October 5, 2026 - November 15, 2026
The work of leading a classical school in the modern age is both noble and exacting. School leaders today must navigate a host of competing pressures: preserving a coherent vision of truth, goodness, and beauty amid cultural fragmentation; supporting and retaining excellent teachers; engaging parents with clarity and compassion; maintaining academic rigor; and cultivating ordered, virtuous communities in a distracted and often disordered world. In addition to requiring managerial competence, these challenges demand moral clarity, steady judgment, and the ability to effectively communicate both a vision for human flourishing within the academy along with the practical processes for achieving it.
For such leadership, we can turn to the enduring example of Abraham Lincoln. This course invites classical school leaders to study Lincoln not merely as a historical figure, but as a model of principled and effective leadership under extraordinary strain. Through his life and words, we will examine his unwavering moral conviction and commitment to virtue, his profound empathy and humility, his courage, his ability to cast a pragmatic and unifying vision, and his masterful skill as a rhetor who could shape public thought and inspire collective purpose. By carefully examining Lincoln’s example, participants will be equipped to meet the demands of their own leadership with greater wisdom, fortitude, and grace.
Required Text: Phillips, Donald T. Lincoln on Leadership for Today: Abraham Lincoln’s Approach to Twenty-First-Century Issues. Mariner Books, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2018.
Course Facilitator: Eric Tope
Live Session Dates: 10/27/26 and 11/10/26 from 4:00-5:30 PM
GH Employees: use voucher code ghemployee (case sensitive) and your school email address at checkout.
GH Partner Schools: use voucher code ghpartner (case sensitive) and the email address associated with your Brightspace account at checkout.
