Henry Crown Candidate Resource - AGLN - Aspen Global Leadership Network

Henry Crown Fellowship Program Overview

Using the proven method of text-based dialogue and building upon the Aspen Institute’s commitment to values-based, action-oriented leadership, the Henry Crown Fellowship offers entrepreneurial leaders a unique opportunity to connect with and learn from a diverse group of peers outside their existing professional and social circles. Fellows undertake a personal journey that allows them to reflect on how they can have a greater positive impact on society. It is through this transformative experience that Fellows move beyond success to greater significance and impact by helping to solve some of society’s most intractable problems.

The two-year program combines text-based seminars to foster personal transformation with a leadership venture that moves Fellows from thought to action.

Seminars: Fostering Personal Transformation

Fellows attend four seminars of six to seven days each that help them reflect on timeless ideas and define their own personal values. Through text-based dialogue led by expert moderators, seminar participants enhance their abilities to think more creatively in solving the problems that confront society.

The Challenge of Leadership

This six-day seminar asks Fellows to think about the qualities of leadership necessary to master the forces of change. Fellows discuss their own leadership challenges and develop criteria for effective, enlightened leadership. Fellows explore leaders including Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., George Orwell, and Ursula K. Le Guin.

The Aspen Executive Seminar

During this seven-day seminar, Fellows build their own vision of the Good Society by reading, discussing, debating and relating the writings of a wide range of thinkers to present-day conditions. Fellows present and discuss their leadership ventures. Thinkers range from Aristotle and Ayn Rand to Mencius and bell hooks to Thomas Hobbes and Ta-Nehisi Coates.

Global Paradigms: Frontier Leadership Seminar

Globalization is a six-day seminar exploring the challenges of leading in an increasingly complex and intertwined world. This seminar is offered in a variety of locations around the world and taken with other Fellows from across the Aspen Global Leadership Network. Time is set aside for Fellows to discuss progress in the implementation of their leadership ventures. This is a six to seven-day commitment (varies by location).

The Promise of Leadership

In this six-day seminar, Fellows share the results and lessons learned from their leadership ventures and explore challenges in balancing work and family, community engagement and personal legacy. They are poised to engage in the next phase of their leadership in the journey to move from success to significance. In this final seminar, Fellows discuss Fyodor Dostoevsky, Mary Oliver, Frederick Douglass, and Mark Twain.

About Ventures

Each Fellow is required to undertake a Leadership Venture designed to have a meaningful impact on a compelling societal problem. Ventures are an expression of Fellows’ values and their commitment to move from thought to action. They offer Fellows an opportunity to stretch themselves and bring a fresh approach to a societal challenge in their community and beyond through initiatives that can be sustained long beyond the active Fellowship. Ventures can take many forms. For example, Fellows may create a new organization or program. Alternatively, they can scale, improve, or add a new feature to an existing program or initiative. Some Fellows develop a new product or service offering, or they pilot and disseminate new ways of organizing existing systems. Ventures can be nonprofit, for-profit, or government initiatives.

Example Fellowship Ventures

The following are short venture profiles on exemplary fellowship ventures launched by Henry Crown Fellows impacting a wide range of sectors. Click each headshot to learn more.

Hear from the Fellows

Hear from Henry Crown Fellows on the value of carving out time for the Fellowship, the unique qualities of the experience in comparison to other leadership development programs, and the transformative benefits of this life-long journey. The following are snapshots from HCF 2012 Lisa Skeete Tatum, HCF 2014 Dave Gilboa, and HCF 2015 Marla Blow.