Campfire Sessions: A Moderated Two-Day Retreat for Four Executives

There is a particular kind of silence that settles over a management team in the fourth hour of an offsite. Everyone is present and participating. The slides are good, the facilitator is competent, the coffee is hot. And nothing is being said.

Not because anyone is hiding something, but because the room does not allow it. A boardroom is built for decisions, decisions need positions, and positions need certainty. The doubt about the direction, the conflict two directors have been quietly routing around for a year, the reservation about the acquisition that nobody wants to voice first: none of it has anywhere to go. It follows everyone home and comes back on Monday.

• FormatTwo days minimum, excluding travel
• GroupFour participants, typically the full executive team
• ModeratorA former colonel of the Netherlands Marine Corps
• WhereAlassio, on the Italian Riviera
• Indicative fee€8,750 for the two-day programme

Travel, accommodation and activities are quoted separately and tailored to your group.

What is a Campfire Session?

Four people, two days and a fire on the Ligurian coast. No exercises, no ropes, no bootcamp: a fire, good company and enough time for the things that do not fit in a meeting to finally be said out loud.

Insight rarely happens in the boardroom. It happens where people genuinely relax and genuinely trust each other. That is not a soft observation; it is the operating condition for everything a leadership team is supposed to do together. What participants take home is not a framework but an accurate picture of what is actually going on in their team, as opposed to what gets reported.

Why does a military background matter here?

The sessions are moderated by a former colonel of the Netherlands Marine Corps, a veteran of multiple deployments who has spent a career on high-performance teams, mission command and leadership. That background is not decoration, and it does not mean anything strenuous. It is there because of one idea.

Mission command works on a single condition. You give your people the objective and your intent, not the instructions. That is the whole doctrine, and it is why small units can operate at speed in conditions no plan survives. But it only works if you know precisely what your people can carry and where they come apart: not their job titles or appraisals, but what they can actually do and what they will not say they cannot do.

In an operational theatre, getting that judgement wrong costs lives. In an organisation it costs years: stalled initiatives, talent that quietly leaves, a strategy everyone nods at and nobody owns. Around a fire, that judgement becomes possible. People talk differently in the dark, with something to look at that is neither a screen nor each other. Stories come out, and in the stories the barriers become visible.

People talk differently in the dark, with something to look at that is neither a screen nor each other.

Why only four people?

Four is the right number: typically the full executive team, such as CEO, COO, CFO and CCO. Not a delegation, not a department, not a conference.

Four is also a limit rather than a preference. Add more chairs and the conversation changes character: it becomes an audience, then a panel, then a meeting with better scenery. At four, everyone speaks and nobody gets to sit it out. Larger groups need an adapted programme and a new quotation.

Where does it take place, and who arranges it?

In Alassio, on the Italian Riviera: an inspiring setting, rich in history and with plenty to do in the present. The regional airport at Villanova d'Albenga, equipped for private aviation, is about twenty minutes away. Scheduled flights arrive at Genoa, about an hour by road, or Nice, about 1 hour 15 to 1 hour 30.

We have been organising inspiring gatherings since 1984, and our company is also led by a former Marine Corps officer and veteran. That is less of a coincidence than it sounds: there is never a gap between what the session requires and what the organisation delivers. Two marines, one language.

Everything from arrival to departure is arranged, and arranged to measure. That is not a service detail but a precondition: relaxation only sets in once nothing is asking for your attention any more.

• Team Retreats at Villa Belvedere del Condor
• Why Choose a Private Villa for Executive Retreats
• How to Get to Alassio: Airports, Rail and Road

What does it cost?

The indicative fee is €8,750 for the two-day programme for four participants. Travel, accommodation and activities are quoted separately and tailored to your group, and dates are set by arrangement.

• Autumn Leadership Offsite in Italy: Planning Q4
• Private Villa in Liguria vs the French Riviera

Frequently asked questions