spent. With this insight, they begin to see the true extent of their busyness and what it might be costing them – their future.
Staying busy feels safe, but “safe” is not where transformation happens. In fact, when safe gets in the way of transformation, it becomes the most dangerous place to hide.
Great executive teams run today’s business and create the conditions for tomorrow. The answer to doing both lies in the difficult work of Horizon 2. The teams that learn to step into these challenges and steward the tensions of transformation are the ones that make their strategy a reality.
Client Story
Seco Tools: Award-winning transformation
With a presence in more than 75 countries and almost 100 years of history to its name, Seco Tools is a leading global provider of metal cutting solutions.
Seco chose Hult Ashridge Executive Education as its Organizational Development partner to address the business problems of growth and competitiveness – and enable the organization to lead its own transformation.
A simple tool: The Three Horizons conversation audit
Asking these three questions is often the most powerful first step to working well across horizons because it surfaces tensions and assumptions that were previously denied or normalized.
1. Where do we actually spend our time as a team in each Horizon?
And where do we need to spend it?
2. How effective are our conversations in each horizon?
What is enabling and constraining our conversations? Effective requires dynamic learning and adaptation.
3. Where do trust, power, and purpose tensions show up across horizons?
Where do our conversations shut down? What are the underlying tensions?
Meet the expert
)
Dr Stefan Cousquer
Professor of Strategy and Leadership at Hult International Business School
Stefan works with leadership teams in the areas of strategic transformation, system change and top team effectiveness. He also works with executive education programs in the areas of strategic leadership, sustainability, organizational development and collaborative innovation.
Previous senior leadership roles in strategy consulting and the energy sector have provided Stefan with the practical experience required to support clients lead change in leadership and business models. His current research focuses on the role of top management teams in enabling organizational transformation and humanizing leadership.
Explore more insights
)
)
)
)
