Leading Through Loss

SIX NOVELS  ·  NINE MONTHS  ·  COHORT-BASED ·  VIRTUAL INTENSIVE

Leadership is an art of seeing. And it begins where certainty ends...

The most consequential work of leadership often happens in the territory no training program prepared you for — the moments when you're asked to hold unwanted loss and grief, navigate complexity and ambiguity, while staying human inside systems designed to make that difficult.

Great novels can show us a path forward. They create the conditions to see what we normally defend against — and to do it alongside others who carry similar weight. But this is not a book club. It's a structured developmental experience that uses the art of literature as a lens for the inner work of leadership. It can help develop more self-awareness, while seeing the larger systems we operate in, and how those influence — consciously or not — our authority, identity, and role. It can help deepen our understand of who we are and how we lead, inviting us to explore who we are becoming, and even who we need to let go of in the process.

Each novel was chosen because it opens a different dimension of loss that leaders face but rarely name. Together they form a coherent arc — beginning with the confrontation of our limited time together, moving through grief and survivorship, into agency and authority under constraint, systemic collapse, and finally the long question of our meaning, purpose, and the legacy of being remembered.

Drawing on adult developmental theory, systems psychodynamics, grief literacy, terror management theory, existisitential philosophy, and the adaptive leadership tradition, each session pairs a carefully chosen bestselling novel with guided reflection, live dialogue, and exercises designed to shift not just what you think, but how you see. The program includes a developmental Growth Edge Interview and 1:1 coaching.

THE ARC


The Measure (Nikki Erlick)

CONFRONTING OUR LIMITED TIME: LEADING WITH WHAT MATTERS

A study in how individuals, relationships, and entire institutions reorganize themselves around the sudden visibility of mortality. We open here because every leader is leading through uncertainty but with limited time. But most of us are leading as if we had forever….

Session 1


Hamnet (Maggie O’Farrell)

GRIEF AS A REALITY OF CREATING AND ORGANIZING

How does loss and grief fracture and reshape ourselves and our relationships? How can different people experience and find meaning through the same loss? Seeing how we grieve in completely different ways can help see how organizations construct elaborate defenses against the pain they cannot acknowledge. We sit with grief not as a personal episode but as a systemic force.

Session 2


Dear Edward (Ann Napolitano)

SURVIVOR’s GUILT: LEADING WITH WHAT REMAINS

What leadership is required when we survive but others did not — to carry the weight, the projections, and the imagined obligations of survivorship? Leadership might require working with different aspects of grief, including guilt or shame. How does our role as leaders change? When we have outlasted layoffs, watched colleagues fall or projects fail, or carried forward what others could not finish, even in their absence? How might we hold and help others grieve what no longer remains?

A Gentleman in Moscow (Amor Towles)

CHOOSING TO CONTINUE: EXPLORING AUTHORITY AND MEANING WITHIN BOUNDARIES

What if our identity, authority, and role are suddenly lost and changed within an evolving system? How do we create meaning and purpose despite boundaries and constraint? How can we continue to use the power and authority we have to help and hold others through change and loss?

Station Eleven (Emily St. John)

ARTFUL SURVIVAL: LEADING EVEN WHEN SYSTEMS COLLAPSE

How do we mobilize or inspire others to face challenges that require learning new ways of being and working? What if the institutions we relied on and the systems that held us together have collapsed? How might we create culture to find meaning through loss and human connection?

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue (V.E. Schwab)

LEGACY: BEING SEEN AND LEAVING A MARK

We close the course with a final exploration of identity, meaning, and purpose. In the end, perhaps every leader faces the same question: what do we want to be remembered for? And, what if we and our work is forgotten? What does leadership really require of us, in the end?

Session 3

Session 4

ACT 5

ACT 6

THE EXPERIENCE

Reflect

Written prompts invite you to explore what’s happening beneath the surface of these stories — within and between the characters or groups — to encourage more insight and understanding of your own identity, role, and leadership challenges. Individual coaching is available to deepen your learning.


Read (Or Listen)

Every six weeks, you will read or listen to the next novel, on your own time, at your own pace, with a guided reflection framework to sharpen your awareness and attention to see clearly with new perspectives.

Gather

A live session brings the cohort together for organized dialogue. This is not a book club or analysis, but rather deepens the reflection and learning individually and as a group — inviting different perspectives about how we see, hold, and exercise leadership. This includes confidential case consultations, where participants can apply their learning to ongoing or past leadership challenges.

Integrate

Optional, additional one-on-one coaching check-ins are available to help you connect what's emerging to the live challenges you're navigating right now.

Return

One month after the final session, the cohort reconvenes — to see what has settled, what has shifted, and what remains.

THE AUDIENCE

This experience is designed for senior leaders, executives, organizational consultants, and executive coaches who sense that the most important dimension of their leadership or work lies beyond technique. They sense something deeper..They are curious about developing their capacity to see clearly, hold complexity, and remain present when everything invites avoidance or another approach.

You do not need to be an expert in literature. You do need to be curious. And let what you encounter and uncover become material for your own growth.

Small cohorts (e.g. 8 - 12 participants), intentionally limited to protect the depth of the work.

Pilot Cohort Starting Fall/Winter 2026

Contact Brian To Learn More
Contact Brian To Learn More