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The Battle of the Bulge Leadership Experience

By Cascading Strategic Vision, Communicating Abiguity, Knowing the Competition, Perils of Confirmation Bias

The Battle of the Bulge Leadership Experience uses this monumental and pivotal battle—the largest single battle in the history of the United States Army—as a vehicle to examine how leaders of large and complex organizations address extraordinary and unforeseen challenges to achieve their individual group and larger organization objectives. It also provides an immensely rich platform from which to explore leadership decisions both from a highly proactive/offensive position and from a defensive position during times of extreme desperation. The outcome of the German surprise attack in mid-December 1944 in Belgium and Luxembourg shaped not only our nation’s history, but also the course of world history.

The Battle of the Bulge provides a unique opportunity to examine leadership and its consequences in depth. On the German side, this battle represented the last gasp, the ultimate gamble to retrieve victory from impending defeat, a herculean effort to overcome seemingly impossible obstacles when the enemy had seized the initiative. For the American side, numerous issues resonate with contemporary clarity: dealing with the unknown or unexpected, creating order out of chaos, empowering subordinates, underestimating the competition, and the importance of providing clarity of intent and communication of goals.

Who Should Attend?

The character-based leadership principles presented through The Battle of the Bulge Leadership Experience can be tailored to meet the needs of the highest level senior leaders, the less-experienced yet rising leaders within an organization, or those at any level in between. The Battle of the Bulge program addresses universal leadership themes that leaders at all stages of professional development will find beneficial to their career growth and organizational aspirations.

Patrick F. Bassett

“Experiential education and team-building at its best, the Gettysburg Experience is a transformational undertaking for leaders at any level in any organization, and especially for leadership teams. By walking the historic battles of Gettysburg and deconstructing the decisions made under fire, the relationships between leaders and subordinates, and the examples of inspired vs. confused communication, the Battlefield Leadership facilitators bring historic moments to life and make it extraordinarily relevant to the ‘battles’ modern leaders fight every day.”

President | National Association of Independent Schools
Patrick F. Bassett
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