Experiential Programs
Antietam: Robert E. Lee and George B. McClellan as CEOs and HR Directors
The 1862 Maryland Campaign, culminating in the Battle of Antietam, is the subject of this seminar. The contrasts in the Union and Confederate armies in size and resources, as well as the differing personalities of the two commanders, George McClellan and Robert E. Lee, offer concrete insights into the competencies of business acumen and leading people. At each of a half dozen stops we unfold the story of the battle and reflect upon a particular leadership connection to that spot and its application for today’s leaders. Program Length: 1 day.
Boston: Teambuilding Along the Freedom Trail
This program offers an exploration of Boston’s Freedom Trail as a way of considering leadership in a broad context. After an introduction, we go mobile and take to the trail, beginning at the Boston Common and ending at Bunker Hill. Participants are split into groups and given time to explore the sites they find interesting. A handout includes an activity for each site that sets the historical context, offers a leadership insight, and asks the group to reflect upon that leadership connection in their daily world. Given the nature of this program, it is particularly appropriate for organizations looking for a teambuilding experience. Program Length: 4 hours to 1 day.
The Constitutional Convention: Coalition Building at Its Finest
Through the story of the Constitutional Convention in 1787 we explore building coalitions and negotiating. The methods and protocols the founders used during the four months it took them to draft the Constitution illustrate some of today’s best models on building coalitions and negotiating, and offers unique insights found nowhere else. The saga of George Mason, in particular, is one all leaders should take to heart. Program Length: 1-4 hours.
Gettysburg: Leading People and Driving Results
The 1863 Gettysburg Campaign offers the opportunity to examine leadership at every level and in every ECQ competency. In addition to the obvious choice of Leading People, Gettysburg offers fascinating insight into Results Driven and its sub-competencies of accountability, customer service, decisiveness, entrepreneurship, problem solving, and technical credibility. Program Length: 3 hours to 5 days.
Harpers Ferry: Three Windows on Leading Change
In 1859, abolitionist John Brown plotted and carried out a raid on the federal armory and arsenal at Harpers Ferry. Brown intended to seize the weapons stored at that facility, get them into the hands of the 17,000 enslaved people in the surrounding counties, and begin a war that would end slavery in America. Despite the raid’s ultimate failure and Brown’s execution, this story offers a compelling way to explore three fundamental models on leading change. In addition to Brown, we explore the stories of Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass, two people who refused Brown’s invitation to join the raid, as a way of further delving into the complexities of change. We begin in a seminar room in Harpers Ferry before embarking on a walking tour of the town, tracing the raider’s path. Program Length: 3.5 hours.
Jamestown: Vision, Values, and Missions in the Founding of America
The story of the first permanent English settlement in what would become the United States offers a unique way to consider multiple facets of leadership, including leading people, leading change, driving results, building coalitions, and business acumen. This is a story of failures as well as successes, of the origins of slavery as well as that of democracy. This program is conducted on site at Historic Jamestown, where we literally follow in steps of John Smith, Pocahontas, and Chief Powhatan. We conclude the program with a discussion of Bacon’s Rebellion, a moment that fundamentally altered the trajectory of Colonial Virginia and still reverberates today. Program Length: 2.5 hours to 1 day.
Manassas: Results Driven
This program uses the first major battle of the Civil War as a window into results driven, with discussion questions and/or models introduced to explore each of the six sub-competencies of accountability, customer service, decisiveness, entrepreneurship, problem-solving, and technical credibility. This session is conducted entirely at the Manassas National Battlefield, and can be done completely on foot or with the assistance of a bus. Program Length: 4-6 hours.
Mount Vernon: Farmer Washington's Business Acumen
This program offers a unique window into entrepreneurship and business acumen by examining how George Washington used technology and an unyielding search for efficiency to transform Mount Vernon from an unprofitable tobacco plantation into a diversified, lucrative, and sustainable business. We begin in the seminar room before touring Washington’s pioneer farm, gristmill, and distillery. Along the way we reflect upon Washington’s various techniques and how his insights might apply today. Program Length: 5 hours to 1 day.
President Lincoln's Cottage
This seminar examines the steps Abraham Lincoln took that led to the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation in September 1862. The leadership focus can be leading people, leading change, or building coalitions, all things that Lincoln had to do to before issuing the Proclamation. We begin by exploring how Lincoln purposefully brought attention to his change movement, his strategy for winning over dissenters, how diverse voices affected Lincoln’s thinking, and his atypical view on communicating the organizational vision. After approximately 90 minutes in the seminar room we tour the Cottage – the location where Lincoln wrote that historic document. Program Length: ½ day to 1 day.
Valley Forge: Insights Into Business Acumen
We explore how George Washington and his generals used the Valley Forge winter encampment of 1777-1778 to transform the Continental Army from a ragged bunch of individuals with unreliable equipment into the fighting force that would win the Revolutionary War. Along the way we explore financial management, human capital management, and technology management. Program Length: 1 day.
Visionary Monuments: Vision, Values, and Legacy
This walking tour explores the Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorials in Washington D.C. as a way of thinking about vision, values, and legacy. Our tour follows two timelines simultaneously, that of the historical figures and that of the monuments. Program Length: 3 hours.
Votes for Women: Leading Change the Alice Paul Way
This session uses the story of Alice Paul, the person most responsible for securing the Nineteenth Amendment extending voting rights to women, as a way of exploring a number of emerging theories on leading change. This session can be done as a stand-alone seminar or include a visit to the Belmont-Paul Women's Equality National Monument in Washington D.C. Program Length: 2-5 hours.
Other Programs
Please contact us for information about other programs centered on:
The Alamo
Fort McHenry
Fort Necessity (Pennsylvania)
Franklin Roosevelt/FDR Memorial
Lexington and Concord
Mann Gulch (Montana)
Woodrow Wilson
Yorktown
Antietam: Robert E. Lee and George B. McClellan as CEOs and HR Directors
The 1862 Maryland Campaign, culminating in the Battle of Antietam, is the subject of this seminar. The contrasts in the Union and Confederate armies in size and resources, as well as the differing personalities of the two commanders, George McClellan and Robert E. Lee, offer concrete insights into the competencies of business acumen and leading people. At each of a half dozen stops we unfold the story of the battle and reflect upon a particular leadership connection to that spot and its application for today’s leaders. Program Length: 1 day.
Boston: Teambuilding Along the Freedom Trail
This program offers an exploration of Boston’s Freedom Trail as a way of considering leadership in a broad context. After an introduction, we go mobile and take to the trail, beginning at the Boston Common and ending at Bunker Hill. Participants are split into groups and given time to explore the sites they find interesting. A handout includes an activity for each site that sets the historical context, offers a leadership insight, and asks the group to reflect upon that leadership connection in their daily world. Given the nature of this program, it is particularly appropriate for organizations looking for a teambuilding experience. Program Length: 4 hours to 1 day.
The Constitutional Convention: Coalition Building at Its Finest
Through the story of the Constitutional Convention in 1787 we explore building coalitions and negotiating. The methods and protocols the founders used during the four months it took them to draft the Constitution illustrate some of today’s best models on building coalitions and negotiating, and offers unique insights found nowhere else. The saga of George Mason, in particular, is one all leaders should take to heart. Program Length: 1-4 hours.
Gettysburg: Leading People and Driving Results
The 1863 Gettysburg Campaign offers the opportunity to examine leadership at every level and in every ECQ competency. In addition to the obvious choice of Leading People, Gettysburg offers fascinating insight into Results Driven and its sub-competencies of accountability, customer service, decisiveness, entrepreneurship, problem solving, and technical credibility. Program Length: 3 hours to 5 days.
Harpers Ferry: Three Windows on Leading Change
In 1859, abolitionist John Brown plotted and carried out a raid on the federal armory and arsenal at Harpers Ferry. Brown intended to seize the weapons stored at that facility, get them into the hands of the 17,000 enslaved people in the surrounding counties, and begin a war that would end slavery in America. Despite the raid’s ultimate failure and Brown’s execution, this story offers a compelling way to explore three fundamental models on leading change. In addition to Brown, we explore the stories of Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass, two people who refused Brown’s invitation to join the raid, as a way of further delving into the complexities of change. We begin in a seminar room in Harpers Ferry before embarking on a walking tour of the town, tracing the raider’s path. Program Length: 3.5 hours.
Jamestown: Vision, Values, and Missions in the Founding of America
The story of the first permanent English settlement in what would become the United States offers a unique way to consider multiple facets of leadership, including leading people, leading change, driving results, building coalitions, and business acumen. This is a story of failures as well as successes, of the origins of slavery as well as that of democracy. This program is conducted on site at Historic Jamestown, where we literally follow in steps of John Smith, Pocahontas, and Chief Powhatan. We conclude the program with a discussion of Bacon’s Rebellion, a moment that fundamentally altered the trajectory of Colonial Virginia and still reverberates today. Program Length: 2.5 hours to 1 day.
Manassas: Results Driven
This program uses the first major battle of the Civil War as a window into results driven, with discussion questions and/or models introduced to explore each of the six sub-competencies of accountability, customer service, decisiveness, entrepreneurship, problem-solving, and technical credibility. This session is conducted entirely at the Manassas National Battlefield, and can be done completely on foot or with the assistance of a bus. Program Length: 4-6 hours.
Mount Vernon: Farmer Washington's Business Acumen
This program offers a unique window into entrepreneurship and business acumen by examining how George Washington used technology and an unyielding search for efficiency to transform Mount Vernon from an unprofitable tobacco plantation into a diversified, lucrative, and sustainable business. We begin in the seminar room before touring Washington’s pioneer farm, gristmill, and distillery. Along the way we reflect upon Washington’s various techniques and how his insights might apply today. Program Length: 5 hours to 1 day.
President Lincoln's Cottage
This seminar examines the steps Abraham Lincoln took that led to the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation in September 1862. The leadership focus can be leading people, leading change, or building coalitions, all things that Lincoln had to do to before issuing the Proclamation. We begin by exploring how Lincoln purposefully brought attention to his change movement, his strategy for winning over dissenters, how diverse voices affected Lincoln’s thinking, and his atypical view on communicating the organizational vision. After approximately 90 minutes in the seminar room we tour the Cottage – the location where Lincoln wrote that historic document. Program Length: ½ day to 1 day.
Valley Forge: Insights Into Business Acumen
We explore how George Washington and his generals used the Valley Forge winter encampment of 1777-1778 to transform the Continental Army from a ragged bunch of individuals with unreliable equipment into the fighting force that would win the Revolutionary War. Along the way we explore financial management, human capital management, and technology management. Program Length: 1 day.
Visionary Monuments: Vision, Values, and Legacy
This walking tour explores the Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorials in Washington D.C. as a way of thinking about vision, values, and legacy. Our tour follows two timelines simultaneously, that of the historical figures and that of the monuments. Program Length: 3 hours.
Votes for Women: Leading Change the Alice Paul Way
This session uses the story of Alice Paul, the person most responsible for securing the Nineteenth Amendment extending voting rights to women, as a way of exploring a number of emerging theories on leading change. This session can be done as a stand-alone seminar or include a visit to the Belmont-Paul Women's Equality National Monument in Washington D.C. Program Length: 2-5 hours.
Other Programs
Please contact us for information about other programs centered on:
The Alamo
Fort McHenry
Fort Necessity (Pennsylvania)
Franklin Roosevelt/FDR Memorial
Lexington and Concord
Mann Gulch (Montana)
Woodrow Wilson
Yorktown