Aspen is a place for leaders to lift their sights above the possessions which possess them. To confront their own nature as human beings, to regain control over their own humanity by becoming more self-aware, more self-correcting, and hence more self-fulfilling.
The Aspen Institute was founded on the conviction that a better society requires better leaders who are more self-aware, more self-correcting, and more humane.
The Aspen Executive Seminar on Leadership, Values, and the Good Society carries forward that mission by challenging senior leaders engage with the ideas and ideals that have shaped our world and the forces that challenge or change them today.
With a small cohort of peers, the Aspen Executive Seminar creates space for conversations that stretch thinking, challenge assumptions, and invite participants to consider not just what they believe, but how those beliefs motivate their actions in the world, shaping how they lead.
Using our signature, text-based dialogue, the Aspen Executive Seminar equips leaders from all sectors and experiences to answers to enduring questions of leadership, including: “How do I lead well and live justly in a good society?” along with the more immediate leadership questions, including: “What inner resources can I draw from to build a culture of trust, accountability, and innovation in my teams and at my workplace?”
Ready to start your own seminar journey? Apply today and gain a greater capacity to lead in an increasingly complex world.
Please note that this is a small cohort experience so space is limited. We encourage you to apply as soon as you can with your top 2 session choices.
About the Aspen Leadership Seminars department
Aspen Leadership Seminars are humanistic leadership development programs that challenge leaders to reflect deeply, think expansively, and lead with greater clarity, courage, and purpose.
Organized in partnership with Aspen Institute Germany and Aspen Institute Romania, the first-ever Socrates seminar in Montenegro will bring together leaders to explore the challenges of democratic backsliding, the importance of rule of law, and the essence of values-based leadership.
Join us for this exclusive Critical Conversation, moderated by Vivian Schiller, internationally renowned former media executive, current Aspen Institute Vice President and Executive Director of Aspen Digital. ‘Will We Ever Trust the News Again’ will examine the challenges facing the industry – and crucially, the promising paths towards a solution.
On May 1–2, 2025, the Aspen Institute and the Higher Ambition Leadership Alliance convened 100 experienced practitioners — nonprofit and foundation leaders, former government administrators, CEOs, and scholars — to discuss “Leadership for Large-Scale Change.”
The National Medal of Honor Center for Leadership is transforming how we understand and teach values-based leadership. In this Behind the Impact interview, we speak with Joe Waring (Liberty Fellow) who serves on the Center’s board, and Dr. Justin Habash, the Center’s Senior Vice President of Leadership Programs and Chief Learning Officer. Together, they share insights on how Medal of Honor values translate to everyday leadership decisions, the power of moral courage, and why this approach to leadership development is especially relevant in today’s rapidly changing world.
How do we listen even when we are the most hurt? How do we disagree without disappearing?
At the Resnick Aspen Action Forum, changemakers explored what it means — and what it takes — to stay at the table during the most difficult moments. This conversation turns toward clues in history, reminding us that the institutions of today were once the result of creative innovation.
Taking inspiration from youth and the artistic community as sources of “research and development,” this conversation invites us to wrestle with tension rather than treating conflict as failure, allowing us to remain in relationship through our differences. Whether operating in small towns in a single U.S. state like South Carolina, or across multiple nations in the Middle East, panelists discussed the conditions that we can create in ourselves and in our communities to design new ways forward.
