On March 15 the Women in Business club hosted a Socratic Seminar, led by alumni , Director of . Julie has a JD/MBA from the University of Colorado.
What is a Socratic Seminar? Socratic Seminars are named their embodiment of Socrates鈥� believe in the power of asking questions鈥攖hey prioritize discussion over debate and acknowledge the social aspect of learning. The Socratic Seminar is a formal discussion based on anything鈥攁 book, a movie, even art. The leader asks open-ended questions and the students listen to comments from others, think critically, and articulate their own thoughts and responses to the text and each other. It鈥檚 not about a right or wrong answer; it鈥檚 about meeting and making something together.听
Every Socratic Seminar has a shared text. Julie selected 鈥淥ut of the Shadow, Into the Light鈥� from Let Your Life Speak by Parker Palmer.听 It is a text discussing five 鈥渟hadows鈥� that affect leaders. This text initiated a lot of discussion about self-awareness and emotional intelligence.听
Julie uses Socratic Seminars as a way to bring leadership topics to entrepreneurs. These discussions 鈥渢ake you on a journey to decide who you are as a leader.鈥澨�
We enjoyed the exposure to a new type of group discussion and certainly will keep this method in mind for future team-building exercises. A big thank-you to Julie for walking us through our first Socratic Seminar!
