Navigating Change with Clarity & Balance: Workshop for Microsoft's Leadership Team
The Objective
In a region navigating fast-paced innovation, shifting customer demands, and continued organizational growth, the CEO of Microsoft Greece, Cyprus and Malta made a clear call: leadership must be more than performance-driven. It must be grounded, emotionally intelligent, and equipped to lead through uncertainty, not just through strategy and execution, but through presence, connection, and clarity.
To support this vision, One Breath was invited to design a customized leadership workshop for the full leadership team, as an opportunity to pause, reconnect, and align on what it means to lead well in a time of continuous change.
The Workshop
The half-day workshop was designed to support both individual reflection and collective alignment. It combined evidence-based practices from leadership development, neuroscience and mindfulness, and invited participants to step back from the day-to-day in order to reflect on how they show up, both for themselves and for their teams.
At the heart of the session were five key leadership capacities:
Self-awareness – the ability to recognize not only who you are, but how you are, especially under pressure
Stability – cultivating a sense of inner steadiness in order to respond to challenges from a clear, grounded place
Care – re-centering self-care as a leadership responsibility, not a luxury
Meaning – reconnecting with personal purpose and shared values to drive motivation and direction
Gratitude – building a culture of appreciation, where both small efforts and big wins are acknowledged
The design also prioritized psychological safety, allowing space for vulnerability, curiosity and connection.
The Impact
What unfolded in the room went beyond content. From the start, the team demonstrated a strong foundation of trust, pride, and mutual respect. They spoke candidly about what they’re building together. They offered each other recognition freely. There was laughter, insight, and a collective sense of commitment—not just to results, but to each other.
This was not a team seeking transformation, but one investing in the conditions that make high performance sustainable: connection, clarity, and care. Participants walked away with practical tools to apply immediately in their leadership practice, as well as a renewed sense of what it means to lead from within—anchored in values, and responsive to change.
The session closed with a reminder from Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn, founder of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR):
“You can’t stop the waves, but you can learn how to surf.”
This leadership team left the room not only ready to surf the next wave, but to support each other in staying balanced, steady, and human while doing so.
For more insights on workshops like this check out our corporate Learning & Development Programs