The Grand Tour: School for the Second Half of Life

Part I : May 2 – 8, 2027

Part II : May 30 – June 4, 2027

A message from Peter de Kuster

I want to take this opportunity to share some thoughts about why I perceive The Grand Tour to be the spearhead of The Hero’s Journey’s lifelong learning programs.

The Hero’s Journey’s paradigm embraces intellectual growth and personal development over an entire lifetime. We encourage you to see The Hero’s Journey as a place to connect with a supportive community and develop new insights at critical turning points in your career. Why? Because knowledge, increasingly, is power; and enterprises, increasingly, are dynamic-two realities that intensify the need for renewal throughout a professional career.

At a crossroads in your life, The Grand Tour offers a unique opportunity for a powerful journey of self-exploration. With our expert guidance, you will navigate the complex maze of career transition and renewal. Although the journey takes just a few weeks, the insigt and understanding gained will be transforming and enduring. For these reasons, I extend my personal invitation for you to join The Grand Tour 2027.

Peter de Kuster

THE GRAND TOUR ITALY over a composite view of Italian landmarks and coastal scenery

Purposes and priorities tend to change as we approach the second half of life, leading to new questions about our careers and professional commitments. Sometimes, external events make us newly aware of these more subtle changes within us, as we begin to ask, ‘Should my future simply repeat my past? What makes sense for the next phase of my life?’ As we look forward to longer, healthier, more productive futures in a rapidly changing environment, meaningful self-exploration and career renewal become imperative. The Grand Tour’s unique approach, based on research on adult development, positive psychology & flow and storytelling, enhances the personal and professional fulfillment of those who are asking themselves ‘What is Next?’

Illustrated map titled The Classical Grand Tour of Italy, showing routes and destinations

Participants are guided through a dynamic hero’s journey process of self exploration that provides a framework for evaluating their choices. A key feature of the Grand Tour experience is the formal involvement of a participant’s partner in generating insights and exploring new pathways. A range of learning techniques is employed, including individual exercises, teamwork, case discussions and lectures. Participants and partners leave the program with enhanced self-knowledge and renewed enthusiasm about the future.

Participant Profile

The Grand Tour is intended for professionals in the 45 – 65 age range who share a desire to explore the themes of change, renewal, and fulfillment in their career and life choices. Past participants have been drawn from this entire age spectrum. The Grand Tour has included professionals from diverse industries and sectors, as well as from every continent. All have shared equally in the excitement and rewards of the program.

Scrapbook collage with Italian landmarks, artworks, portraits, and a Grand Tour testimonial quote.

PROGRAM SEGMENTS

Participants begin their work even before they arrive on campus by writing a comprehensive personal history. In Venice and Florence, for the first week of the program they begin to build a personal story database of insights about themselves. In one-on-one interactions, as well as group discussions, participants find that a deeper understanding of their lives and careers begins to emerge.

Venice panorama with portraits and text: Peter de Kuster has designed a remarkable curriculum for the Grand Tour. He is a master teacher who executes superbly by bringing value, intelligence, a big heart, understanding and a ‘jump start’ toward career transition and life transformation to each student. I liked and learned from every step in this journey.

During an interlude between Parts I and II, participants complete their The Grand Tour paper – a written analysis of the work they produced during Part I – and consider the life and career implications of their new insights.

Part II, held in Rome is structured to include participants and their partners. Excercises discussions focus on the work completed for the Grand Tour paper. The themes of midlife transition and transformation are explored in depth. Couples collaborate on a planning process that integrates their new insights with their life and career goals.

To help partners learn The Grand Tour concepts, terminology and methodology, preparatory materials are distributed in advance of Part II, and a special half – day introductory session is conducted at the beginning of the final segment.

Aerial view of Rome with Vatican, Colosseum, Pantheon, and Trevi Fountain, surrounded by illustrations labeled The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa, Apollo and Daphne, David, David, and The Fountain of the Four Rivers. Scroll text reads: The Grand Tour provides important insights about how the stages in life affect the way people make decisions related to their careers and lives. Because individuals develop over time, you cannot assume that they will make the same choice twice if given the chance. This continuous change profoundly impacts not only their success in their jobs and careers, but also their relationships with peers and family members. Gaining knowledge about how this transformation happens and being able to anticipate it and see it in others is extremely valuable to both our work in the business world and our engagement in life!

A commitment to Lifelong Learning

Designed in response to the changing needs and lifestyles of accomplished professionals, The Grand Tour utilizes a unique approach, developed by Peter de Kuster, that integrates the concerns of adult development, positive psychology & flow experiences and storytelling with the challenges of career renewal and change. The program reflects the Hero’s Journey commitment to executive education and lifelong learning.

The Grand Tour Guides

Peter de Kuster is the founder of The Hero’s Journey & The Heroine’s Journey project and the author of 50+ books, The Hero’s Journey of Paris, Passion Never Retires, Telling the Financial Story. Peter de Kuster developed the Grand Tour program based on his work in adult development and the power of your story and career choices, His most recent work, The Hero’s Journey Economy focus on how companies can help consumers to reach their aspirations. Peter started The Hero’s Journey and Heroine’s journey project in 1999 after reading the biography of Joseph Campbell.

Five people making pasta with text: “The program brought out in clear and terms that I was not alone in my struggle, and that this was common to most people at in’stage of life.”

Ornate map with portraits labeled Dante Alighieri and Beatrice; text reads “The Grand Tour involves life partners in generating insights and options for the future”; city map labels Arno River.
Florence portfolio with Pinocchio workshops and public figures