LDE for Executives
How do you build the leadership skills needed to navigate your team through uncertainty and difficult situations? Put yourself in a controlled, high-stakes situation with Johns Hopkins leadership experts by your side. Whether as part of an open-enrollment LDEPro program in Baja, Mexico or as part of a custom program carefully crafted for the developmental needs of your organization, CIL’s outdoor leadership experiences will help you develop the skills to succeed as a leader.
Custom Expeditions
Custom LDE courses for organizations are available in Belize, Norway, Ecuador, or Mexico, and are a powerful way to grow your organization’s leadership pipeline and team effectiveness outside of the typical nine-to-five environment.
During the highly immersive week-long excursion, you’ll learn to establish goal-setting techniques through exercises in feedback and reflection while empowering the team around you and advancing your professional goals. Contact Us to discuss creating a custom LDE for your team or organization.
Custom LDE courses for organizations are available in Belize, Norway, Ecuador, or Mexico, and are a powerful way to grow your organization’s leadership pipeline and team effectiveness outside of the typical nine-to-five environment.
During the highly immersive week-long excursion, you’ll learn to establish goal-setting techniques through exercises in feedback and reflection while empowering the team around you and advancing your professional goals. Contact Us to discuss creating a custom LDE for your team or organization.
LDE-Professional (LDEPro)
Nature Inspired, Human Powered Learning
This uniquely designed leadership development expedition for professionals invites a small group of individuals to participate in a week-long kayaking-camping expedition along the coast of the Sea of Cortez in Baja, Mexico. While paddling these majestic waters and camping on remote sand beaches, participants will engage in focused discussions on salient leadership topics, give and receive feedback on daily team performance, and receive ongoing executive coaching from instructors. Active participation in the expedition will allow individuals to reflect on and evaluate personal leadership capacity, strengths, and growth areas as leaders.
Disconnect to Reconnect
Participants will experience the unique opportunity to deeply immerse themselves in the quiet, wilderness, and the therapeutic beauty of nature for a week while completely disconnecting from work, technology, and the stress of daily routine back home. Although this disconnect can be disorienting and uncomfortable at first, participants will quickly grow to appreciate the opportunity to slow down, be more present, and reset their intentions for self-improvement in areas of mind, body, and spirit.
Present Moment Leadership
The course’s foundation is CIL’s Present Moment Leadership framework, which emphasizes that leaders must deploy the right amount of empathy, competence, and agility to influence positive change and innovate solutions. Participants will navigate the technical and environmental challenges of adventure-based learning in a remote setting by getting out of their comfort zones, adapting to a steadily evolving set of scenarios, committing to group over self, and learning by collaborating with others.
What to Expect
- Individual executive coaching sessions with goal setting before, during, and after the program
- Daily routine of kayaking, camping, and cooking meals
- Daily paddling duration: 3-4 hours (may include swimming and snorkeling)
- Double kayaks and tents for all participants
- The support boat will allow for fresh ingredients and cold drinks for meals
- Participants will work in teams to manage navigation, cooking, and camp setup (with guide support)
- Opportunities to lead group for a day
- Share your talents and gifts as a leader
- Experiment with new and different leadership approaches as appropriate
- Receive direct and specific feedback from peers and instructors
- Evening team debrief and discussion
- Assess individual and team performance and make necessary adjustments for the next day
- Connect leadership lessons learned on expedition to work and life at home
- Share personal leadership story and hear other’s stories
Arrival: Arrive in Loreto! Your adventure begins with a pre-trip orientation with your guides the afternoon before launch day. At this orientation session, our guides will explain the trip logistics in more detail and answer any questions you may have. Afterward, you are free to explore Loreto’s 300+ year history and enjoy charming shops and rich selection of restaurants.
Day 1: The day begins with breakfast at our favorite local café. You’ll then take a van to the boat launch at Puerto Escondido, 16 miles south of Loreto, where you will receive a basic kayaking lesson. Afterward, we’ll pack our kayaks with our personal gear, leaving the rest for the Panga boat, and make the three-mile crossing to Isla Danzante. We set up our first camp on the island.
Day 2: The sun rising over the Sea of Cortez and casting its light on the jagged promontories of Isla Danzante is a sight to behold. Your guides will point out Los Candeleros Islands, small rocks jutting above the water that serves as a home to cormorants, boobies, and ospreys. After paddling along the coast of Isla Danzante, we make a second crossing, this time to Isla del Carmen, located northeast of Danzante. Keep an eye out for pods of dolphins during the crossing or even a blue whale! After setting up camp on Isla del Carmen, the afternoon is yours to spend as you wish. Snorkeling, exploring the shoreline, or relaxing and sharing stories with family or friends under the shade tarp.
Day 3: After a hearty Mexican breakfast, it’s time for a day trip! We explore the coves around Isla del Carmen and eventually make an afternoon stop at a secluded beach, which you are free to explore via hiking or snorkeling. Upon returning to camp for the night, your guides prepare a feast of yellowtail, herbed rice, mixed green salad, and tortillas.
Day 4: After spending two nights on Isla del Carmen, we will cross back to Isla Danzante in the morning to set up camp at a new location, this one surrounded by massive rock formations. There will be more opportunities for exploration and meditation among these rocks, and we will enjoy another delicious meal as the sun sinks beneath the turquoise waves.
Day 5: Today is our final crossing back to the Baja Peninsula and our final campsite. Much of this trip takes place near an area known to scientists as “The Blue Whale Triangle” due to the large numbers of blue whales sighted in the area, so keep an eye out throughout the week! Once we make it across the channel to the peninsula, you’ll have one last afternoon to explore the campsite’s rocky shoreline, dotted with enormous boulders. The snorkeling is excellent, and at night, you will have the opportunity to paddle out and view bioluminescent sea creatures beneath the waves.
Day 6: The sun rises over the Sea of Cortez one last time, briefly revealing fiery colors on the water. Bid goodbye to this magnificent piece of the planet. We’ll have breakfast, pack up, and paddle back to Puerto Escondido, where a van will be waiting to take us back to Loreto. After a warm goodbye with your guides and boatman, it’s back to your hotel, your head filled with the past week’s experiences, your heart looking forward to your next adventure.
Day 7: Onward travel or more adventure in Baja on your own.
Arrival: Arrive in Loreto! Your adventure begins with a pre-trip orientation with your guides the afternoon before launch day. At this orientation session, our guides will explain the trip logistics in more detail and answer any questions you may have. Afterward, you are free to explore Loreto’s 300+ year history and enjoy charming shops and rich selection of restaurants.
Day 1: The day begins with breakfast at our favorite local café. You’ll then take a van to the boat launch at Puerto Escondido, 16 miles south of Loreto, where you will receive a basic kayaking lesson. Afterward, we’ll pack our kayaks with our personal gear, leaving the rest for the Panga boat, and make the three-mile crossing to Isla Danzante. We set up our first camp on the island.
Day 2: The sun rising over the Sea of Cortez and casting its light on the jagged promontories of Isla Danzante is a sight to behold. Your guides will point out Los Candeleros Islands, small rocks jutting above the water that serves as a home to cormorants, boobies, and ospreys. After paddling along the coast of Isla Danzante, we make a second crossing, this time to Isla del Carmen, located northeast of Danzante. Keep an eye out for pods of dolphins during the crossing or even a blue whale! After setting up camp on Isla del Carmen, the afternoon is yours to spend as you wish. Snorkeling, exploring the shoreline, or relaxing and sharing stories with family or friends under the shade tarp.
Day 3: After a hearty Mexican breakfast, it’s time for a day trip! We explore the coves around Isla del Carmen and eventually make an afternoon stop at a secluded beach, which you are free to explore via hiking or snorkeling. Upon returning to camp for the night, your guides prepare a feast of yellowtail, herbed rice, mixed green salad, and tortillas.
Day 4: After spending two nights on Isla del Carmen, we will cross back to Isla Danzante in the morning to set up camp at a new location, this one surrounded by massive rock formations. There will be more opportunities for exploration and meditation among these rocks, and we will enjoy another delicious meal as the sun sinks beneath the turquoise waves.
Day 5: Today is our final crossing back to the Baja Peninsula and our final campsite. Much of this trip takes place near an area known to scientists as “The Blue Whale Triangle” due to the large numbers of blue whales sighted in the area, so keep an eye out throughout the week! Once we make it across the channel to the peninsula, you’ll have one last afternoon to explore the campsite’s rocky shoreline, dotted with enormous boulders. The snorkeling is excellent, and at night, you will have the opportunity to paddle out and view bioluminescent sea creatures beneath the waves.
Day 6: The sun rises over the Sea of Cortez one last time, briefly revealing fiery colors on the water. Bid goodbye to this magnificent piece of the planet. We’ll have breakfast, pack up, and paddle back to Puerto Escondido, where a van will be waiting to take us back to Loreto. After a warm goodbye with your guides and boatman, it’s back to your hotel, your head filled with the past week’s experiences, your heart looking forward to your next adventure.
Day 7: Onward travel or more adventure in Baja on your own.
Key Program Details
LDEPro is a program for working professionals interested in developing their leadership. Full- and part-time MBA students should register for the LDE Norway course (LDEPro is not open to current students, but alumni are welcome).
This is a physically demanding program. After day two, we will be camping in tents on sandy beaches with no access to showers, cell phones, or Wi-Fi. Students should be in moderate to strong physical condition and comfortable swimming or floating in open water. However, no technical outdoor skill or prior camping or kayaking experience is required.
For questions and inquiries, contact Mike Doyle [email protected]