Beyond the Boardroom: Building the Eclectic Leadership Movement with Shehzaad Shams

In this episode of Founders Future, with host Olivia Sammons, we meet Shehzaad Shams, the founder of Rononiti and the visionary behind the Eclectic Leadership Movement. Shehzaad shares his journey from a 20-year corporate career in project management and operations across various global industries to becoming an entrepreneur. He describes the transition as both "liberating" and "scary," driven by a desire to move beyond working for what he terms "confidently incompetent" leadership and to address a gap he observed in how leadership is taught and perceived in the modern world.Shehzaad delves into the core of his venture, explaining that Rononiti is not a traditional coaching or consulting firm, but a "leadership design lab and advisory." He introduces the Eclectic Leadership Movement, a D2C2B (Dining Room to Classroom to Boardroom) initiative that draws on a diverse range of sources—including linguistics, psychology, political science, and non-Western, indigenous, and religious wisdom—to create a more holistic and inclusive model of leadership. He discusses his strategy of offering free workshops to schools and business schools to build the movement, while seeking fee-paying clients and investors to scale the commercial side of his vision, all while focusing on the challenge of simplifying his powerful but complex message for a broader audience.