You are cordially invited to the John Jay Institute Executive Leadership Seminar

On Greatness
a continuing educational seminar for working professionals

"History...Is at bottom the History of Great Men who have worked here."
- Thomas Carlyle, Historian (1795-1881)

Purpose

The Executive Leadership Seminar assists business executives, civic, community, and religious leaders to become leaders of principle and purpose for directing their organizations and communities toward the ideal of the good society. The Seminar seeks to address a central need of business and community leaders' to exchange ideas with colleagues while probing ideas and values that underlie their work and the ends to which their respective organizations are directed. Each seminar combines three essential ingredients:

• The assembly of a diverse group of thoughtful Christian men and women in intellectually rigorous roundtable discussions literally around the table to converse with one another in the context of faith;
• The exploration of great books stretching from ancient to modern times, for the power and relevancy of their ideas to the fundamental issues in our society and culture, and
• The incarnation of ideas through personal appropriation for engaging the challenges of the present age.

The Executive Leadership Seminar challenges leaders in every field to think more critically and deeply about the nature of the good society and the virtues necessary for sustaining republican democracy. Our proven method of text-based dialogue offers participants a forum in which to reflect upon the classical and Christian virtues, cultivate a deeper understanding of the human condition, and be equipped to pursue public moral discourse on common ground. Participants emerge from the Executive Leadership Seminar personally renewed, professionally re-focused, and inspired to lead in their respective spheres of influence as they confront the significant challenges of our ever-changing world.

Curriculum

Specifically, the focus of the Executive Leadership Seminar is on the ideal of greatness or what the ancients called "magnanimity." In his 1828 Dictionary of American Language, Noah Webster defined it as: "Greatness of mind; that elevation or dignity of soul, which encounters danger and trouble with tranquility and firmness, which raises the possessor above revenge, and makes him delight in acts of benevolence, which makes him disdain injustice and meanness, and prompts him to sacrifice personal ease, interest and safety for the accomplishment of useful and noble objects." An exploration of the ideal magnanimity as a leadership virtue will be explored through the teachings of Jesus, St. Paul, Aristotle, Cicero, Plutarch, Aquinas, John Witherspoon, John Marshall, C.S. Lewis, and others. Using the criteria of magnanimity as classically and Christianly understood, the exemplary life of George Washington and others are examined as case studies in leadership.

Setting

The educational setting is conducive to personal reflection and fellowship, each seminar convenes a diverse group of 15-20 leaders for lively, intensive roundtable discussions led by skilled moderators. Classic and contemporary texts covering the breadth of western civilization form the starting points of a rich conversation in which the questions posed and explored help to exposit the timeless wisdom of the texts. This seminar is designed leave the participant personally and professionally invigorated, more skilled in making decisions, and transformed by their knowledge and experience. During the course of the seminar participants can relax and enjoy substantial unscheduled time for reading and re-reading, reflection, and enjoyment of the seminar location's natural beauty and various sites of historical and cultural interest.

Participants

The Executive Leadership Seminar participants are:

• Top leaders from all walks of life who are looking for a leadership development program that focuses on the key questions of leadership and character.
• Successful leaders who want to clarify their core values as they strive to live more meaningful professional and personal lives of purpose.
• Visionary leaders who are not content with the status quo, but are looking to help direct their communities toward the good society.
• Concerned leaders who want to be challenged to think more deeply and act more justly in the service of their organizations and communities.

Moderator

Greg Jesson, Ph.D.

As an undergraduate student Dr. Jesson wrote a thirty-page letter of questions to the late Christian apologist Francis Schaeffer and was subsequently invited to study with Schaeffer at L'Abri, Switzerland. After finishing his residency at L'Abri Dr. Jesson completed a B.A. in philosophy at the University of California at Los Angeles; an M.A. in philosophy at the University of Southern California under Dr. Dallas Willard; and a Ph.D. in philosophy at the University of Iowa. Dr. Jesson has taught at many universities and lectured widely in Europe on philosophy, religion, and culture. He was invited to speak at the Veritas Forum at Stanford University, the University of California at Santa Cruz, and the California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo. Currently, he is a professor at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa. He has published popular articles on culture such as "The Train Wreck of Truth and Knowledge," and "Love Focused Through the Eye of the Lens: Romance, Sex, and the Human Condition in Contemporary Cinema," along with philosophical works including his book, Taking Skepticism and Knowledge Seriously: The Ontology of Knowing; and editing a book of essays entitled Ontology and Analysis. Inspired by the vision of G.K. Chesterton and C.S. Lewis, Dr. Jesson is interested in educational efforts where faith, learning, and thought, are the most relevant, exciting, and compelling things in the world.

March 20-26, 2011

Spring Canyon, Buena Vista, Colorado
Exclusively offered for Anglican Chaplains (CANA)

Contact

The Rev. Canon Michael Williams
Governmental Agency Chaplaincies Coordinator
Deanery for the Chaplaincy
Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA)
www.cana-chaplains.org

(719) 434-3364 (Office)
(719) 649-8764 (Cell)
revmwilliams777@aol.com