The Gettysburg Leadership Experience for Collegiate Leaders

We Bring the Gettysburg Leadership Lessons to You

Is your team too big to travel? Your budget too small?

We can bring these same lessons to you in a full day workshop.

Summary

We will build a custom program to deliver at your site:

  • Multi-media tour of the battlefield
  • Presentaton on the battle and the key leadership lessons from our historian
  • Facilitated discussion of how these lessons apply to and can help your organization
  • Personal Leadership Philosophy workshop in which participants create a tool to communicate expectations on their respective teams.

Overview

The Gettysburg Leadership Workshop draws from key decision points and challenges during the Civil War battle to help participants learn timeless lessons on leadership and gain new insights and new ideas on:

  • How peer leadership is an integral and essential part of achieving both individual and team success
  • The importance of setting the example and holding each other accountable to build lasting bonds.
  • How successful leaders share their vision for success, reduce the possibility of misinterpretation, and get everyone pulling in the same direction
  • How leaders develop imagination and courage in themselves and others
  • Why character, a central element of leadership, is the key to building trust on teams

By examining the leadership challenges facing commanders in the largest battle ever fought in North America, participants learn practical, usable lessons that will benefit their modern organizations.

Attendees read Michael Shaara’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Killer Angels before the program. This dramatic work introduces key characters and outlines important aspects of the battle.

The first part of the workshop is an interactive seminar that challenges participants to consider how they think and function as leaders.

In the second part of the workshop attendees write a personal leadership philosophy, which helps establish clear expectations and communicates a personal vision by detailing:

  • Here’s what I believe about my role as a leader
  • Here’s what I expect from you
  • Here’s what you can expect from me

This powerful tool grew out of a study of high-performing organizations in the US Navy, which found that in the best units, commanders made their expectations clear and shared how they wanted the team to function. The personal leadership philosophy provides valuable clarity to both the leader and the team, serving as a foundation for transparency and continuous improvement.

Each participant will also receive a copy of the Leader’s Compass Workshop Booklet, created by Academy Leadership.

By the end of the workshop, each participant will have written their leadership philosophy and will have shared it with others for feedback and transparency.