Why I Built This.
I spent thirty years in the room where CEOs are chosen. Spencer Stuart. Heidrick & Struggles.
Case writer at Harvard Business School in strategy and finance. Teaching leadership at Yale. Writing about leadership and innovation in the Harvard Business Review. Hosting The Imperfect Leaders podcast.
None of that prepared me for the morning my wife and I sat across from a developmental pediatrician and heard the word autism applied to our son.
Luca is four years old (in this picture). We are in the middle of this, not at the end of it.
I built L3 because the room I needed did not exist. Other CEOs raising children with autism told me the same. So we are building it together.
Jeffrey: jeffrey@l3retreat.com
Your True North
Your child has made you a different leader. More patient in some places, more impatient in others. Clearer about what your time is worth. Quieter about what does not matter.
Most leaders in this position have absorbed that change without ever putting it into words. L3 begins by making that change shared — and then asks what each of us will do with it.
No member is asked to do everything. Every member is asked to do something.
One Belief
L3 rests on one belief: that the older generation who have already walked this road have something to give to the next, and that the next has questions worth answering.
The whole community rests on that exchange. Two generations of senior leaders, deliberately mixed — and both sides need the other.
Newer cohort members gain access to wisdom hard-won over decades: the decisions the older generation has already faced, the mistakes they would unmake, the relationships and structures they wish they had built sooner.
Seasoned cohort members gain something rarer — the assurance that what they have learned will be carried forward, into the next generation’s families and companies, long after they are gone.
How the Year Looks
The Room
Two generations of senior leaders, deliberately mixed. Each founding member is paired for the year with a seasoned member — a specific person committed to working through the decisions ahead of them.
Year Round
A standing Brain Trust of researchers, clinicians, and operators that members can call on directly. Regional gatherings in New York, San Francisco, and Chicago. Monthly briefings from the founder.
The Founding Weekend
Two working days in Vail, October 3 to 4, 2026. Friday arrival optional. The founding table is intentionally small — five couples, personally chosen by the founder. Founding members shape what the community becomes and hold a permanent seat as the community grows. Members who cannot attend in a given year remain full members.
What You’ll Leave With
A clearer answer of how your child has shaped you as a leader.
A specific outward act you will take in the next twelve months.
A trusted circle of peers to count on after the retreat.
A more specific view of what an “after us” plan should include.
A clearer sense of your true north — and the words to share it with your team.
Why Vail
Vail gives the retreat both beauty and privacy. The setting matters because the conversations are demanding. The environment should feel calm, elevated, and fully handled, without becoming performative.