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A four-month program with Shari Elle

The Leadership Council

Four months, a small council of peers, and the work of making this who you are, not just what you know. By invitation, following Leading with Connection.

Start with Leading with Connection →

The doorway to the Council. Next Council begins 4 March 2027.

Is this for you?

This is for you if:

You have done the 2 Day Leading with Connection Program and you want to deeply embed it in your life, fast.

You are done collecting frameworks; you want a practice that holds under real pressure, in the rooms where it is hardest.

You want confidence and trust to engage in difficult conversations with compassion and honesty, and to work through issues in partnership. Building trust in the team.

You want to stand in your fully aligned power and speak from your heart on a daily basis, to engage and be understood by those around you.

You want to lead from power from within rather than power over, and you want that for every member of your team. And you know that shift doesn't happen alone.

You are carrying decisions and dynamics you can't take to anyone inside your organisation, and you need peers who will meet you honestly.

You keep putting out spot fires, going, going, going, and you can feel that surviving is not the same as leading.

You want you and your team to simplify everything you do - seeing and addressing what is getting in the way and using unnecessary energy. Getting to the heart of matters fast.

Your family and the precious time with them matters. To arrive home energised to see them and having these skills to have the rich conversations and closeness you dreamed of.

Leaders in a council session
Practice over time

Why a Council

You can't see your own dance while you are dancing it. That is not a flaw; it is how being human works. We can't see what we can't see, and that is not our fault.

What changes it is practice over time, witnessed by people who do the same work and will tell you the truth warmly.

A council is not a course. It is a small, confidential circle of leaders working on their real situations with me, fortnight after fortnight, until the practice stops being something you do and becomes somewhere you live - in your bones. We all learn from each other.

My aim for every member is simple: that you come home to yourself, and lead from there.

The program

What the four months comprise

01

Two in-person multi-day retreats.

A four-day retreat (Thursday to Sunday) to begin: the descent into the work. And a three-day retreat on the Sunshine Coast (Friday to Sunday) toward the end: the deepening and consolidation of it.

02

Ten fortnightly two-hour sessions.

The engine room. Live work on various topics bringing insight into the situations you are actually in that fortnight: the board dynamic, the succession call, the conversation at home.

03

Eight two-hour mentoring pods (optional).

Closer-in mentoring in small pods with Shari. This is your time to get direct feedback so the work gets down to the specifics of your patterns.

04

A partner buddy.

Weekly or fortnightly sessions with a council peer to practise and receive empathy, bringing clarity and freeing mental energy around live issues, because the circuit re-remembers through use.

Homework: none. Living and practising this in your real life is the work.

Everything is confidential. The Council is leadership development, not therapy, and every member signs a participation agreement committing to the full four months.

The reliable changes

What members report

The reliable changes: hard conversations stop being postponed; meetings shorten because the real subject surfaces sooner; the people around you feel met rather than managed, and start telling you the truth earlier; and the version of you that walks in the front door at home is the one your family has been waiting for.

In the Merck Pharmaceuticals research on this way of working, participants reported issue-resolution time falling by 67 to 90% and meeting loads halving. The Council is where those changes stop depending on your best day.

67–90%

less issue-resolution time

Half

the meeting load

What is the time commitment?

The honest answer: this program creates time rather than takes it.

Beyond the in-person retreats, the Council is designed to transform your leadership and all your relationships by living and practising the work in your everyday life. It is not time-consuming. It reduces your background noise and brings clarity: the shift from unresolved noise to inner alignment frees up time and mental bandwidth rather than consuming it.

And the skills keep creating time and capacity for life, well beyond the months of the Council, in fact, for the rest of your life! You also have the other members contributing their experience and counsel to your real challenges, using these same skills, which creates its own time, efficiency, capacity and learning.

The actual commitment, so you can see clearly what you are saying yes to:

In-person retreats: one four-day retreat (Thursday to Sunday), and one three-day retreat on the Sunshine Coast (Friday to Sunday).

Ten fortnightly two-hour sessions.

Partner buddy sessions, weekly or fortnightly, to practise and receive empathy, clarity, and freed mental energy around live issues.

Four monthly two-hour mentoring pods.

Homework: none. Living and practising this in your real life is the work.

Investment

Next Council begins 4 March 2027

Pay in full
$7,998

inc GST

A $998 deposit reserves your place, with the remainder due before the program begins.

Payment plan
$8,998

inc GST

A $998 deposit, then four monthly payments of $2,000.

This is introductory pricing for the coming cohort. The next Council begins 4 March 2027, and enrolment is open now.

How invitation works

The doorway is Leading with Connection.

Membership is by personal invitation, and the doorway is Leading with Connection. I invite people whose readiness I have seen in the room: self-awareness, goodwill, and the willingness to be honest. If you have done the two days and the Council is calling you, tell me. If you haven't yet, that is the place to begin.

Leading with Connection →Tell me
Questions

Frequently asked questions

How do I join The Leadership Council?

By invitation, after completing Leading with Connection, the two-day foundation intensive. Invitations are personal, by a conversation with me, never by automated email. If you feel ready, say so during the training, contact me directly, or fill in an online application form to be considered.

What if I want to know more but haven't been invited?

Ask. Wanting to know more is itself worth telling me, and expressing interest never counts against you; some of my best Council members invited themselves into the conversation. If you have completed Leading with Connection, contact me directly, or fill in an online application form, and we will talk honestly about whether the Council is your next step, and about timing if it isn't yet. If you haven't done the two days, that is the place to begin: it is where I come to know how you work, and where every invitation starts. Either way, the conversation is with me, not a waitlist or an email sequence.

What is the time commitment?

Across four months: two three-day retreats, a two-hour session each fortnight, one small-group coaching session each month, and regular practice with your empathy partner. It is designed for working senior leaders; it asks for real commitment, not impossible commitment. Outside the two in-person retreats, this program creates time.

Will this help me with relationship challenges at home?

Absolutely. Who you are at work and at home is one person: the same things that trigger you in the boardroom trigger you at the dinner table, just expressed differently. So the skills are the same too: deep listening, honesty from the heart, self-connection, and clear forward steps. The work builds insight into the patterns that may no longer be serving you, and the more you lead from inner alignment at work, the more you lead from the heart at home. Members consistently find it transforms every relationship in their life, and for many, what changes at home is what matters most.

Is this therapy or a support group?

No. The Council is leadership development, and the participation agreement says so explicitly. We work in the present, on real leadership situations, building a durable skill base. Members often find it profoundly personal, because leadership is, but the frame is your effectiveness and alignment as a leader.

What does it cost?

$7,998 inc GST paid in full (with a $998 deposit), or $8,998 inc GST on a payment plan of $998 plus four monthly payments of $2,000. This is introductory pricing. Full commitment for the duration is part of the participation agreement.

Are the mentoring pods included in the investment?

Yes. These pods are where you get personalised support, where you can bring your personal situations and anything you want private help with. It's in a small consistent group of just 3-5 people.

What time is the Pod on - what if I can't make the time?

At the beginning of the program, you nominate the times you are available and we schedule calls based on those times. Sometimes you may not have anything to bring or you may have a particularly busy schedule, these calls are not mandatory, they are optional. However, even if you don't have anything you want support with, you will learn so much from others who have questions in these pods and it's a chance to bring your support to others in the Council. So we highly recommend you attend these pods to magnify your results from the program.

Is one-on-one coaching available if I want it?

If you want additional one-on-one coaching it is available at an additional fee. Either with Shari directly or with one of our mentors, and you can purchase one-off coaching or blocks of 6 sessions at a discount. Pricing and how to access this will be supplied at the beginning of the program.

When does the next Council begin?

The next cohort begins on 4 March 2027, with both retreat dates and all session dates confirmed at enrolment. Places are limited by design and are being filled now.

Leadership is not a technique you add. It is a frequency you learn to hold.

Four months of getting to the heart of things, together, with peers who won't let you drift. The doorway is two days.

Register for Leading with Connection →Already completed the training? Contact Shari about the Council.
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