Request a cohort
A cohort of working professionals listening to a guide at Gettysburg.

For organizations

You have funded leadership programs before. You could not show what changed.

Request a cohortA brief you can forward

You know how it went. People came back energized and the scores were good. Six weeks later nothing had changed. Nobody said so, because the content was fine and the facilitator was excellent.

Two things were missing. The practice never touched a problem your organization actually has, so leaders went back to desks where the hypotheticals don't live. And nothing followed them. The binder went in a drawer, and the only number anyone collected was a satisfaction score taken while the room still felt good.

Here, leaders practice inside real decisions with the ending sealed. Each decision comes back as a commitment aimed at work your organization named before the first case. Their manager and their team are asked what changed at the start and again at the end. For six months after, the work keeps coming back.

If you don't want the part after, there are cheaper ways to get the result you got last time.

A cohort of working professionals listening on the rocks of Little Round Top, Gettysburg, beside the statue of General Warren.
A cohort on Little Round Top, Gettysburg.

Where typical programs stop short

Most programs teach one step of five.

A hard call starts well before the meeting where it gets made, and it lasts for quarters afterwards. Typical programs train the meeting.

  1. 01

    Notice

    See the problem early

  2. 02

    Frame

    Find the real question

  3. 03

    Counsel

    Ask the people who disagree

  4. 04

    Decide

    Make the call on time

    Typical programs train this step

  5. 05

    Carry

    Hold it, explain it, change it openly

Lived Path trains all five

What happens after the last day.

A typical program ends with a survey while the room still feels good. Here the last session is the middle of the story.

Typical program
The program · Survey on the last day · Then nothing
Lived Path

The year: two retreats, four field days, twelve cases · Six months of two-minute prompts

  1. Rated before the first case

  2. Rated after the twelfth, and the team writes back

  3. Checked at three and six months

Schematic. Not to scale.

How this is different.

TopicTypical leadership programLived Path
What is trainedThe moment of choice: frameworks and checklists once a decision is already on the tableThe whole arc: notice early, frame the real question, seek counsel from people who disagree, decide on time, and carry the consequence
The practiceDiscuss a framework; the outcome is usually known or hypotheticalCommit before the outcome is known, then lead through the consequence of that same commitment
Handling dissentRarely practiced; agreement is often treated as alignmentPracticed every week against a case coach that argues the other side
The homeworkA reflection exercise about the sessionLive applications aimed at a problem your business unit named
Who is in the roomMixed public cohort; people stay generalOne company per cohort, so leaders can name real problems without performing for strangers
What is reportedSatisfaction and completionFour observable behaviors, rated by the leader and their manager. Separately, what the people they work with said helped and what got in the way.
When it is measuredOn the last day, or in a survey shortly afterBefore the first case, after the twelfth, and again three and six months later, on the same scale, so you can see whether it held
Manager involvementOptional briefingA check-in every stretch, tracked and visible to the sponsor

What your leaders work in.

The cases run on the platform between field days. The ending stays sealed until a leader commits, and the case coach argues against whatever they lean toward.

The Thin File at the decision point: the brief, set at the Food and Drug Administration in 1960, beside a photograph of the medical officer at her desk.
The decision point in The Thin File.
The case coach on The File on Her Desk. It argues the other side and never gives the answer. Below it, the question the leader has to answer: what do you do?
The case coach, in The File on Her Desk. It argues the other side and never gives the answer.

Ways to start

Start with one day, one team, or the year.

  1. A field day

    One day for your executive team, at Gettysburg or Antietam, built around one decision you face this year. If you go on to the year within 90 days, the field day counts toward it.

    Ask about a field day

  2. A pilot with one team

    One team, one cohort, twelve weeks. You see the case library, the evidence instruments and the security pack before you commit.

  3. The year

    Two leadership retreats, four field days and twelve cases, built for one company and one team.

The price depends on the size of the cohort, the grounds you walk, and whether you start with a field day, a pilot or the year. The scoped proposal states it after the first conversation, before you commit to anything.

Most begin with a pilot. Every engagement is scoped with you.

Bring a cohort into your organization.

One conversation with John, then a scoped pilot with a single team.

A brass compass on an old map of Gettysburg. A dotted path runs inside a ring from Talk to John, to Week 1: the first case, to Week 12: their team answers, then leaves the ring for The year. Beside it: Lived Path. Start with one team for twelve weeks. You see the cases, the measures and the security pack before you commit.
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