Experiential Emphasis

To supplement your classroom experience, Thayer Leadership offers unparalleled, engaging experiential sessions that leverage the history and physical location of West Point and the Hudson River Valley. Each of the activities is led by experts in the field, who have rich military experience and are versed in the Army’s leadership principles. Embedded within the activities are the leadership principles one might hear in the classroom setting and has a facilitated debrief as the culminating event to prepare to transfer learning's back to the work environment.

For example, we have a World Gold Medalist and Olympic athlete who is a military veteran who brings his team of coxswain and rowers to train participants how to row crew shells. Executives learn success is about effective communication and synchronization of effort not about who works the hardest or who is strongest. It is about teamwork and being focused on one particular goal, with everyone pulling their own weight and focused in one direction. The session culminates with a 500m race on the Hudson River, followed by a ceremony awarding medals to the winning team, and a debrief of applications in the work environment.

View Faculty biographies here.

We offer additional experiential and team building activities including:

• West Point Staff Ride Leadership Exercise
• Leader Reaction Course (LRC)
• Navigating Difficult Terrain (Forest/Urban Orienteering)
• Military Style Physical Training Bootcamp