Personal Leadership in Creative Practice
This Course Helps You Reveal Your Personal Leadership Through Your Professional Practice and Take Yourself Along With Your Practice To The Next Chapter.
An intensive 5-day leadership course for people in the creative industries taking place in the hills of Piemonte, Italy, in May 2026!
The course is for maximum 10 people and is focused on you taking on the role of a leader your own way. This course will provide you time and place to create a deeper and more purposeful understanding of yourself as a leader in relation to your professional practice - as well as develop an actionplan for the steps ahead.
You will be guided through a process that not only helps you reveal how your inner leadership can transform your professional life and lead to sector innovation but also helps you get practical about how you will take action and make an impact.
INTENSIVE COURSE / Piemonte, Italy
5 Days
May 4th - May 8th 2026
Individual and group coaching before and after
La Cassera, Piemonte, Italy
The course unfolds in a nurturing environment designed to help you slow down, focus, and dream big — while gathering the inspiration you need to turn vision into action.
Our venue, La Cassera, is a tranquil nature resort nestled in a quiet valley among the rolling green hills of Castelletto d’Erro, Piemonte — less than a two-hour drive from Milan Airport.
With 12 double rooms, each with a private bathroom, as well as a swimming pool, tennis court, and inviting outdoor spaces, La Cassera offers the perfect balance of comfort and seclusion. Here, you’ll find both peaceful corners for personal reflection and inspiring settings to connect and reflect ideas with other course participants.
Why Leadership?
Why is personal leadership important for creative people who want to succeed with their individual goal in their professional field?
The concept of leadership that forms the foundation of this course is seeing leadership as a purposeful intention of making things happen through and together with other people. The practice of leadership will always be influenced by the specific field you work in. Leading an architectural project and leading the development of a tv-series have both similarities and differences.
As someone who step into leadership in a specific creative context you must explore how you will take up your role to make the impact you want in your specific context.
When we step into leadership our personal agency becomes visible and we encounter ourselves anew. This can block us from reaching the goals we want. But it can also be an opportunity to face personal emotional and mental patterns that holds us back.
Understanding how the dynamic between 1. personal drives and fears, 2. formal and informal practices in your field of work as well as 3. how you are read and understood by the people you work with forms your potential, will help you get clarity about who you want to be in your professional life.
The Process
This intensive course will help you transition into the role you aspire.
It will be expected that you prepare before the course.
Meetings:
Individual coaching session online with Thea Mikkelsen
Group coaching session online
5 days La Cassera Leadership Retreat
Group coaching session online
Individual coaching session online with Thea Mikkelsen
The outdoor areas will be for walks, group explorations and time for your inner process and reflexion.
The method
A foundation of the course is our approach and leadership method Leading Scenarios.
The central tenet of our method is that as we define ourselves through our actions we are also defined by how we are read by others.
Our method trains participants in practicing influence with a professional intention by:
1. Defining and identifying with prefered outcomes.
2. Decipher what is stuck in the situation and where the possibility for movement and transformation resides.
3. Developing and practicing new actions that will create the wanted outcome.
Your course facilitators:
Thea Mikkelsen
I have worked in over 15 years as a leadership coach and organizational psychologist in the creative industries and helped people make change within their industries by strengthening themselves as leaders.
BSc&MSc in Psychology, BA in Comparative Literature, MA Cultural Studies from the University of Copenhagen, Denmark 1995-2006.
Ph.d. Candidate at NIODA, Melbourne, Australia, 2022-
External lecturer at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark and The University of Roskilde, Denmark 2006-16.
Member of the Danish Association of Psychologists.
Former board member in ISPSO - International Society for the Psychoanalytic Study of Organisations 2020-23.
Certified in Hogan Leadership Assessment.
Candidate in The Danish Psychoanalytic Association.
Author of 4 books on Professional Creativity.
Elise Langager
Your Investment
€3,700 per person — a complete, all-inclusive journey to uncover and elevate your unique leadership potential.
This investment includes:
3 1/2 transformative days of immersive leadership training
2 individual coaching sessions to clarify your next steps
2 group coaching sessions to harness the wisdom of the crowd
Comfortable lodging in your own private room with writing desk and bathroom
Three nourishing meals per day crafted to fuel body and mind
Airport pick-up from Milan Malpensa for a seamless arrival
Breakdown of value:
Lodging & meals: €1,000
30 hours facilitated course & coaching: €2,700
Early Bird Opportunity:
€3,200 per person: Apply before December 1, 2025 and receive €500 off.
Payment & Cancellation
To secure your place in the course:
A €1,000 non-refundable deposit is required upon acceptance.
The remaining balance is due by March 30, 2026.
Cancellation:
You may cancel your participation up until March 30, 2026.
This policy ensures your spot is reserved while giving you flexibility to plan with confidence.
CLIENTS INCLUDE:
The situation in the creative industries
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A room of your own...
During your stay there will be group learning and reflection sessions as well as individual reflexion time.
Your single room with a double bed and private bathroom will have a desk where you can work between sessions.
La Cassera
Food
The area is known for its delicious cuisine and wine. For the course we have hired a chef to do a local green menu of 3 meals per day:
Continental Breakfast: Tea, coffee, yoghurt, cereals, pastries and eggs.
Lunch: Vegetarian Italian Lunch with beans and lentils and seasonal greens.
Dinner: Primo with classic pastas and risotto, Secondo with vegetables and meat, and Dolce.
There will be natural and sparkling water to all meals.
You can buy selected wines, beverages and snacks in La Cassera's small boutique.
You are invited to apply, if...
You work in the creative industries (research, architecture, film, design, fashion, art...
You have more than 10 years of experience.
You have already done work you are proud of as well as work you would have liked to do better - and have plans for the future.
You want to take the next step and do something important your own way.
You know there is something in you that must be faced and transcended to get where you want to be and you are ready to look both inside and outside for answers.
Apply
Jon Doe
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Jane Doe
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Jim Doe
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We have an application process to ensure the right group for the process. Write us and schedule a call if you have any questions.
Questions?
Find out if this course is for you.
Write us and schedule a callIs this course for me?
Ask yourself:
Am I in a process of changing my relationship to my professional work?
Have I come to a crossroad where I feel I must make profound changes?
Do I want to stay engaged in my professional life?
Am I ready to look for with pain and pleasure and throw the dices anew?
