Nepal Leadership Trek (NLT), organized by Nepal Leadership Academy (NLA), is designed for university students and young professionals seeking to hone their leadership skills while also experiencing the panoramic sensations of the High Himalayas. The Trek introduces participants to NLA’s flagship graduate-level equivalent course, Leading From Within, designed at Harvard’s Center for Public Leadership. Building on globally renowned leadership practices, the course enables participants to explore the fundamentals of adaptive leadership so that they can reflect on and critically analyze both themselves and their surroundings.

The trek is coordinated by Royal Mountain Travel (RMT), a leading travel agency in Nepal with more than 18 years of experience offering high quality personalized service. The itinerary covers a tour of historic Kathmandu Valley, picturesque Pokhara, and trekking along a newly developed, unspoiled route of the Annapurna Region. Participants will enjoy the region’s landscape and culture, get a unique glimpse into the Himalayan village lifestyle, spend quality time with local communities, and interact with inspiring women entrepreneurs. Accommodation in cozy community-run eco-lodges each night after hiking adds to the richness of the experience.

Finding the New in You
The course, Leading from Within, resulted from 18 months of action research conducted by NLA Coach and Former Harvard Senior Fellow Dr. Pukar Malla along with distinguished professors Marshall Ganz and Ronald Heifetz at the Harvard Center for Public Leadership. It incorporates the LEAD framework—Listen, Empathize, Analyze, Do—and assimilates NLA’s learning about adult development and social innovation gained from training 360+ changemakers in civil society, business, bureaucracy, and politics in Nepal and abroad. The theoretical aspects of the course will be learned through a case-in-point approach, which creates a laboratory-like condition so that the actions and behaviors of course participants provide real-time data for learning about different elements of leadership. Using this method, participants will develop analytical skills to recognize personal and shared values, as well as create action options to actualize their visions.

Additionally, the trek emphasizes the homestay experience, which not only provides participants with an authentic local experience but also benefits the host families and communities. Major benefits to the community include directly supporting the local economy, preserving and promoting local culture, utilizing local resources and products, and providing independent incomes to women in the homestay projects. This deeply engaging and mutually beneficial journey, along with the leadership course, will provide participants with a rare opportunity to combine learnings from external observations with internal introspection. This will equip them with the adaptive knowledge and skills to adjust to the changing world and become active agents in it.

Health: NLT is an easy/moderate trek accompanied by a local guide that involves walking 5-6 hours on most trekking days. The highest altitude traveled is at 3360 meters. Please note that altitude sickness may be a factor.

Nepal Leadership Trek (NLT) Itinerary: January 3 to January 16, 2019 (14 days)
Please arrive in Kathmandu by no later than the evening of Jan 2 and plan your departure no earlier than Jan 17. Since we will be trekking on the trail with a fixed schedule for each day, we will be unable to accommodate different schedules.

By January 2, 2019 Arrival
Day 1, January 3 NLT Orientation + Kathmandu Sightseeing
Day 2, January 4 Leadership Course Module 1: Introduction to Adaptive Leadership + Module 2: Listen
Day 3, January 5 Travel to Pokhara
Day 4, January 6 Leadership Course Module 3: Empathize
Day 5, January 7 Leadership Course Module 4: Analyze
Day 6, January 8 Travel to Galeshwor + trek to Bas Kharka*
Day 7, January 9 Trek to Nagi
Day 8, January 10 Excursion around Nagi
Day 9, January 11 Trek to Mohare
Day 10, January 12 Trek to Danda Kharka
Day 11, January 13 Trek to Tilkot
Day 12, January 14 Trek to Tipling + travel back to Pokhara
Day 13, January 15 Leadership Course Module 6: Staying Alive + travel back to Kathmandu + farewell dinner
Day 14, January 16 Departure
* Leadership Course Module 5: Do, will be incorporated in the trek from day 7-13