Experiential executive retreats
Executive retreats for leadership teams that need to work as one.
For teams stuck in conflict, split into camps or newly thrown together. We take leadership teams of 5 to 12 into shared experiences, from off-road and winter survival to sailing, where trust is earned rather than talked about. Then we make sure it holds back at work. Fully handled.
Need a five-star strategic planning retreat instead? We run those too. Still researching? Price it in five questions or get the free planning kit.
Teams like yours
From fractured to one team. Three real retreats.
Measured results
The work holds up in the numbers.
$1.2B
revenue, up from $350M — seven rival firms unified into one
268%
behavioral gain in 30 days — two warring camps, one team
209%
mindset lift — Champion Iron executive retreat, AlUla
178%
teaming gain in 30 days — five poached all-stars, one team
Real engagements across a decade of retreats, immersions and partnerships. See the case studies → · How we measure →
Client praise
What leaders say after the room goes quiet.
James helped us turn seven groups of rivals into one leadership team. By the time US Holdings became Eagle Manufacturing Group and I moved from COO to CEO, we were no longer seven companies protecting our own territory — we were one company working toward the same outcome.
This truly resonated and will have a lasting influence on us as we work to create a technology organization where the best and brightest choose to be.
Trusted by leadership teams at
Fortune 100 leadership teams, over a 25-year career.
How it starts
A conversation
What should your people walk away feeling, thinking, saying — and the one outcome that matters most.
A recommendation
We tell you honestly: Focused, Signature or Bespoke, which format, what it costs, and what it will and won't do.
We build & deliver
We handle everything, start to finish, and stay with your team for 30 days afterward to help the change hold.
Focused
One outcome, ready to run
A content-led retreat around one focus (relationships, planning, pain points or training), with the agenda ready to go, lightly tailored, at a luxury venue with remarkable food. The simplest way in.
Investment
$35,000–$50,000
Written proposal within 72 hours
Signature
Experiential Leadership Retreats
Hand-curated four- and five-star venues, exceptional food, and a tested arc of activities — ready to go, with the content tailored to your outcome. A genuinely great retreat without the long design runway.
Investment
$45,000–$150,000
Written proposal within 72 hours
Bespoke
Designed around your team alone
Everything — environment, activities, facilitation, the entire arc — engineered from nothing around your team and your one most-important outcome. This is what the case studies are made of.
Investment
$75,000–$500,000+
Starts with a call with James
Every tier is turnkey for a team of roughly 5 to 12: design, facilitation by James, lodging, meals, activities, on-site coordination and transfers. Airfare to the destination is the usual exclusion. Book three to six months out for the widest choice of venues; Focused can come together faster.
Not sure which fits? That's the first conversation — we'll tell you honestly. Sometimes the right answer is the simpler one. Want a number now? Try the cost estimator.
Signature formats
Ready-to-run starting points — each suited to a kind of outcome.
Something else entirely — jungle, desert, horseback, alpine? If the outcome calls for it, we have a format for it, or we build one. Talk it through →
Not sure how intense to go? Set the four dials. Only have one day? See Executive Immersion.
Where we take teams
Destinations chosen for the outcome, not the brochure.
Farther afield: Costa Rica, the Alaska backcountry, AlUla in Saudi Arabia, and sailing passages in the British Virgin Islands. See where else we go.
Included with every retreat
A 30-day challenge after you get home. Each leader commits to one behavior, we track it daily, and at day 30 you get a written report showing how far the team moved against its starting point. The trust is earned on the retreat; the 30 days make sure it shows up at work.
Get a proposal
Three answers. A proposal in 72 hours.
Team size, rough timing and any place you have in mind. James reads every request himself.
- James replies personally to confirm the details.
- For Focused and Signature retreats, you get a written proposal within 72 hours: format, destination, dates and price.
- Bespoke retreats start with a short call, because they are built from scratch.
No obligation.
Prefer to talk? Book a 15-minute call with James
Researching first? Get the free retreat planning kit
Who leads every retreat
James Carter
Twenty-five years inside hundreds of leadership teams, and more than 250 engineered days and retreats across 40 states and beyond. Co-author alongside Stephen Covey, Ken Blanchard, Deepak Chopra and Brian Tracy, author of the forthcoming The Lost Disciplines of Leadership, and featured in CNN, CNN Money and Business Insider.
He designs each retreat backward from the one thing your team needs to walk away with, runs it himself, and stays on for the 30 days after.
More about James →Want ongoing work after the retreat? Executive team coaching, consulting and leadership development continue through Be Legendary, our parent company.
Visit belegendary.org ↗Planning this for your executive?
One call, and we carry the rest.
If you're an EA or chief of staff scoping this for your principal, we run it white-glove. Locations, logistics, travel, contingencies, the entire build — handled. You bring the outcome and the calendar; we make you look brilliant.
How we work with EAs →A single point of contact — James — start to finish.
All logistics, travel, lodging, and on-site coordination managed.
Discreet, calm, and built to reflect well on you and your principal.
Not ready for a call?
The complete retreat planning kit. Free.
The design principles, the agenda shape, the venue checklist, a budget worksheet and the 30-day follow-through, in one PDF.
Straight answers
Leadership & executive retreats, answered plainly.
What is a leadership retreat?
A leadership retreat is a multi-day, off-site gathering where an executive team steps out of operations to work on how it leads together — how it decides, aligns, and holds itself accountable — rather than on the day-to-day. Done seriously, it isn’t a scenic offsite or a team-building day: it’s a facilitated experience built around one real outcome, run so the experience turns into commitments, and reinforced afterward so the change survives the trip home. The setting is the retreat; the product is the behavior change.
How much does an executive leadership retreat cost?
A serious executive leadership retreat generally runs from about $35,000 for a Focused, ready-to-run format up to $500,000+ for a fully bespoke engagement — driven by group size, destination, duration, and how much diagnosis, customization and follow-through is built in. The number that matters isn’t the fee but the cost of the problem you’re solving; a retreat that actually changes how the team executes returns many times its price, while a scenic offsite that changes nothing is expensive at any number.
Is this an executive team building retreat?
Yes — but not an activities day dressed up as one. An executive team building retreat, the way we run it, is a facilitated multi-day experience built around one real outcome your team needs to reach. The experience becomes a laboratory for how the team actually decides and executes — then it is reinforced for 30 days so the change survives the trip home. The setting is the retreat; the product is the behavior change.
What is the difference between an executive team building retreat and a corporate offsite?
An offsite is a block of time away from operations. A retreat is the facilitated version of it — built around a diagnosed outcome, run so the experience becomes commitments, and followed through afterward. A retreat with no real outcome and no follow-through is just an offsite with better catering. The question is never “where do we go?” but “what are we here to change, and how will we know it did?” Offsite vs team building, compared.
How long is an executive team building retreat, and where does it run?
Most run multi-day, at curated venues — domestic or international — chosen to fit the outcome, not the other way around. We handle the venue, travel, food, facilitation and the 30-day reinforcement end to end; you bring the team and the outcome. A single dramatic day is possible when that is the right container, but the retreats are built for a depth a day cannot reach.
Where are the best executive retreat locations?
The best executive retreat location is the one that fits the outcome, not the brochure. We run retreats at curated destinations — mountain, desert, coastal, backcountry and international — and choose the setting to serve what the team is there to change: a place remote enough to break routine, demanding enough to surface how the team actually operates, and comfortable enough that the work, not the logistics, is the hard part. We handle venue, travel and food end to end. The setting matters, but it is the container for the change, never the point of it.
Do you run luxury or private executive retreats?
Yes — fully private, single-team retreats, at a level of venue and service the team chooses. But we treat luxury as a means, not the product: a five-star setting that changes nothing is expensive at any price. What the investment should buy is a retreat engineered around one real outcome and reinforced afterward, delivered without a logistical worry landing on the team. The comfort removes friction from the work; the work is still the point.
Start with the outcome. We'll find the way.
Fifteen minutes with James will tell you more than any brochure. No obligation.