Over the summer we partnered with the Wharton Executive Education program to learn executive leadership. We joined a team of executives through three expansive leadership programs, spending time at a variety of locations. We rowed along the Schuylkill River, made short films with the Pig Iron Theatre Company, and even went to Longwood Gardens for a retreat.
The program is designed to help grow executive leadership in individuals. It’s always interesting and humbling to see people trying to better themselves. But this time was a little different because it hit close to home. As a small business owner, a lot of the lessons applied to us, too.
We spent one day photographing on the Schuylkill River. With Philly’s iconic boathouse row in the background, the program’s participants tasted what it was like to work as a team. They worked together to make a rowing shell move across the water. Not unlike getting a small team of photographers working together to cover an event.
Another day we spent with the people from Pig Iron Theatre Company. They came to campus to teach the group visual storytelling. Teams formed and stories were created. The Pig Iron folks demonstrated the process of video production and then the teams completed their own project. Another lesson in team work.
Finally, we all ventured out to Longwood Gardens for a retreat. We broke into groups to work on a story. Only this time we worked on our “Story of Self”. We visualized where we saw ourselves in fifteen years and wrote it up as a narrative. Not a bad thing for any executive (or small business owner) to do every once in a while. Especially those who truly care about executive leadership.
