Ten Weeks. A Diverse Cohort of Peers. Level Up Your Management Skills.
Power without love is reckless and abusive, and love without power is sentimental and anemic.
—Martin Luther King, Jr., “Where Do We Go From Here” (1967)
Great management plays an outsized role in our ability to achieve our goals and thrive together. Bad management fuels poor productivity and general misery.
Becoming a great manager requires good habits, a deep understanding of and comfort with power, and lots of opportunity to practice. Unfortunately, managers — even experienced ones — are rarely afforded the time to learn from our peers and to strengthen our muscles. And we rarely, if ever, have explicit conversations about power — what it looks and feels like to wield effectively, and how to balance it with love and empathy for the people we impact.
The purpose of this 10-week peer learning experience is to help you develop strong management muscles and habits, especially around navigating power:
- Power — our personal philosophies and relationships with power, how much power we actually have as managers (including our ability to manage up and sideways), and how to empower and hold people accountable with intention and care.
- Developing strong group habits — getting clear and aligned around success, establishing and regularly checking in on team working agreements, and regular group engagement, including how to structure meetings and use online tools.
What Past Participants Say
How This Works
This is a “training” in the sports or music sense (an emphasis on doing and practice) rather than what we often see in the workplace. We will not be telling you how to do things. We will provide light frameworks and “workouts,” and you will spend most of your time practicing, reflecting, customizing the frameworks to best suit your needs, and engaging with peers.
The program consists of:
- A full-day face-to-face kickoff and a full-day face-to-face wrap-up in Oakland, California (see below for specific dates). Breakfast and lunch will be provided.
- Eight two-hour weekly online sessions (via Zoom) between the two in-person sessions.
- Weekly homework that will take about an hour a week. These will consist of personal reflection and conversations with peers. There will NOT be assigned readings.
The cohort is limited to 12 people. There is an application process to make sure the cohort is diverse in all the ways — from experience and industry to race and gender. This training is open to folks with any level of experience, from first-time manager to CEOs. Organizers and folks from differently-structured organizations are welcome as well. I will make sure that a diversity of experiences are represented. For more on why, see the FAQ below.
If you’re accepted, the enrollment fee is on a sliding scale of either $1,000, $1,500, or $2,000. If you’re 26 or under, enrollment is free!
All participants also get a free six-months membership to the Collaboration Gym (a $300 value).
Upcoming Trainings
| Fall 2026 | |
|---|---|
| Early Bird Deadline (20% discount) | Friday, July 17, 2026 |
| Final Deadline | Friday, August 14, 2026 |
| Training Dates |
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Folks will be accepted on a rolling basis. The Early Bird Deadline to apply for the Fall 2026 Training is Friday, July 17, 2026. However, we will close applications as soon as the cohort is full, so please don’t wait.
Outcomes
- A core set of management habits that are foundational for high-performing teams, and time to customize these practices and tools so they make the most sense for you and your team
- Deep understanding of your relationship with power and how best to leverage this to set direction, create a sense of belonging and cohesion, give and receive feedback, and develop your team while holding each other accountable
- Deep understanding of how managing impacts you and what you need to navigate this, including…
- … Community and relationships with other leaders across different fields who want to bring out the best in themselves and in others, who love to learn, and who care about making the world a better place.
About the Facilitator / Coach
Eugene Eric Kim creates spaces for changemakers to practice the skills they need to work effectively in groups.
Previously, he spent a decade helping groups learn how to come alive and collaborate more skillfully together. He co-founded two social change consultancies in this pursuit — Blue Oxen Associates and Groupaya — where he worked with C-level business leaders and social activists, rocket scientists and spies, billionaires and hackers, foundations and farmers. His work took him to nine countries across five different continents.
He’s now focusing his efforts on helping other changemakers develop the same skills that he uses to help groups. He shares what he learns and the tools he creates at this website. You can reach him at eekim@nullfasterthan20.com or on Bluesky at @eekim.com.
Frequently Asked Questions
What do you mean by “strengthening our muscles” and “workouts”?
If you want to learn how to play the guitar, nobody would suggest that you read a book or take a 90-minute workshop. The only way to learn is to practice. Similarly, many of the skills you need as a manager require regular practice so that you can embody them.
You can see examples of workouts (including some focused on power muscles) here. All of our tools and workouts are public domain and will be available on this website.
Why are you mixing the levels of experience?
I will do my best to make sure everybody has at least 1-2 other people in the cohort with similar levels of experience. However, I’m not limiting the entire cohort by experience for three reasons:
- I don’t think years of experience is a good proxy for the strength of your management muscles
- I think there’s a tremendous amount we can learn from folks with different levels and kinds of experience
- Having a more diverse group will also enable us to have more nuanced power workouts
I’ll have to miss a few sessions. Should I still apply?
Because you will be learning as a cohort, your participation will impact other people’s experiences as well as your own. If you can’t make the two face-to-face sessions or more than two of the online sessions, you should apply to a future training instead.
Would you do this for my organization?
Yes! Please contact me if you’re interested.
Acknowledgements
Many thanks to the following folks who shared their experiences with me and offered thoughts on the program’s design.
- Tshaka Barrows
- Denise Collazo
- Dana Faataui
- Phoebe Gardener
- H. Jessica Kim
- Niketa Kumar
- Eun-Joung Lee
- Yu Sin Mok
- Kyung-Ji Rhee
- Lorrayne Shen
- Lily Wang
- Rachel Wong
Special thanks to Jenny Lau, who spent many hours offering ideas, feedback, and encouragement.