On 30 June 2026, the Great Hall at Swansea University hosted the final summit of Climb Cohort Five. The event marked the culmination of a ten-month leadership journey delivered by the Dragon’s Heart Institute (DHI), and brought together health, social care and third sector leaders from across Wales and beyond to celebrate a remarkable group of changemakers.
The summit is where the journey comes to life. Each delegate delivered a personal “Ed-Talk”: a short and powerful story of growth, challenge, leadership and hope. The talks were honest and unguarded, moving many in the room to tears, and all to reflection.
This year’s summit was marked by three keynote speakers. Dame Sue Tranka, Chief Nursing Officer for Wales, spoke to the leadership the system needs now. Kate Young, Chair of the All Wales Parents and Carers Forum, brought the voice of families and lived experience to the room. And adventurer Ash Dykes, known for expeditions few have attempted, drew a line between the endurance of the wild and the endurance leadership asks for in health and care.
Climb is no ordinary leadership programme. Rooted in authenticity, vulnerability and systems change, it is designed to grow the kind of leadership the NHS, and public service more broadly, urgently needs. Over the course of the year, delegates explore their values, build relational skills, practise courageous conversations and reflect deeply on their purpose as leaders. It does not add noise. It strips things back to what really matters. Delivered by the DHI team alongside UK-leading and international partners, the programme continues to attract attention well beyond Wales, with applications once again far exceeding the places available.
Leadership beyond words
Climb is infamously difficult to describe. Leadership, reflection, courage, connection: each word is true, and none is enough. English has no single word for what happens across ten months of Climb. Looking to other languages, there are five that come closer.
Whakawhanaungatanga, from te reo Māori, describes the building of relationship and kinship until belonging is no longer a question. Every cohort begins as a room of near-strangers and does not stay that way. By the summit they are something closer to kin.
Meraki, from Greek, means to do something with soul and to leave a piece of yourself in it. That is the Ed-Talk. Nobody delivers one without leaving something of themselves on the stage.
Sprezzatura, an Italian word coined by Castiglione five centuries ago, is the studied grace that hides its own effort. The talks look effortless. Behind each one sit months of coaching, drafting, doubting and rehearsing, and so does the leadership Climb is trying to grow.
Cynefin needs no translation for a Welsh institute, and resists one anyway: the place, people and history you belong to, larger than the word “home”. Climb builds a cynefin, somewhere leaders are known and can return.
Ubuntu, from the Nguni Bantu languages of southern Africa, is usually rendered as “I am because we are.” It sits underneath the whole programme. Climb is not built on the lone, heroic leader, but on the understanding that we are made by the people around us.
The connections that last
At the heart of Climb are the connections formed between participants. Delegates learn with and from each other, building trust and shared purpose across professional, organisational and geographical boundaries. Many arrive as strangers and leave describing the cohort as something closer to family: a network of allies and friends they expect to carry with them long after the programme ends.
For Johan Skre, Arts in Health Service Manager at Swansea Bay UHB, that was the lasting gift:
“Climb has not only helped me clarify my values and strengths as a leader, enabling me to focus on what truly drives me forward, but it has also given me a community of incredible colleagues who I know will support, challenge, and guide me as I continue to step beyond the trodden path.”
For Mwape Burke, Immunisation Support Officer Supervisor at Swansea Bay UHB, it was a route back to her own story:
“Climb has been more than a programme for me, it has been a journey of discovering my ‘why’. It has helped me understand that great leadership isn’t about titles or having all the answers. It’s about knowing who you are, understanding your story and having the courage to use it to make a difference. It has changed how I see myself, helped me see the value in every person’s story and reminded me that people thrive when they feel seen, heard and valued. I’ll leave Climb with more confidence, more purpose and a commitment to lead with authenticity, empathy and curiosity.”
For others, the programme showed its worth in the moments that mattered most. Hannah Fleck, Service Manager at Conwy County Borough Council, reflected:
“The past ten months of the programme have been an unusual and brilliant opportunity to better understand myself as a leader, recognise the skills I brought with me, yet also to identify parts of my approach that I want to develop. The unique chance to learn, alongside a wide and varied range of individuals from different disciplines and organisations ensured that conversations were always vibrant, with perspectives that challenged, intrigued and stretched me! I’ve learnt that I need to be more confident in the skills I have, and invested in a pair of walking poles: we all have times when we need a little support from others! This past weekend we have been dealing with wildfires, a community impact that is entirely new to me, but which I felt better able to navigate and better able to support the community, drawing on skills I have developed these past months.”
As the applause rang out and Cohort Five stepped into their next chapter, it was clear that this was not an ending but a beginning. Climb may never fit a single English word. Five languages get closer than one ever did, and even they only circle the thing.
In a world changing at pace, with challenges on the horizon in every direction, this indescribable leadership developed by the Climb programme is exactly the kind we so desperately need.
