If you want to understand or implement more collaboration and less hierarchy, this is a fantastic starting point. It equips you with both knowledge and practical learning you need.
In financial institutions, many leaders begin their careers believing that structure and hierarchy are what make organisations function effectively. Over time, that assumption is often challenged.
Describing himself as a finance generalist rather than a specialist, Benjamin Josar has worked across banking, brokerage, insurance, and asset management, including serving as CEO of a brokerage firm that he later helped transform into a bank. In his role as President of the Management Board at Triglav Investments, Benjamin oversees a complex organisation where two key domains he must align are highly technical asset management, and a commercially driven sales arm.
In an environment filled with highly skilled experts and diverse perspectives, he describes his role as a constant exercise in translation: turning complex decisions into narratives that can be understood and used by sales teams and clients, while also ensuring client feedback is channelled back into sound investment decisions. “In financial institutions, there is, of course, data and models, but the key is people,” he explains. “How you develop, lead and manage people in highly skilled environments is what really matters.”
It was this growing emphasis on collaboration and the persistent challenge of organisational silos that led him to reassess the need for collaborative leadership development. Having previously attended programmes at INSEAD, Benjamin was already familiar with its executive education approach and saw the INSEAD Collaborative Leadership programme as the right fit for the leadership challenges he was facing.
In a collaborative environment, things are not as clear. There is more discussion among teams and individuals. This requires people skills, listening skills, and emotional intelligence.
Walking into the programme, the diversity of participants was immediately evident, with different industries, cultures, and professional backgrounds coming together in one room. There was an initial question of how the experience would unfold in practice, but Benjamin quickly found INSEAD to be a “safe space” where discussion and debate became central to the learning process.
A key learning of the programme for him was how collaboration operates under ambiguity and how it challenges traditional assumptions about structured ways of working within financial institutions. “It’s scary because you feel like you’re not controlling things anymore. You are losing control, and you have to trust the teams that they will find the right solution,” he explains.
Rather than predefined answers or fixed processes, collaboration shapes outcomes through discussion, negotiation, and continuous adjustment — a shift that required greater resilience to navigate. During the programme, Benjamin came to see leadership less as enforcing structure and more as enabling alignment through dialogue. While outcomes become less predictable, he noted that the flow of ideas between teams improves, and organisations become more responsive to change.
One exercise in particular left a lasting impression. Working through a case simulation in groups, what initially felt like a clear and straightforward judgment quickly became more complex when other groups, drawing on diverse cultural perspectives, arrived at entirely different conclusions. “It opened my eyes that something that felt very clear from the first sight can actually be seen in a completely different way, which is equally valid,” he reflects. The realisation was not only intellectual, but humbling. When brought back into a work context, it required him to reconsider how quickly judgments can be formed in professional settings.
Collaboration means that from time to time there will be less clarity, but more adaptation and better results because we can respond to changing environments much easier.
The Collaborative Leadership programme completely changed the way strategy is implemented within his organisation. Following the programme, Benjamin led a restructuring away from functionally defined structures towards cross-functional teams responsible for delivering strategic priorities. Importantly, these teams are led by those best positioned to bring new perspective and drive execution. In some cases, more junior team members were given responsibility for leading strategic initiatives, reflecting a belief that capability and perspective matter as much as seniority.
“It created a lot of discussion internally — people were asking, ‘Wow, why we are doing it? What is the goal?” he reflects. This shift marked a deliberate break from traditional hierarchical design. To further support this change, a coaching structure was introduced. Each executive board member now meets regularly with the leaders of these strategic teams, providing guidance, feedback, and support as they navigate a less predictable operating environment.
“This is a different way of working. It requires more resilience from some colleagues, especially as it is new,” he reflects. While still relatively early in the transition, Benjamin notes that the new model has already created momentum within the organisation and he remains confident that the shift will deliver stronger outcomes, particularly in the asset management, where speed and adaptability are critical to maintaining competitive advantage.
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