(Photo by Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP via Getty Images)
AFP via Getty Images
If you didn’t receive an invitation to Davos, the annual World Economic Forum happening now in Davos, Switzerland, don’t feel deprived. By most accounts, Davos is no longer what it once was.
For decades, Davos was the most prestigious conference attended by global political and business leaders committed to improving the state of the world. Topics frequently included sustainability, corruption, and income inequality. But in an era defined by acceleration, authoritarianism, and disruptive technologies, Davos increasingly resembles what it has tried to avoid becoming: just another elite business meeting, heavy on power, light on moral imagination.
This year’s willingness to set aside core principles to accommodate political spectacle underscores how much the event has drifted from its founding spirit.
But the fading luster of Davos should not diminish the value of leadership conferences. As a business futurist and innovation speaker, these are my favorite and I highly recommend them. Stepping away from daily demands to engage in perspective-shifting conversation is especially important today when there is so much change. As someone who has participated in all sorts of conferences across industries and continents, I’ve found leadership conferences—done well—to be among the most personally rewarding investments leaders can make.
Unlike plain-Jane business conferences that focus on tactics or transactions, the best leadership gatherings expose you to ideas that stretch your assumptions. They introduce you to movers and shakers outside your usual orbit. And they help you align your organization—and your life—with the Mega-Forces shaping the future. At their best, such conferences allow you to “trade minds” with thinkers and practitioners who are wrestling seriously with the same questions you are.
What follows are six leadership conferences worth considering in 2026. Each offers a different doorway into the ideas, values, and conversations leaders need in the Age of Acceleration. Attend even one, and you’re likely to return changed—not just better informed.
1. SXSW Austin, Texas | March 12–18, 2026
I was so impressed after my attendance at SXSW in 2018 that I wrote a Forbes column about the experience. Founded in 1987 as a music festival, SXSW has evolved into one of the world’s most influential cross-disciplinary gatherings, drawing leaders from technology, media, film, music, and culture.
The conference endured a near-fatal crisis in 2020, when it was forced to cancel just days before opening due to COVID-19—the first cancellation in its history. Subsequent virtual and hybrid iterations helped it survive, though many would agree the event is still rediscovering its pre-pandemic rhythm.
That said, if you can handle large crowds, SXSW remains a powerful collision point for ideas and serendipity. It offers a rare opportunity to see how cultural, technological, and societal shifts intersect—and where new possibilities may emerge.
2. Lead Where You Stand Conference, Santa Barbara, California | June 4–5, 2026
Founded in 2015 by visionary leader, Dr. Gayle Beebe, this intimate West Coast conference has become a quiet must-attend for business and NGO leaders seeking to create greater impact, no matter where they are planted. Anchored in Christian moral values, this annual gathering emphasizes character, community, and forward-thinking responsibility in leadership.
Since its inception, The New York Times columnist David Brooks has been a central voice and a guiding light. (Full disclosure: I’ve been invited to speak this year on “Leading and Flourishing in the Age of Acceleration.”)
Formerly held on Westmont College’s bucolic Montecito campus, sell-out demand has pushed Lead Where You Stand to move to a nearby resort hotel. The test ahead will be preserving its reflective intimacy as it scales.
3. ALIVE: Intentionally Evolving Our Futures, Asheville, North Carolina | April 23–25, 2026
ALIVE is not a conference in the conventional sense—it is an immersive experience designed for leaders who believe the future is not something to predict, but something to shape. Limited to 100 participants, the gathering brings together foresight practitioners and organizational leaders from around the world.
There are no traditional panels or slide decks at this conference. Instead, ALIVE unfolds as a co-creative journey organized around becoming future-ready, future-empowered, and future-conscious. Participants are invited to sit with uncertainty, learn alongside peers, and renew their sense of agency and empowerment to build a better future.
In an era saturated with screens and algorithms, the value of in-person, human-to-human engagement—free of bots and buzzwords—cannot be overstated.
4. The Future of Everything Festival, New York City | May 4–5, 2026
Produced by The Wall Street Journal, this high-impact convening brings together CEOs, scientists, policymakers, technologists, and cultural thinkers to examine the forces reshaping business and society. Topics range from AI and geopolitics to climate, health, and the future of work.
What distinguishes this conference is its intellectual range and seriousness. Big ideas are grounded in real-world implications. Attendees leave with sharper insight into emerging risks, overlooked opportunities, and the strategic choices leaders must make in an age of relentless change. This one is not about tactics—it’s about perspective.
5. Harvard Flourishing Summit, Cambridge, Massachusetts | March 18–19, 2026
Conceived by Harvard professor Tyler J. VanderWeele, Director of the Human Flourishing Program, this summit invites leaders to ask deeper questions about what success truly means. Drawing on research across public health, psychology, economics, and philosophy, the gathering reframes flourishing as a rigorous, evidence-based framework encompassing meaning, relationships, character, health, and contribution.
At a time when leadership conversations are dominated by speed and scale, the Summit offers something rare: space to reflect on values, direction, and purpose—and to ask not just how fast we are moving, but toward what kind of future.
6. Aspen Ideas Festival Aspen, Colorado | June 25 – July 1, 2026
Founded in 2005 by the Aspen Institute, a liberal think tank, the Aspen Ideas Festival has become a flagship gathering for exploring the world’s most pressing issues. Policymakers, business innovators, scientists, artists, and authors converge for a week of deep dialogue across disciplines.
With roughly 3,000 attendees and hundreds of sessions, the festival blends structured programming with informal exchanges over meals and mountain walks. Topics span public policy, technology, health, culture, economics, and leadership—offering both breadth and depth in equal measure.
Why One Leadership Conference a Year Matters
In a world moving faster than our institutions—and often our leadership capabilities —can keep up with, attending at least one leadership conference each year is no longer a luxury. It is a discipline. The right gathering can restore your sense of perspective, sharpen your foresight, and reconnect you to the values that first called you to leadership.
You don’t need an invitation to Davos to engage seriously with the many forces driving the future. You simply need the courage to step out of the day-to-day, enter an environment where ideas and values still matter, so that you return home prepared to build a better future.
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/robertbtucker/2026/01/21/no-davos-invite-these-6-leadership-conferences-are-great-alternatives/
