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African safaris teach corporate participants leadership and team development skills

by Kathy Hagood
Brevard Technical Journal

Up on the Laikipia Plateau in Northern Kenya, a chief executive officer is about to take the wheel of a well-worn Land Rover. His forehead beads with sweat.

As he looks out over the rough terrain, he carefully considers potential tactics for addressing natural and manmade obstacles. He asks the other men and women in his Leadership Safaris group for their thoughts on maneuvering over the terrain, takes a few minutes to chew them over, then starts up the engine and heads out to take on the challenge.

More typically, executive training is conducted in a bland conference or classroom setting with plenty of air conditioning and pitchers of ice water.

Training often is based on lectures and case studies. Interactive aspects of executive training are usually limited to participants working in teams to solve business dilemmas.

Suzie DeBusk, a lead instructor for the Information Management Leadership Program within General Electric, has led numerous such executive training programs and taken many herself over the years.

"Executive training is helpful because it gets emerging leaders out of the routine environment and helps them look at their day-to-day challenges in fresh ways. It also gives them new tools to address those challenges," she said.

DeBusk believes such training is important for keeping leaders and their companies alert and competitive in the global marketplace.

But in recent years DeBusk, who is also president of DragonPoint, a business solutions company in Rockledge, has come to believe that executive training programs need to be taken to a new level.

"It's time to take leadership training beyond the classroom and corporate environments because there's only so far you can stretch in those types of environments," she said. "They are basically too safe."

Based on her own experiences on safari in Africa, DeBusk believes emerging leaders need to be physically challenged in ways that get them out of their corporate comfort zone. DeBusk has ridden horses on safari across the African plains for the past nine years during her summer downtime.

"I've been afraid many times in Africa like I've never been afraid in the country, but each time I face my fears, I've gained confidence in my ability to handle whatever is thrown my way," she said. Facing physical challenges in a group setting has also taught DeBusk about the power of learning how to be a good follower as well as a good leader.

"Sometimes as an executive you get so used to leading that you don't know how to follow. But it's important to be most effective to know how to follow when necessary," she said.

DeBusk wants to share her African leadership growth experience with other executives, so she's launched a new kind of leadership training company: Leadership Safaris, based in Rockledge.

DeBusk's partner and fellow instructor in the new enterprise is Bill Walker, a psychotherapist and leadership trainer. Her chief consultant on the project is Mary Schneider, who for the past 15 years has trained leaders of global companies.

"Leaders need to keep a sharper edge these days. You have to be strategically nimble to keep up in the global marketplace," Schneider said.

Schneider believes the safari-based leadership training will provide a more intense and valuable leadership development experience that traditional executive training.

"Learning by doing is going to revolutionize executive training," Schneider said.

Leadership Safaris will take leaders on 10-day trips to Africa to engage in physical and mental challenges at the 24,000-acre Sosian Ranch in Northern Kenya. Participants will enjoy the excitement of participating in a full African safari combined with their leadership training experience.

Early mornings and late afternoons will be spent on developing safari guide skills including rough terrain driving, orienteering and weapons handling as well as tracking big game such as lions, leopards, cheetahs, giraffes, Cape buffalo and birds. Team members in groups of four to five will take turns leading and following during the activities.

The hands-on experiences of the groups will be analyzed and discussed in classrooms during the heat of the day. Through classroom analysis, DeBusk and Walker will drive home the leadership and team-building concepts experienced during the training and apply them to corporate scenarios.

"Africa provides such an intense sensory experience that it wakes people up out of the fog they often go around in and causes people to take a new look at how they've been doing things," DeBusk said. "Leaders need to be refreshed like that every few years at least to keep their edge."

Leadership Safaris will provide a safe, but much more intense experience than Ropes courses and the professional program offered by Outward Bound.

With the growing popularity of reality TV shows as "The Apprentice," "Survivor" and "The Amazing Race,"at least some executives may have the desire to get off the couch and sign up for safari executive training. "Too many of us in this nation are only willing to vicariously take on physical and mental challenges, but you can never learn a fraction of what you learn doing by just watching," DeBusk said.

The initial safari training sessions are set for September 15 through 25 and Sept. 25 through Oct. 4, with additional training sessions scheduled for January and beyond. The early sessions are being discounted.

For more information on Leadership Safaris, visit or call 394-3377.