For established leaders and professionals who want to be more effective in serving their organizations and communities.
The Executive Seminars Program is designed to offer more established professionals a meaningful continuing education experience that is especially tailored to consider the duties and obligations of citizenship in our participatory republican democracy.
Curriculum
The Institute offers its world-class curriculum and Socratic methodology to the working professional through a series of seminars. In each seminar 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. Seminars are designed to leave the participant personally and professionally invigorated, more skilled in making decisions, and transformed by their knowledge and experience.
Setting
The educational setting is conducive to study, personal reflection, conversation, and fellowship. Each seminar convenes a diverse group of 15-20 leaders for lively, intensive roundtable discussions led by a skilled moderator. 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 Institute recruits top leaders from all walks of life who are looking for a leadership development program that focuses on questions rather than on answers; successful leaders who want to clarify their core values as they strive to live more significant professional and personal lives; visionary leaders who are looking to understand better the tensions inherent in conceptions of the good society; and concerned leaders who want to be challenged to think more deeply and act more justly in the service of their organizations and communities.
Outcome
The Institute’s Executive Seminars Program of text-based dialogue offers participants a forum in the context of Christian faith in which to reflect upon the permanent things, cultivate a deeper understanding of the human condition, and be better equipped to pursue public service with a compelling vision for the common good.
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.
Contact
If you are interested in attending an Executive Seminar or have further questions about the program, we encourage you to get in touch.