Leadership at altitude
[The following is a work in progress draft I’m iterating and formalising]
Leadership is frequently talked about in business circles, it at least seems to be a necessary component of a successful manager or business founder. It certainly sounds like a lofty, serious, and even heavy one.
It also comes with a heavy duty. To quote Spiderman: "with great power, comes great responsibility."
It's serious business. You're dealing with stress, finances, lots of time, your investor's money, people counting on you, your self-judgement. People look up to you, their success at work and their livelihood may well depend on you.
It is a lot of stress, indeed responsibility, and whether you have direct bosses, partners, investors, or customers, sometimes it doesn't even feel like you have that much power at all.
Maybe you can blow off some steam gliding down a mountain, but it's not all this is about.
This programme is about bringing play into your leadership.
I got back into skiing about ten years ago and love how it involves a balance of skilled control and letting go at the same time. It's not at all intuitive, and a pleasure when the right balance is reached. Analogies can be made with leadership, whether participants are beginners or seasoned skiers.
From the Greek gods living on top of Mount Olympus, to Moses receiving the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai, or the famous Wanderer above the Sea of Fog 19th-century Romantic movement painting, myths and symbols linking leadership and mountains abound.
I believe learning from play could take you to the next level of leadership, or at least bring some lightness to the overly significant and serious business of being a leader in your business and in your life.
Intention
Give business leaders an appreciation for the value of play in their style of leadership
Gain tools and practices to integrate play in their leadership and in their business.
Location: It’s pretty open. It could be La Rosière, Tignes / Val d'Isère, Cortina d'Ampezzo, etc.
Why a ski trip?
I'm envisioning this as a ski trip for a few different reasons:
The mountaintop is an analogy for the leader: alone, above others, removed from their concerns.
Skiing, like all gliding sports, requires a tricky balance of attentive control skills AND relaxed letting go, at the same time. It is counter-intuitive, I think much of learning and practicing leadership is equally counter-intuitive.
It is a completely different environment in which to learn, far from other business concerns.
Like a theme park, it is a controlled and engineered environment designed for leisure and wonder, though unlike theme parks it is also in nature and isn't fully controlled, only managed.
Format and content
One individual call per participant
One group video conference session
Two to four days in person on a ski resort with a small group of participants, likely to take place partly over a weekend. It is far and demanding to get to, I’m still working on the details, this is a beta version.
Day 1
Morning 2h ski lesson with a ski instructor
Organised coffee pause up on the mountain (in a private or semi-private restaurant room, TBC), debrief lesson and introduce the first discussion about leadership.
Short skiing session to lunch location in the mountain.
Free time after lunch
Late afternoon workshop session.
Optional dinner and/or evening activity.
Day 2
Morning 2h ski lesson with a ski instructor
Late morning workshop session
Lunch
Afternoon workshop session
The rest is work in progrss
Participants
Entrepreneurs, business owners / founders, executive committee / C-Suite.
Approximately five to ten participants.
Outcome
Integrate ease and play into your leadership style.
As stated above, this is a (very) early beta draft, I’m working on a product page. I am interested in organising prototype tests at cost, in exchange for detailed feedback and testimonials. If you are interested, please send me an email: willem@playfulbrandstrategy.com.
