Participants

When you attend the Academy, you will be part of a cohort of 40 outstanding Poles from different sectors such as: non-profit, business, academia, public administration, startups, media, culture and sports.

Criteria

We aim at outstanding mid-career professionals from Poland with high leadership potential and commitment to social change. We are open to talented and passionate people who are curious about the world and want to leave a positive mark on it.

Ideal Participant Should

  • Be mid-career professionals from one of the following sectors: (i) non-profit; (ii) business; (iii) public administration; (iv) academia; (v) media; (vi) start-ups; (vii) culture and (viii) sports.
  • Be between 25–45 years old. Our preference is for candidates within that age group – please be sure to ask for your candidate’s date of birth. Ideally, they should have at least 10–20 years of work experience. For candidates with particularly strong potential, we can adjust the age limit to below 25 and over 45.
  • Be successful. We look for people with an already established career path having achieved significant success, including positions of authority.
  • Be at an inflection point. Ready or expected to scale-up their projects, take up new challenges or positions or jump-start new ventures.
  • Be caring for the social good. We want candidates focused not solely on their careers and personal success but rather people who see their success and positions as leverages to make contributions to society and to have a broader impact on the world and Poland. We want social innovators, people with a good heart and willingness to positively influence others, and who want to make the world and Poland a better place.
  • Have leadership potential. We aim not only at talented people or very good specialists in their fields. We look for talented people who also have passion and a track record of starting new initiatives and ventures, organizing, and engaging people.
  • Have courage and resilience. We like to see candidates who dare to shake up the status quo, even if it is risky. Those who have weathered difficulties, even failure, either professionally or personally.
  • Not be “fully there”. There are many people already doing great things for society and we want to see more of these people by finding candidates who need a “nudge” to apply their talents to improve the world.
  • Intellectual curiosity and openness. We look for candidates who are authentic and have an open mind and heart.
  • Bring diversity. We look for diversity of gender, geography, politics, religion, and more. We particularly want to encourage the participation of women.

Fellows about the Academy: