The Leader’s Edge:

Battle-Tested Strategies from Antietam & Gettysburg for Trailblazing CEOs

Win Before the Battle Begins. Lead with the Clarity, Confidence, and Boldness of History’s Greatest Commanders.

Most leaders react. The best shape the battlefield before the first shot is fired to seize the initiative and win.

This elite 3-day executive expedition will immerse you in the high-stakes decisions of Antietam and Gettysburg—two of the most consequential battles in history—where leaders forged victory (or defeat) under immense pressure. You’ll master the strategic mindset, tactical execution, and leadership composure that give extraordinary trailblazing CEOs a decisive competitive advantage.

Inspire Buy-in & Relentless Execution
Like Joshua Chamberlain, who turned a beleaguered, outnumbered regiment into a force that changed the course of the battle, you'll master crisis leadership, morale-building, and rallying teams under pressure.

Make High-Stakes Decisions with Absolute Clarity
Like Abraham Lincoln, who saw opportunity where others saw risk, you’ll refine the discipline to move fast when it counts—without recklessness.

Avoid the Traps of Overcaution & Overconfidence
McClellan hesitated and lost momentum. Lee miscalculated and lost everything. You’ll sharpen your decision-making instincts, so you never fall into paralysis or blind aggression.

Here’s what people are saying:

With the stakes so high for your off-site, it’s time to leave the hotel's “bored room” and get some fresh air.

Battlefields are potent venues for an unforgettable event

When you get people out of their comfort zones and into a historical event, you gain potent visual models reinforced by inspiring stories and images, creating a shared experience that:

Reduces defensiveness and opens their minds to new ideas

Strengthens relationships so vital for trust

Powers communication, collaboration, and co-creation.

Increases their willingness to innovate to advance your goals.

I’ve taken hundreds of leaders to American and European battlefields to accelerate their growth

As a retired Army Colonel, I’ve had the unique opportunity to lead soldiers in peacetime and combat and advise 4-star generals and cabinet-level secretaries on policy and strategy.

As a Consultant, I’ve shortened the paths to success for CEOs, NFL coaches, senior government executives, military leaders, and other consultants. My private sector clients have growth by well over $100m and counting.

As a strategic thinker and doer, I’ve got a Ph.D. in war studies, led 800 troops in a historic 450-day combat deployment, motivated a large Afghan insurgent group to switch sides, and served as the Secretary of Defense’s personal representative in peace talks.

All of this helps me to:

Use colorful stories from the battles to help you frame the leadership, culture, and decision-making challenges and opportunities facing you.

Provide practical visual models that speed communication and action.

Deliver conscious processes so you can teach others, evaluate their execution, and improve their performance.

Here are some outcomes my clients typically achieve:

Communicate compelling guidance, standards, and expectations that improve performance and reduce wasted time.

Gain buy-in for your standards, new ideas, and innovations

Use Feed Forward to boost accountability so employees improve future performance.

Custom-fit roles to people and set up your newly promoted employees for success.

Make better decisions faster, especially when under duress.

Manage risk and exploit opportunities.

Increase "upstream thinking" so you can reduce crisis management.

Build enduring trust, mutual respect, and cooperation among your senior leader participants.

The explicit leadership tools and processes that you can teach, evaluate, and improve so you can dividends for years.

We now have a framework ... as we build commitment to a common culture. This is already benefiting our retention, engagement, and morale.

I have a new and richer set of experiences to draw from when making decisions under stress and uncertainty.

I have new frameworks to think about leader diversity and what natural inclinations people bring to the table. It’s also helped me communicate more effectively and develop action plans with my team and our clients.

Chris provides practical leadership behaviors within a collaborative and positive atmosphere that have helped me lead more strategically, gain buy-in, solve problems, and boost innovation

Gain buy-in like Chamberlain; encourage people to take initiative like Buford. This inspiring and interesting experience is giving me new tools and stories to develop leaders.

About your Antietam & Gettysburg Experience

You’ll gain practical stories and tools where the history happened. Among the topics we typically discuss:

Antietam

You’ll draw practical insights from the bloodiest day in American history. A strategic turning point, the battle prompted President Lincoln to issue the Emancipation Proclamation and convinced European powers to stay out of the war. Decision-making errors, poor accountability, and personality frictions led Union General George B. McClellan to miss opportunities for a decisive victory.

General Robert E. Lee used volatility as an offensive weapon on the Confederate side, confusing McClellan and battling to a stalemate despite being vastly outnumbered. Technology, innovation, discipline, and buy-in combined in displays of extraordinary courage and staggering carnage.

Gettysburg

You’ll spend the second day at the largest battle ever in the Western Hemisphere. The Confederacy reached its high water mark; their loss at Gettysburg made their ultimate defeat a matter of time. Poor discipline, inadequate communication, and Lee’s complacency led to squandered opportunities on Days 1 and 2 and the disastrous Pickett’s charge on Day 3.

The Union Army’s outstanding teamwork, discipline, and communication clarity created huge advantages in decision-making and initiative. Valiant Union stands, such as at Little Round Top and Cemetery Ridge, show the power of simplicity, buy-in, and innovation.

Forge your Future

How the experience works

You and your leadership team come to this event with a list of challenges you want to discuss. I curate battlefield stories and use them in conjunction with potent visual models so you get a conscious process and action steps to address each issue.

2.5 days: A day at each battlefield, plus a ½ day workshop to create actions that get results.

You’ll stay at a terrific hotel, dine at superb restaurants, and travel in a luxury coach or SUV

Follow-up seminars with me to support the implementation of your action steps.

My guarantee

100% of your attendees walk away with new thinking, tools and skills to improve themselves, their teams, and your company.

Command Success

Contact me at chris@chriskolenda.com to schedule an event for your organization or join the one open enrollment opportunity per year.

What if you’d like a different battlefield or historical venue?

That’s no problem. I’ve facilitated offsites at many American and European battlefields and national parks. We’ll pick the one that works best for you.

You know the cost of a boring offsite:

Wasted time and money

Bored and distracted participants

Lost opportunities to strengthen trust and improve performance

No action steps, no follow-up, no accountability.

A great offsite will:

Get people out of their comfort zones and into the fresh air

Opens minds to new ideas and willingness to innovate

Build trust and strengthen relationships that boost performance.

Speed collaboration and co-creation

Boost retention because your top employees value the investment you are making in them and your company.

Provide explicit tools and processes that strengthen communication and performance.