Against a blazing palette of glorious fall colors in a natural setting overlooking the Potomac River in late October, the chief executives of 26 national conservation groups communed with nature, their colleagues, and top corporate trailblazers to discuss leadership challenges facing the environmental movement.

They came together for the opportunity to participate in a three-day seminar, "Strategic Leadership in a Changing Environment" at the National Conservation Training Center in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. The first-of-its-kind pilot course, sponsored by the Natural Resources Council of America in partnership with The Conservation Fund, was designed, developed and delivered by the prestigious University of Pennsylvania Wharton School of Business.

"This course marks the beginning of a new venture for the Council to provide the highest quality leadership training to our members in order to strengthen conservation leaders, their organizations and the movement as a whole," said Andrea Yank, the Council's executive director. "We are grateful to the Richard King Mellon Foundation for its generous support of this program."

Joining the faculty for the seminar were two top corporate CEOs, considered by many to be environmental leaders in the private sector. In separate sessions, both Charles O. "Chad" Holliday, Chairman and CEO of E.I. Dupont de Nemours, and John P. Morgridge, Chairman of Cisco Systems, provided insight into their personal leadership styles and strategies for success in the cultures of their respective industries.

As Chairman and CEO of Dupont, Holliday now guides a 200-year old giant company into the new economy, transforming it into a leader in biotechnology and sustainable growth.

Morgridge joined Cisco in 1988 as President and CEO. Under his leadership, the company grew from $5 million in sales to over $1 billion, and from 34 employees to over 2,260. Today, Cisco is valued as the third highest-valued company on earth, with a $300 billion market capitalization.

Both Holliday and Morgridge fielded questions from the participants during informal evening sessions, discussing how their experience and lessons learned in managing change and growth in large corporations might have applicability in the nonprofit sector. Particularly of interest were the areas of rapidly changing technologies, new market forces and social demographics. Their candid views on management and environmental policy topics, such as the debate over tax incentives versus regulations, comprised a valuable part of the course curriculum.

The course itself featured two intensive days of instruction, role-playing exercises and discussion. Day one, taught by Michael Useem, a Professor of Management and Director of the Center for Leadership and Change Management at Wharton, focused on case studies depicting various leadership styles, analyzing common characteristics and identifying differences resulting in strengths or weaknesses of leaders. Specific case studies included an examination of the leadership styles in corporations such as IBM and Merck & Co. as well as military commanders on the Civil War battlefield.

Participants also studied leadership in rapidly changing circumstances such as those facing fire jumpers in the deadly 1949 Mann Gulch fire in Montana, and were challenged to apply those principles to organizational structures.

Day Two featured Dr. Roche Parayre, who focused on strategic decision-making and scenario planning in an atmosphere of uncertainty and change. Participants applied strategic planning principles to real world scenarios, using real or imaginary organizations. Incorporated into the planning matrix were key forces that shape the future: social, technological, economic, environmental and political. As a result of the exercise, both Meg Maguire of Scenic America and Frances Beinecke of the Natural Resources Defense Council came away from the session with the outlines of strategic plans for their organizations.

David Burwell, president of the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy and a participant in the course, offered the following praise: "I can think of no more highly-leveraged investment than leadership training, a much needed but under-funded need of the environmental movement. We need to do much more of it. This is precisely the type of project that the Natural Resources Council of America is best-equipped to provide to the conservation community."

Another participant, Dale Penny, president of the Student Conservation Association, added "I found it valuable to get advanced training from the Wharton faculty and to learn more about the approached of the for-profit sector…Most important for me, however, was the opportunity to have two and a half days interacting with my colleagues in the conservation community."

As the program evolves, the Council hopes to offer members additional professional development courses in strategic positioning, marketing and communications. A nationwide search for a leadership program director is currently underway, and a position description for the opening has been included in this month's mailing. Interested candidates are encouraged to submit a letter of interest and resume to the Council at the address listed in the box below. The position description will be sent upon request. The Natural Resources Council of America is an Equal Opportunity Employer, and a 501(C) 3 organization.