The leadership pilgrimage: How a virtual pilgrimage transforms leaders

Leadership is a journey. However, few leaders embark on the type of journey that fosters greatness. That journey is best described as a pilgrimage, a leadership pilgrimage. A pilgrimage is a sacred journey with a purpose, one that requires vision, focus, and perseverance to complete. During the pilgrimage, pilgrims share a common experience: enlightenment through solitude and sacrifice. The Camino de Santiago is such a journey. It is a powerful metaphor for a leadership pilgrimage: a self-reflective journey leading to leadership enlightenment. This paper explores the impact of a virtual pilgrimage on the Way of St. James on leaders as they study five parallels between the Way of St. James and corporate leadership development. The Virtual Leadership Pilgrimage was created during the COVID-19 pandemic. At the time of this writing, the first group of participants is enrolling. They will provide feedback regarding how transformative the Virtual Pilgrimage has been to their leadership experience. Our goal is to combine leadership development with the experience of walking the Way of St. James. Participants, like pilgrims, should stretch themselves in both body and spirit as they travel on their road to personal enlightenment. The virtual experience will mimic the pilgrimage experience through course materials, exercises, reflection, and following the Way of St. James virtually. As they do so, participants will experience the type of enlightenment that pilgrims experience on the Way of St. James. © 2021 Dublin Institute of Technology. All rights reserved.