Overview & Mission

True leaders – the ones who courageously enact change, master opposition, foster productivity, and respond decisively – demonstrate leadership daily. It’s not enough to just know about leadership. At Thayer Leadership, we span the gap between knowing about leadership in theory and acting like a leader when it counts. We combine one of the nation’s most prestigious and decorated faculty with top field practitioners to facilitate the only leadership development program of its kind, building leaders in the very same time-honored tradition that has helped build one of the world’s most powerful nations.

Our Mission and Values

The mission of Thayer Leadership is to inspire and build leaders of character by offering leadership and ethics education grounded in time-honored military principles and values-based leadership delivered by proven leaders.  

As a premier executive leader development organization, Thayer offers unparalleled leadership experiences that blend world-class applied academic and experiential sessions to unleash the whole leader. We provide access to top battle- and boardroom-tested experts who have lived, served, and practiced the leadership principles they teach. By embracing the spirit of Sylvanus Thayer, our namesake and the “Father of West Point”, we deliver transformative leader development experiences that inspire action and change based on our values of purpose driven character, commitment to excellence, and innovative spirit.

Purpose-Driven Character: Having the motivation and integrity to deliver on our mission every day with energy, knowledge, and respect

Commitment to Excellence: Having the pride and dedication to be lifelong learners and collaborative team members in pursuit of serving our clients and each other

Innovative Spirit: Having the desire to inspire growth and transformation by being agile and navigating through uncertainty

How Thayer Develops and Inspires Whole Leaders

Thayer's unique approach to leadership development was founded on the U.S. Army's leadership philosophy of "Be, Know, Do", which focuses on creating complete leaders through the development of character, knowledge, and application. We translated “Be, Know, Do” into overarching principles and transformative experiences that are directly applicable to our client’s environment and outcomes, and allow them to lead individuals, teams, and organizations.

Everyone can be a leader or become a better leader. Leadership starts with knowing yourself and your values. At Thayer, we help you to know your strengths and areas of opportunity and translate these into actionable behaviors to be a whole leader for your organization.

As a leading, global expert in values-based leader development, our proprietary and motivating multi-pronged learning approach delivers a transformative experience for clients at West Point, online, virtually, or at any location around the world: 

LEADERS TRAINING LEADERS: APPLIED ACADEMICS — A superior combination of academics and applied learning makes Thayer's experiences anything but “textbook” leadership training. Here, theory becomes more relevant and concrete – as classroom teachings morph into highly interactive sessions grounded in widely applicable best practices from the military, working synergistically to bring together organizational, ethical and personal components to power leadership skills. Read More +

REINFORCED APPLICATION: EXPERIENTIAL EMPHASIS — These integrated, customizable experiential and team building exercises take the learnings from the classroom outdoors to leverage physical location and history. While outside, participants glean leadership lessons through innovative engagement and practice what they learned in real time. Delivered around the world and led by experts well-versed in the foundations of Army training, each activity is embedded with valuable leadership principles, directly reinforcing the core principles of strategy, communication, trust, ethics, and more. Read More +

CONTEXTUAL LEARNING: SENIOR ADVISORS — As a benchmark in leadership development, Thayer provides unrivaled access to Senior Advisors who have lived, served, and practiced the same principles that they teach. These individuals are retired Army senior leaders who serve as coaches and mentors helping develop action plans for organizations and individuals to implement in their environments. Read More +

CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT: INSPIRATIONAL KEYNOTES — Thayer's keynote speakers are inspirational and motivational "Leaders of Character" who share unique experiences and compelling messages that reinforce the principles that apply in the battlefield and the boardroom. They are tenured professionals who actively demonstrate leadership, and share insights that impact character development. Read More +