Applied Battlefield Concepts, LLC



The Corporate Staff Ride Experience
Applied Battlefield Concepts LLC was formed to adapt the US Army's century-old Battlefield Staff Ride technique for leadership development training of top managers.
Antietam Corporate Staff Ride
An intensive, experiential learning-based, leadership training exercise conducted on the ground of the "bloodiest day" in American history.
Design Your Own Corporate Staff Ride
The Corporate Staff Ride is flexible in design and can be developed internally to address the specific leadership challenges of any organization.
Principals
The Principals of APPLIED BATTLEFIELD CONCEPTS, LLC combine decades of experience as successful businessmen, historians, and military officers.
Registration and Contact
Contact Applied Battlefield Concepts, LLC and Register for the 2007-8 Antietam Corporate Staff Rides.


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“Taking Leadership Lessons From The Battlefield to the Boardroom”


Design Your Own Corporate Staff Ride


The Corporate Staff Ride can be developed internally with some specialized advice from APPLIED BATTLEFIELD CONCEPTS LLC. It can, therefore, be repeated by any organization that adopts the technique.

One of the reasons the Army has continued to utilize the staff ride is that it is highly flexible. The same is true for the Corporate Staff Ride, which can be structured to focus on the specific critical issues facing an enterprise, eg. communications, or competitive intelligence, or regulatory environment. The selection of the Case Studies can also be tailored to the individual needs of the organization. Finally, there are many potential sites spanning our history and suitable for a Corporate Staff Ride.


The Army's Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) bears responsibility for most modern military staff ride efforts. It has compiled a list of more than 100 potential sites for staff rides that include battles fought during the French and Indian War, American Revolution, War of 1812, Mexican War, Indians Wars and both World Wars. The possible venues for a Corporate Staff Ride include literally hundreds of locations, in the US and abroad.

Wherever you are located, whatever the size of your organization, or the kinds of leadership challenges you face, there is probably a battlefield reasonably close that can become the focus of the most important management development program you will ever experience.

Cost


Creating and implementing an internally developed, proprietary training program is not cheap. It takes about 6 months to develop the materials and personnel for all three phases - preparation, battlefield visit, integration. The input and attention of senior management is vital from the very beginning.

The selection of a battle and stops ("stands"), preparation of training materials, a Corporate Staff Ride Handbook, selection and training of a instructor/guide, logistics, etc. will generally cost $100,000-$200,000 and a minimum committment of six months.



Diverse Organizations Have Utilized Staff Rides to Address Enterprise-Specific Leadership Issues:

Hillenbrand Industries, Inc. CFO Scott K. Sorensen visited Gettysburg with 10 other Hillenbrand executives in 2003. The CEO had just replaced most of senior management, risking serious communication problems in a group without a knowledge of institutional norms. The staff ride and "after action review" led to positive organizational changes (CFO Magzine, May 2003)

"With the Dude Fire Staff Ride, we applied the framework of the military staff ride to a wildland fire that blew up outside of Payson, AZ, in June 1990, killing six firefighters. This staff ride was part of a national interagency fire behavior workshop in Phoenix, AZ, in March 1999." (Fire Management Today, Volume 62, No. 4, Fall 2002)

The Advanced Course of the US Army Chaplain School conducted a Staff Ride at Antietam in late April 1994 to "get their students thinking about their profession and the 'face of battle'."

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