CREATE CLARITY ON
WHAT MATTERS MOST
AS A PERSON AND AS A LEADER
In-Person Retreat
April 1-4, 2027 in New Haven (The Study at Yale)
$4,500 (fee includes accommodations and meals)
Jan 31, 2027
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The Life Worth Living program is built around a set of shared questions: What is a good life? What matters most? What is worth wanting for myself and for others? How should we navigate failure and suffering? What should we hope for as leaders?
A recent participant reflected that:
“Having the time and the structure to ask oneself ‘the questions’ and then interact with them was a rare gift. I made tangible progress relative to several important decisions and mindset shifts.”
Life Worth Living began as a popular undergraduate course at Yale University in 2014. The creators of the Life Worth Living course also published a NYT bestseller in 2023, which outlines and summarizes many of the central ideas explored and debated in the classroom.
As of 2026, over 100 professors around the world have been trained through the Life Worth Living fellowship program. These educators tailor versions of the course for their respective programs in management, religion, ethics, philosophy, and healthcare.
You will take away fresh ideas and practices on how to:
Balance attention between what you are doing versus who you are becoming
Create a “living roadmap” that clarifies your vision for life and leadership
Navigate important transitions and significant inflection points
“The retreat helped me deepen and clarify a question I had already begun wrestling with: What is all of this effort as a parent, spouse and leader actually for?”
“I am coming away with a clearer understanding of life as a gift and my relationships, abilities, resources, and influence as things entrusted to my care. Success matters, but it must serve something larger.”
The audience for this leadership-focused expression of Life Worth Living is seasoned leaders at a 2nd line level or above in their current or past organizations. The ideal participants will have 4 characteristics:
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High capacity - a high capacity for depth, connection, and impact
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A generative mindset - open to learning from and building on the experience of others
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A personal growth orientation - drawn to purposeful growth as a leader and as an individual
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At or near an inflection point - navigating a transition that would benefit from the time and space to pause and think deeply about the future
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A cohort of 12 to 14 “leaders of leaders” is carefully curated to ensure a diverse and cohesive group of peers
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Before the retreat, each individual will complete a personal inventory based on questions around life and leadership and read a portion of the Life Worth Living book
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3-day, in-person experiential retreat with other high-capacity leaders in New Haven, CT at the Study at Yale
“The opportunity to stay with difficult questions, consider different perspectives, and put my own answers into words helped me turn broad convictions into something more concrete and accountable.”
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Expert facilitation - a flow for learning, personal reflection, discussion, and experience that accelerates impact for the group and the individual
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Individual reflection - the time and space to process the big questions and any current or impending transitions in life and career
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Yale exploration - opportunities to take in the Yale campus and explore the art and architecture of "The Elm City"
Comments from the Fall 2026 Cohort:
“The combination of serious questions, different perspectives, conversation, and personal reflection connects well with how I learn.”
“The dialogue at meals was wonderfully guided by the exceptional choice of questions, thoughtful table seating and excellent facilitators."
MATTHEW CROASMUN
(PhD, Yale) is Senior Lecturer of Divinity & Humanities and Director of the Life Worth Living Program at the Yale Center for Faith & Culture. A New Testament scholar, he is author or co-author of five books, including Life Worth Living: A Guide to What Matters Most. Much of his work helps diverse communities ask the big questions of life across important and enduring lines of difference.
TANNER MEZEL
(founder of Telosity) led, grew and sold a management consulting firm over 23 years, leads Life Worth Living experiences for cohorts and individuals, chairs the boards of growth-oriented nonprofits, and has a passion for working with both young professionals and seasoned leaders on how to grow personally and professionally in a more integrated way.
The retreat and post-retreat peer engagement process will be facilitated by one of the Life Worth Living authors alongside a business leader who understands the intersection of business, professional, and personal growth.