Excerpts from Reports by Participants
on Their Experience During the First Year
of the School for Leadership

Photo: November 2009

Participants from the United States

I have grown in my leadership style and intentionality about being a transformational leader. I have done more thinking outside the box and helped others to do the same.

Breakdowns gave me the most growth as a transformational leader. What would have destroyed my forward movement in the past and “given me the excuse” to just let go saying, “I tried” now truly became springboards back to commitment. In recommitting I opened a great flow of creativity.

Participants from Israel

The first year was powerful and transformational! I don't know how I would have been able to handle all the things that I needed to handle this year without it. What I do know is that with it I could handle them much better -- in a way that I value, and that I think people around me value.

What worked best for me about the school was the strong, non-judgmental, and consistent support. This started with the Five-Day experience where the large number of faculty and support staff created a sense of being loved and believed in. It felt as if I was launched into the world of community work with much care and trust.

Participants from Northern Ireland

The school has been a frame of reference for me all year. The declarations made at the Five-Day Program and the Three-Day Clinic propelled me on and gave me much energy, especially when I went beyond what I thought I might do.

I enter the second year with a quiet trust, anticipation and gratitude. For me the first year worked. Only now, at the end of it, I am becoming fully aware of the practice inherent in Mastery. In the beginning I didn’t fully appreciate that these are tools that I have been given, and I set them aside, only taking them out to look at them from time to time. It is only as the year progressed I have begun to realize that I can use these tools intentionally, and with practice I can learn mastery in crafting and creating the future I stand for.