VILLA STEINER ENRICHMENT PROGRAM | Seminar 2
Character and Judgment
What guides decision-making in work and life.
This one-week seminar examines how decisions are shaped by character, attention, and responsibility—and what it takes to judge well under pressure in professional and personal contexts.
Dates: 21–27 June 2026 · Vienna, Austria
Format: Small group · Intensive study · Integrated action learning
Fee: €1,200
· Rolling admissions until May 22
For those who resist superficial answers and seek to develop sound judgment and personal orientation.
Good decisions are rarely the result of rules or calculations alone. They depend on character, attention, experience, and the capacity to judge well. Especially in professional and organizational life, decision-making is not merely a technical exercise, but an expression of responsibility that unfolds over time.
This seminar takes that insight seriously. Under the guiding perspective of Character and Judgment, it brings together ethics, psychology, philosophy, and practical reflection to explore what guides decision-making in work and life. Participants examine how habits, emotions, and attention shape judgment, and how responsibility and work contribute to character formation.
In this sense, the seminar resonates with a tradition of thought—associated, among others, with Peter Drucker—that understands judgment and responsibility as central to effective action.
What Participants Gain
- Clearer judgment in complex situations
— beyond rules, procedures, or quick solutions. - A deeper understanding of character and emotions— and how they shape decisions over time.
- Stronger habits of attention and reflection
— essential for serious professional and personal work. - A small learning community
— one that often leads to lasting personal friendships.
What You'll Study
Four interconnected strands that explore character, judgment, and decision-making from philosophical, ethical, and psychological perspectives. 20 hours academic core
5 HOURS
Self-Mastery: Leading from Within
How we lead our lives begins with how we lead ourselves. This strand explores self-awareness, attention, interior freedom, and emotional formation as foundations of responsible judgment and personal growth. Participants reflect on habits of thought, values, and dispositions that sustain a coherent inner life.
OUTCOME
Greater clarity about self-mastery as a condition for responsible judgment and leadership.
4 HOURS
Virtue and the Art of Decision-Making
Drawing on classical virtue ethics, this strand examines how habits of mind and character shape judgment. It explores the interaction of emotion and reason in decision-making and considers how character influences relationships, work, and leadership.
OUTCOME
A grounded understanding of judgment as practical wisdom formed through habit and responsibility.
6 HOURS
History and Error: Narrative, Interpretation, and Truth
This strand situates work within the broader narrative of human development. It explores work as a sphere of agency, service, and self-transcendence, and examines tensions between ambition, integrity, and the common good.
OUTCOME
Orientation toward work as a formative dimension of character, responsibility, and purpose.
5 HOURS
Education, Character, and the Formation of Judgment
Judgment is examined as a capacity formed through education, cultural tradition, and shared practices rather than through techniques alone. The strand explores how habits of attention, interpretation, and discernment develop over time.
OUTCOME
Insight into how judgment is cultivated—and what this implies for responsibility in work and life.
Aloysius Ventham
Academic Director Villa Steiner Enrichment Program
Alberto Ribera
Professor of Leadership & Self-Leadership at IESE
J. Schulte-Altedorneburg
Classical philologist and education expert
Action Learning
Learning in this seminar does not stop at conceptual understanding.
Alongside academic sessions, Action Learning connects reflection with lived experience.
Action Learning is integrated into each seminar week (12 hours). It connects the academic core with real questions from participants’ own context—through guided reflection, dialogue, and shared examination of experience.
SEMINAR Context & Framework
FAQs
Answers to common questions about the seminar.
NEXT STEPS
Apply for Character and Judgment
Applications close May 22, 2026. Rolling admissions—early application recommended.
