Time well spent: What leaders need most
Three insights from my week at Corporate Spring Camp
Remember summer camp, when you were a kid? Feeling the sun on your face; hearing the crunch of pine needles underfoot. Playing new games with different people and laughing harder than you had in months. The sharp thrill of discovery about yourself, others, the wider world. Finding your muscles sore and your skin sunburned at the end of the day, but yearning to stay up late into the evening around the campfire. Singing, sharing, making memories. Remember how the days seemed to stretch like taffy and last forever?
Last week, I spent several days in Tuscany with a group of leaders and coaches for the latest Corporate Spring Camp—a vital leadership experience designed not just to develop skills, but to make space for leaders to revitalize themselves.
I was there as co-host alongside my friend and collaborator, Annicken Day of Corporate Spring. Originally, Annicken and I had envisioned a structured, research-backed leadership program. Something that included all the predictable elements: frameworks, stories, methods, exercises, commitments. But early conversations with prospective participants revealed a more pressing need.
Leaders didn’t want content. They wanted time.
Time to think. To breathe. To reawaken their curiosity. To reconnect with the kind of leader they want to be.
In my work, I hear this same refrain from leaders across industries and levels:
"My calendar is back-to-back-to-back."
“I’m always in firefighting mode.”
"I can’t find space to breathe."
"I know I’m not leading my people the way I want to, but I just don’t have time to think about it."
And that’s a problem. Because when you don’t have time to invest in the foundations of your leadership, you can’t lean on them when times get tough. The result? Less performance. Less growth. Less trust. Leaders feel they can’t delegate. Teams feel directionless. Everyone's frustrated.
Most leaders don’t need another playbook. They need a place and time to think.
So Annicken and I redesigned the camp. We built something quieter. Slower. Deeper. We pulled from the principles of summer camp: Provide an environment ripe for growth–light, air, excellent food, a glorious view away from the grind, good company, and psychological safety–then sit back and let the people rise.
It worked so poignantly, I’m not sure how to capture it in words.
Here’s are the 3 things that surprised me most about this camp experience:
1. Presence
They came from around the world, different industries, backgrounds, roles, and career phases. And the moment the group arrived, they were ready to be present. Laptops remained shut. Phones were left in bedrooms. Eyes lifted. Conversations slowed down and intensified. People showed up fully, fast.
Again, it reminded me of summer camp as a kid—when you step outside your normal life, and suddenly everything sharpens.
When we stated our intentions for the week, we found change projects, career ambitions, books to be written, and personal transformations of every stripe and color. From there, we embarked on a journey together, full of rich, real conversations—without distraction.
The relief was palpable. Focus, as it turns out, is easy when you dare to put yourself in the moment and choose to stay there.
2. Depth
Within hours, we were talking about purpose, failure, identity, mortality, and legacy. Not abstractly, but personally. Not performatively, but vulnerably.
What does it mean to lead with authenticity, when that word has been buzzworded into oblivion?
What does it mean to bring your best self—not in theory, but on a Tuesday?
People brought stories, not slides. They asked for help. They listened. And they met each other with grace and honesty. Trust formed quickly and helped crystallize our exchanges.
One participant, Tolga, said it perfectly:
"I talk to the same people about the same things all the time. I came here to talk to different people about different things."
No topic was off the table.
What is the value of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion? What are the downsides of our approaches so far? How can we keep moving the needle forward?
Who do we turn to when we have hard things to talk about at work? What do we do when the support we need as leaders isn’t there?
Like leaping off the cliff at summer camp, hurtling deep into the clear, cold water, these moments were incredibly refreshing. We dared to be open, and had the time and space to do it well with each other.
3. Intellectual stimulation
This one caught me off guard. I’m fortunate enough to have built a life that gives me a LOT of intellectual stimulation. I’m constantly in contact with new people and ideas. I read 50+ books a year. I move across disciplines and sectors, constantly learning from my clients. So sometimes I forget how easy it is for leaders to go numb—to get stuck playing the same game on loop.
What lit everyone up at camp was the chance to wonder again. To stretch their minds across new questions. To say, “Wait, tell me more about that.”
Neuroscience. Behavioral psychology. Pedagogy. Communication. Literature. Music. Art. Physiology. Economics. Travel. Health. Wine. We explored these topics from our circle of couches, around the dinner table, on a terrace over a bright orange apertivo against a brighter orange Tuscan sunset.
People think curiosity is automatic. It’s not. I believe it’s an innate human quality, sure, but curiosity needs time. It needs space. It needs something new to bump up against. And when it gets those things? Curiosity flares back to life.
As I said before, I arrived as a co-host. But Annicken and I agreed that we also wanted to benefit from this week away as leaders, ourselves. We were there shoulder-to-shoulder with the participants, and learned as much from them as they learned from us. We grew together. Better than planned.
If I had to distill what the camp ultimately provided it would be these three things:
Presence, Depth, and Intellectual Stimulation. All foundational for future-ready leadership.
I’m grateful to the folks who joined us, and I’m proud that Annicken and I were able to make the time and place for it.
And I can’t wait to make it again…
