IN THE MEDIA: Personal strategy Retreat STories
"You don’t have to have a ‘situation’ to deal with to benefit from a retreat of this kind. They're for people who are ready to embrace life (career/business) and act positively. The Strategic Space Retreats help you plan your future, give yourself a creative reboot and realize your dreams. You’ll leave energized and focused.”
–Psychologies Magazine, Retreats to help you find direction
“From rethinking your career to recalibrating priorities in your personal life, this retreat will offer fresh perspectives and allow you to focus on whatever is most critical to you at the present moment.”
— SUITCASE Magazine, Rest, Reset and Repeat: The Best Mental Health Retreats Around the World
“Best places to go in Europe for a much-needed boost…This 4-night retreat with narrative strategist, Julie Hosler, is designed for anyone looking for a personal, career-led, or business reboot. You’ll have a plan to take home and a virtual post-retreat follow-up strategy session.”
–The Times, The Best Spas and Bootcamps in Europe
"A clearly intelligent and well-read American now living in Paris, Hosler worked on client campaigns such as Apple and Cartier before moving on to help chief executives and entrepreneurs. Her workshops and advice during one-to-one consultations are intelligent and inspiring, and I left feeling raring to go."
– The Times (UK), The Strategic Space Retreats
"The Strategic Space is the brainchild of US-born, Paris-based strategist Julie Hosler. Having streamlined the lives of global corporate CEOs and entrepreneurs for years, Hosler now leads life-changing retreats… the place to pin down your personal story – your bigger vision for your life and career."
– The Gloss Magazine (Ireland), Destination Transformation,
"If your New Year resolutions involve making some big personal changes, kick things off with The Strategic Space’s retreat – a way to hit the reset button, giving guests the chance to reimagine life from the comforts of the beautiful Isola Santa Cristina in north Italy."
– The National UAE (Dubai), Transformative Travel,
"Are you looking for clarification on the next stage of your life, relationship, career or business? I went late last year and got crystal clear direction on the next stage of my life whilst enjoying the most gorgeous surroundings of a magical chateau in Burgundy, indulgent and nourishing food (and wine) and the clever attentions of a brilliant strategist."
–Healthista, Retreat of the week,
"The retreat’s key message is this: if you’re the author of your story, how do you want the next chapter of it to go? We’re all different, but we all want the next chapter of our lives to read supremely well. On this delightful retreat of the mind, you start to believe that it just might."
— The Telegraph, Holidays That Will Improve Your Life,
"Based at the fairytale Chateau de Mailly deep in the Burgundy countryside, Ms Julie Hosler’s Personal Strategy Retreats are rapidly becoming the stuff of legend in both business and creative circles... Expect to leave recharged, refocused and reinvigorated, and consider this the most enjoyable investment in your future you’ll ever make."
— MR PORTER, The Healthiest Holidays on the Planet
"Engaging and entertaining, the workshops pivot on themes from The Hero’s Journey, the narrative pattern identified in stories, films, and psychological development by scholar Joseph Campbell. All of us are always at some point on the cycle, says Hosler, for life is a constant transformation."
– Queen of Retreats, website of curated retreats
Corporate & organization Clients: Stories
The Do-Gooder Corporation: This Fortune 500 company had impressive Environmental and Corporate Social Responsibility programs, but no one knew about them, including their own employees.
Their programs were filled with stories of the lives that they were positively impacting around the world. We just had to highlight them so that their customers, the media and their employees could see how their core values were positively impacting the communities that they served. By harnessing social media channels, their employees were inspired to use more of their paid volunteering hours and encourage their friends and family to do the same.
Their reputation score with customers increased, employee satisfaction/retention improved, HR leveraged these stories as a recruitment tool and they quickly became a CSR thought leader in the industry.
Building a Legacy: Each year the management team from an innovative entertainment company goes away to plan and strategize the upcoming year’s goals. The problem is that their success has led to a mild case of complacency.
The CEO wanted to try something different, to tap into the intrinsic motivation of the executive team in order to impact the company’s long-term legacy. The Power of Story workshop made the process an engaging way to turn the lens on the company, team, and individual ambitions.
They strengthened their sense of identity and purpose and came away with an actionable plan for future growth and a story to inspire the rest of the organization.
The Story of Science: This international scientist thought that she just needed an updated website to reflect her award-winning science.
But there was a more inspiring story that needed to be told, not only to impress research grant decision makers and attract the world’s best researchers, but to innovate the entire scientific funding model.
Her new “What if…” story sets her research apart from others in the same field and communicates it in understandable and relevant ways. With this new ability to tell an inspiring science story, she can expand the limited funding model by adding crowd sourcing from people who this life-changing research impacts the most. All the while being applauded by the scientific community at large.
Individual clients: personal Stories
The CEO who turned Plan C into Plan A: Just as this CEO had reached the top of her career ladder, she panicked to find the next rung to climb. She was stuck and void of inspiration and enthusiasm which resulted in a depletion of self confidence and energy. She had been suppressing a dream that she referred to as her Plan C.
Together we charted a smart path to Plan C, past fear and subconscious expectations so she could take action steps without unnecessary pressure and “shoulds” that she was used to putting on herself. Now Plan C is Plan A, with an actionable roadmap to get there.
From Should to Could: This creative director found himself at the apex of his career, replete with recognition and financial rewards. Yet when offered the “project of a lifetime” he was surprised to find himself in deep contemplation about what to do next.
We discovered that he had reduced his next chapter to an either/or situation. Instead, we created a powerful narrative for the next chapter of his life and work, which was rooted firmly in the concept of ‘and’, thus providing the framework for his enthusiasm to thrive.
Reducing the Overwhelm: This executive could navigate any challenge that presented itself, and she took them all on, regardless of her limited bandwidth and depleted energy supplies, slaying each one. That was precisely her problem.
We had to minimize her overwhelm and habit of taking on everything that crossed her path so that she could hear the persistent knocking of that big idea that had been suppressed for the past 30 years. Together we unpacked all of the versions of the idea that she had been stuffing away, and articulated a mission and execution plan to bring it to life. Along the way we developed tools for minimizing her old habits and diminishing beliefs that had been holding her back, so that she could stay focused and enthused. Now she has a platform for expressing her idea, and hears an ongoing stream of praise for doing something meaningful that “everyone needs in their life.”
The Emerging Artist: This emerging artist found himself in a state of panic. He had dreams of attending one of the world’s most prestigious MFA programs. And with a strict admittance process, he was looking for some motivational boosting and structure to ensure that he would be accepted.
Together, we developed a strategy of significance and meaning so that it felt lighter, easier and more natural to him. It resulted in an action plan with key milestones to prevent last minute panic and stress. And yes, he was accepted! His new mindset has a solid foundation upon which his creativity and artistry can shine amidst a rigorous art program.
Want to hear more stories regarding how people and companies are authoring their own stories? Send me an email and we will talk.