A special edition and an invitation that will not wait
Enrollment is now open. Here is why this retreat is unlike anything you have attended before.
We do not typically send a special edition of this newsletter.
We are making an exception today because something we have been quietly building for months is now open, and we wanted to tell you about it directly, in our own words, before you hear about it anywhere else.
But first, we need to talk about retreats. And conferences. And the gap between what most of them promise and what most of them actually deliver.
Because if you have been to one, you know exactly what we mean.
What most retreats and conferences get wrong
You have been there.
The hotel ballroom with the round tables and the branded notebooks.
The keynote speaker who is genuinely brilliant and leaves you energized in a way that lasts approximately until you collect your luggage at baggage claim.
The networking cocktail hour, where everyone is working the room and the conversations never quite get past what you do, who you know, and what you might be able to do for each other.
You leave with a notebook full of ideas, a pocket full of business cards, and a vague sense that something important almost happened.
That is the conference experience.
And it is not nothing.
The ideas are real. The speakers are often extraordinary. The exposure to new thinking matters. But something is missing. The connection is transactional, not transformational. The inspiration is real, but it has no infrastructure to hold it up once you are home. Within two weeks, the notebook is closed, and the momentum is gone, and you are back inside the same patterns you left.
Then there are the events that genuinely crack something open.
The TED experience.
The rare gathering where the speakers are so honest and so human that you find yourself thinking about what they said for months afterward.
The room where something in the culture is so intentional that the conversations go deeper than you expected and you leave feeling genuinely changed.
Those experiences are real. And they are also incomplete.
Because even the best ones send you home without a system.
Without the people who were in that room with you in any kind of sustained way.
Without the habits or the structures or the accountability that would let that inspiration actually take root in your real life.
The inspiration fades. The connection dissolves. The insight that felt so clear on the last day becomes a memory rather than a practice.
We have experienced both.
We have attended the conferences where nothing quite connected.
We have been in the rooms where everything did.
And we spent a long time asking what would it look like to build something that starts where those experiences end.
That is what this retreat is.
Why this is different — and why the ocean matters
Most retreats happen in places you could drive home from. And part of you always does.
The phone stays on.
The emails keep coming.
The mental tab for everything waiting at home stays open the entire time.
And no matter how good the content is, you are never fully there.
We chose a ship deliberately. Not for the novelty and not for the luxury, though both are real.
Because the moment that ship pulls away from the dock in Los Angeles, something shifts.
There is no slipping out early. No version of you that is half here and half managing what you left behind.
The ocean does something a hotel ballroom never will. It forces you to be completely present. And that changes the quality of every conversation, every session, every moment of rest.
We have seen it happen. The conversations go deeper on day two than they would on day five of a land retreat. The work actually lands. The connections are real because there is no escaping them, no switching back to professional mode when the session ends. You are on a ship in the middle of the ocean with twenty women who are there for the same reason you are. And that changes everything.
What you actually come home with
This is the question we asked ourselves when we designed this retreat. Not what will people experience. What will they leave with.
Because inspiration without infrastructure is just a good memory. And we were not interested in building another good memory.
Here is what you leave with.
Self-awareness. A deep reconnection to your values, your priorities, and your personal why. Not a framework someone else handed you. Yours. And a purpose statement you can actually lead from going forward.
Goal clarity. A clear path forward. Your top development areas identified. Your 90-day goals are structured. A framework that holds when life gets loud, when the urgency of everything else starts crowding out the things that actually matter most.
Your people. This is the one most people talk about a year later. Before the final sea day you will form a small accountability circle of three to four women who know your goals, who will tell you the truth, and who stay connected well beyond the trip. These are not conference connections. These are the people who become part of your personal board of directors. The ones you call when things get hard. The ones who remind you of your capabilities when the doubt gets loudest.
Tools that work. Practical systems to maintain focus, overcome challenges, and keep growing with intention long after you go home. Not the generic self-care advice that falls apart by week two. Systems designed around your actual life.
What the week actually looks like
Seven nights aboard Virgin Voyages Brilliant Lady, sailing the Mexican Riviera from Los Angeles. October 3 through October 10. A maximum of twenty women. That number is not a marketing line. It is a design decision. The intimacy and honesty of the work depends on it.
Three workshops that build on each other.
The first is about going inward. Digging into what is actually driving your decisions, the beliefs, the patterns, the places where doubt creeps in. Not therapy. Clarity. And it changes how you lead everything that follows.
The second is about naming what you actually want. Your aspirations, professional and personal, connected to a purpose that is genuinely yours. We end this session with something concrete you can take home and lead from.
The third is where it gets practical. Your strengths, your gaps, your 90-day plan. Self-care habits designed to fit your actual life. You leave with a system, not just inspiration.
Every morning begins with movement. Yoga, cycling, HIIT, whatever calls to you, followed by guided meditation before the day's work begins. Morning habit building is not an add-on to this retreat. It is built into the design. Because the leaders who sustain their growth are the ones who have protected daily practices that belong to them. We build that habit together, on the water, before we go home.
Between the structure, there is space. Real space. Group dinners around tables where the conversations go exactly where they need to go. A private cocktail hour. Shore excursions in Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan, and Puerto Vallarta. Time to explore, to rest, to play. One very memorable night when the entire ship goes red, and everything loosens in exactly the right way.
The Mexican Riviera is beautiful. You will come home rested in a way you have not been in a while. And with something more than rest to show for it.
Who this is for
This is for women leaders who are good at leading everyone except themselves.
Who show up for everyone, deliver consistently, and keep moving. But whose own goals keep getting pushed.
Who find it harder than it should be to find someone they can actually be honest with, without the professional filter.
Who know what they need but keep saying next month.
Who need more than a vacation. Who need structure, space, and the right people around them. And who know it.
If that is you, we built this for you.
A closing thought.
There is a moment, usually somewhere on the second sea day, when you realize you have not checked your phone in hours. Not because you forgot. Because nothing out there felt more important than what was happening in the room.
That is not normal for you. And it feels incredible.
The group is capped at twenty. When it is full, it is full.
If something in you has been waiting for the right reason to say yes to yourself, this is it.
Join now: leadershipmasterynetwork.com/retreat2026
We are in this with you.
For questions reply to this email directly. We read everything, and we would love to talk with you about whether this is the right fit.
“You cannot pour from an empty cup. And yet most leaders spend a lifetime trying.”
Resources to Dive Deeper
Essentialism by Greg McKeown: The disciplined pursuit of less and a case for why the leaders who do fewer things with more intention consistently outperform the ones who try to do everything.
The Gifts of Imperfection by Brene Brown: Brown's most personal book and one of the most honest explorations of what it means to let go of who you think you should be and show up fully as who you actually are.
Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle by Emily and Amelia Nagoski: Research-backed, honest, and immediately practical the most useful guide available for leaders who are tired in a way that sleep alone is not fixing.
We Can Do Hard Things — Glennon Doyle: Glennon Doyle's podcast on truth telling, self-trust, and doing the hard things that actually change your life one of the most honest and human conversations available for leaders ready to stop performing and start living.
FROM OUR DESK
Every feedback conversation starts with self-awareness. The Leader Is You: A Daily Growth Journal includes prompts to help you reflect on how you are showing up, where you are holding back, and what one honest conversation you could have today.
And if you are ready to work on this alongside other leaders who are doing the same work, the Leadership Mastermind waitlist is now open.
And if you are ready to explore these ideas alongside other leaders who are doing the same work, the Leadership Mastermind waitlist is now open. A space for honest conversation, genuine curiosity, and the kind of growth that only happens in a room of people who are all committed to getting better. → Join the waitlist
Something we are genuinely excited about.
Reset. Rise. Sail. 2026
Seven nights. Open ocean. Twenty women who are done running on empty and ready to do something about it.
October 3 to 10 aboard Virgin Voyages Brilliant Lady, sailing the Mexican Riviera from Los Angeles. Three workshops. Morning movement. Real conversations. A small accountability circle that stays with you long after you disembark.
This is not a vacation with a leadership angle. It is structured, intentional, and designed to produce four things you leave with: self-awareness, goal clarity, your people, and tools that actually work when life gets loud.
Doors are now open, and early bird pricing is available until July 12.
Learn more here: leadershipmasterynetwork.com/retreat2026
Untethered Soul by Michael A. Singer
Most leadership books tell you how to perform better.
This one asks something deeper: who are you underneath the doing?
Singer's exploration of inner freedom, self-awareness, and what it means to truly let go is one of the most quietly transformative reads for a leader ready to stop running on fumes and start leading from a genuinely grounded place.
It is not a business book. It is better than that.
Read it before you board.
Or bring it with you.
Consider how many different pieces of content you see in any given week. See something that resonates with you? Share it with us to feature it in our Social Media of the Week section.
"The most powerful investment a leader can make is not in their strategy. It is in themselves."
Leadership Mastery Network
