Emergence: A Land-Based Leadership Retreat
Reconnect. Reflect. Lead with Clarity.
Leadership on the Land
A transformative, nature-based leadership retreat that helps participants reconnect, reflect, and strengthen their capacity to lead with clarity and confidence.
We live in an era of extraordinary volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity (VUCA). Climatic instability, technological acceleration, social transformation, and economic and political turbulence demand a fundamentally different kind of leadership - one grounded in ecological awareness, adaptive capacity, and deep personal clarity.
The question isn't whether the world is changing. It's whether we're developing the capacities to lead through it skillfully.
The Emergence Retreat Offers More Than Knowledge - It Offers Orientation
While most leadership development focuses on frameworks and techniques, this immersive retreat addresses something more fundamental: how we sense complexity, how we orient ourselves amid uncertainty, and how we lead with both courage and wisdom when the path forward is unclear.
Through a combination of land-based learning, Indigenous perspectives, and reflective practice, you will develop more sophisticated capacities for presence, discernment, and adaptive action. During this retreat, the land itself will be the primary teacher. Living systems offer profound lessons in adaptation, resilience, and working with complexity - lessons that translate directly to organizational leadership.
Faculty
Led by Julian Norris, PhD, Associate Professor, Haskayne School of Business
Julian has spent three decades training and developing leaders at the intersection of inner work, complexity, and the natural world. As the founder of the acclaimed Ghost River Rediscovery program and past director of Outward Bound’s Rocky Mountain school, he knows this land well. Originally trained as an anthropologist, he is a wilderness guide, a long-time practitioner of somatic and contemplative traditions, and a coach-advisor for senior leaders and organizations in the government, corporate and social sectors who are grappling with complex challenges and opportunities.
To learn more about his work: https://www.linkedin.com/in/julian-norris-a7b053369/
What You'll Develop:
Through powerful encounters with the land, Indigenous knowledge keepers, thought leaders, and contemplative practice, you'll develop:
- Enhanced capacity to navigate ambiguity with centeredness and clarity
- Ecological fluency that transforms how you understand systems, organizations, and change
- Deeper connection to your core values, purpose, and leadership calling
- Practical tools for staying grounded and effective under pressure
- Fresh perspectives on what sustainable, regenerative leadership actually requires
Who It's For:
Designed for High-Impact, Curious Leaders
This retreat is for leaders who:
- Recognize that conventional approaches are insufficient for today’s challenges
- Seek genuine transformation, not just incremental improvement
- Value experiential learning and personal reflection alongside rigorous thinking
- Are curious about Indigenous perspectives and ecological wisdom
- Lead or aspire to lead – organizations toward truly sustainable futures
If you are willing to slow down, reflect honestly, and engage fully with yourself, your environment, and a trusted peer group, this retreat is designed for you.
Who It’s Not For:
Leaders Unwilling to Question, Explore, or Evolve
This retreat is immersive and intentionally unconventional. It may not be the right fit if you:
- Prefer certainty, structure, and control at all times
- Are uncomfortable with experiential or land-based learning
- Seek certainty, speed, or prescriptive solutions only
- Find reflection, challenge, or introspection unnerving
- Are focused solely on execution without pause or perspective
- Expect a passive, observer-style experience
If your priority is efficiency, optimization, or execution-only outcomes, this may not be the right moment.
Program Highlights
When you lead from emergence rather than control, from presence rather than performance, something fundamentally different becomes possible. The Emergence Retreat is an invitation into that possibility
Julian Norris
Associate Professor, Haskayne School of Business
Schedule
Four days.
Enough time to actually change something.
The retreat is structured to take you through a genuine arc — from arrival and orientation, through deepening engagement with the land and with complexity, to integration and forward commitment. Evenings are unhurried. There is time to think.
Sunday, August 17 | 15:30 - 18:00 | Arrival & Orientation Welcome, framing, and settling in |
19:30 - 21:00 | Leading in a Time Between Worlds Why this moment calls for a different kind of leadership | |
Monday, August 18 | 7:00 - 7:30 | Morning Awareness practice |
9:00 - 10:30 | The Inner Game of Leadership Maps, models, and the metaskills that actually matter | |
10:30 - 12:00 | Listening to the Forest What living systems teach us about navigating uncertainty | |
13:30 - 15:30 | Patterns of Culture Indigenous ways of knowing and their relevance to leadership | |
15:30 - 17:30 | The Ecology of Leadership Learning from living systems in the field | |
19:30 - 21:00 | Evening guest speaker | |
Tuesday, August 19 | 7:00 - 7:30 | Morning awareness practice |
9:00 - 10:30 | Earthwise: Patterns of Systems Influence Leading change in genuinely complex conditions | |
10:30 - 12:00 | Herding Butterflies Leadership tools and tactics for complex living systems | |
13:30 - 15:30 | Tracking Emergence Learning to see systemically — in the landscape and in your organization | |
15:30 - 17:30 | Looking in the Mirror Reconnecting with purpose — a reflective vigil on the land | |
19:30 - 21:00 | Fireside discussion | |
Wednesday, August 20 | 7:00 - 7:30 | Morning awareness practice |
9:00 - 10:30 | The Emerging Leader Complexity leadership strategies and building a personal practice | |
10:30 - 12:00 | Closing & Departure |
Step into what's next.
The retreat is intentionally small. Remaining places are limited.
Q1: Activity Level & Accessibility
This retreat is designed for professionals of varying fitness levels. Daily outdoor experiences include guided walks, light hikes, and reflective activities in nature. No advanced hiking experience is required.
Participants should be comfortable walking on uneven terrain for moderate periods. Activities can be adapted where possible. If you have questions about suitability, our team would be happy to discuss your needs.
Difficulty Level: Moderate (2.5/5)
Q2: Accommodation
Ghost River.
A place that has always asked hard questions.
The Ghost River watershed in the foothills west of Calgary is one of the most ecologically and historically significant landscapes in Treaty 7 territory. For generations, it has been a place of encounter, threshold, and transformation.
Participants will be accommodated in private guest rooms at The Crossing, a charming 27-room country inn, event venue, and retreat centre set on 145 scenic acres along the Ghost River in Cochrane, just one hour from Calgary. Daily meals, refreshments, and curated dining experiences are included throughout the retreat.
You will sleep, eat, reflect, and learn here, in close relationship with a landscape that is itself a teacher of systems, adaptation, and resilience.
Q3: Safety & Support Reassurance
All outdoor activities are professionally facilitated with participant safety as a top priority. Orientation is provided at the start of the retreat, including daily expectations, terrain considerations, and preparedness guidance. Facilitators monitor pacing and group needs throughout the program.