“I was able to walk out of every single session and put to work immediately what we had practiced that day.”
Steve, Broadview Group
A course session in St. Louis. Eight seats, one room, no lecture hall.
What This Is
You have good ideas, and you want to understand and be understood.
Most communication trouble is two people defending positions when neither knows what the other actually wants. Getting underneath that is a learnable skill. Nobody taught you it in school.
Three days of practice, on your real situations, with people who will tell you honestly how it landed.
Is This You?
- You negotiate things that matter: deals, partnerships, succession, parenting
- You need to be able to say the hard thing well
- You are better at your work than at explaining your work, and you know it costs you
- You don't want to do role-playing or be lectured
What Happens Here
3Consecutive days
8Seats
Each session builds on the last. Vance teaches a piece of the philosophy, then you apply it to real situations from your own life and hear honestly how it landed. By the third day you will communicate more meaningfully with everyone in your life.
How the Course Thinks
This is not a collection of tips. It is a practical philosophy for professional interaction, built from three kinds of ideas:
⊢PropositionA claim made about human communication.
∴ThereforeWhat follows if you agree with the proposition.
≓HeuristicA generally optimal way to handle a situation.
A taste of what you will practice:
⊢Proposition
Making someone feel heard will help them criticize their own ideas and be open to yours.
≓Heuristic: Mirroring
Repeat what you hear the other person saying as authentically and fairly as you can, so that they hear their own ideas said back to them, which helps them think and change.
What Alumni Say
“He came back a different person. He just doesn't say a lot, very stoic. And it changed him immensely, in a positive way.”
Said about a March cohort member, by someone who knows him best
“Selfishly, I'll get more from the conversation if I focus more selflessly on them. I enjoyed this thoroughly. I'll be recommending it to everybody I know.”
Stephen Mattick, UDA Group Holdings
“Transformative. You go in thinking you're a good communicator, then you actually get to practice and realize. You leave transformed.”
Valerie Bayes
“Caring would be the word I'd use. And a light. I have clarity for how I can take what I learned and change the trajectory of my life.”
Eric Farran
“I don't think I've learned more in a three-day period than I have throughout the course of a year.”
Charlie Gildehaus, Purdue University
Next Course
August 31 – September 2, 2026 · St. Louis
Application ProcessEight seats. Vance reads every application himself and builds each room deliberately.
Course Calendar
A company can reserve a whole week for its own people. The Ag View Solutions weeks went before this calendar was public.
Thinking of sending people from your company? The Open Course is only for people who chose to come. For company-sent leaders there is the Executive Course: separate classes, corporate accountability, and a path to bringing the training in-house. See the Executive Course →