The Ascent
Six sessions for people deciding whether to climb.
Most people who are thinking about a big vocational move do it alone.
They read about it. They run the numbers at 11pm. They have one honest conversation with a spouse and a hundred careful ones with everyone else. And then they either jump without a net or talk themselves out of it over eighteen months.
The Ascent is six sessions over three months with a small group of people in the same position, led by someone who made the jump recently enough to still remember what it cost.
I left an eighteen-year career and a hundred-person team in May 2026. The first year is still in progress. You will not get a polished success story from me, because I don't have one yet. You'll get the actual ledger.
$1,000 - includes a year of The Boardroom
First Ascent begins Thursday, October 1
How it works
Six sessions, ninety minutes each, every other Thursday at noon Central.
October 1 · October 15 · October 29 · November 12 · December 3 · December 17
We skip Thanksgiving week, which is why there's a three-week gap in November. The program finishes on December 17 - eight days before Christmas, and before the calendar year closes.
Eight seats. Small enough that everyone talks and nobody hides. Large enough that you're hearing from people whose situations aren't yours.
Live video. Not recorded lectures with a discussion board. You show up, or you don't get the value.
Between sessions, you have my email. Not a promise of unlimited access - a promise that if something urgent comes up between session three and session four, you're not sitting on it for two weeks.
Who this is for
People who have already decided they need to do something different, and are working out what.
- Considering leaving a career for something you'd build yourself
- Six months into building it and unsure whether it's working
- Facing a vocational decision where the money answer and the honest answer point different directions
- Employed, capable, well-compensated, and quietly certain you're not supposed to stay
You do not have to be Catholic. Much of how I think about this is shaped by Catholic vocation and it will show up in the room. Several of the people I'd most want in the room aren't Catholic.
Who this isn't for
- If you're still deciding whether you want to change anything. That's a real place to be, and it's a fine reason to read the Weekly for a few months instead. The Ascent assumes you've gotten past that question.
- If you want a framework. There isn't a proprietary methodology here. Six sessions, real problems, a group of people working them.
- If you can't make most of the sessions. Miss two of six and you've lost the group, and the group has lost you.
- If you're looking for spiritual direction. I'm a deacon, but that's a different relationship with different formation behind it. This is the professional lens.
First Ascent
The October cohort is called First Ascent - the mountaineering term for the first successful climb of a route. It gets used once and then retires.
Being first means something specific: the material is new, and I'm going to ask you to tell me what worked and what didn't. In exchange you get the lowest price this will ever be, and disproportionate influence over what this becomes.
$1,000 for the founding cohort. January will be higher.
The price isn't arbitrary. A lot of employers make roughly $1,000 a year available per person for professional development, and it tends to expire at the end of the calendar year. This program is built to fit inside that line and finish before it closes.
If you need an invoice rather than a card receipt, say so in your application and I'll send one with terms.
Why me, and why now
For eighteen years I was at Adobe, most recently directing a global consulting team of more than a hundred people. In May 2026 I left to build Domus Formation and Ad Alta Leadership.
What makes this useful right now is that it isn't finished. I'm three months into the thing I'm going to talk to you about. I still remember what the decision felt like, what I got wrong in the first quarter, and what it has actually cost - in money and in the other currencies nobody puts in a business plan.
In two years I'll have smoothed all of that into a story. Right now I haven't.
I'm also a permanent deacon of the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois, which shapes how I think about vocation, work, and what any of it is for.
What's included
- Six live 90-minute sessions
- A small group of eight
- Email access between sessions
- A written summary after each session
- The first year of The Boardroom - monthly notes with the real numbers behind both companies, plus quarterly calls
Apply for a seat
Eight seats. Applying takes about five minutes.
I read every application, and I'm looking for one thing: whether this particular room will be useful to you and whether you'll be useful to it. If it isn't a fit I'll tell you plainly and point you somewhere better.
If we're a fit, I'll send a payment link or an invoice, whichever you need.
If fewer than four people enroll, I'll refund everyone and move you to the January cohort. A group of three isn't the thing I'm describing, and I'd rather say that now than pretend otherwise in October.
About Deacon Michael
Michael Halbrook is the founder of Domus Formation and Ad Alta Leadership, and a permanent deacon of the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois.
Before this, he spent thirty years in media, marketing, technology, and consulting - most recently as Director of Adobe on Adobe Consulting, leading a global team of more than a hundred people. He left in May 2026 to build what he's writing about here.
His work has been featured in the Diocese of Springfield's Catholic Times and on The Catholic Man Show.
Consecrated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Questions
What actually happens in the six sessions?
The arc runs from the decision itself through the first months of living with it - discernment, telling the people it affects, the money question, what to build first, and the honest accounting of what it costs.
I'll publish the full session outline before the cohort starts. If you want it before you apply, email me and I'll send what I have.
Is this recorded?
No. Small groups talk honestly when they aren't being recorded, and I'd rather have that than an archive. You'll get a written summary after each session.
What if I miss one?
Life happens. Miss one and I'll catch you up. Miss two and you've lost the thread - and so has the group.
Can my employer pay for this?
Often, yes. Many companies make around $1,000 a year available per person for professional development. This is priced to fit and finishes December 17, inside the calendar year.
Say so in your application and I'll send an invoice with terms, plus a one-page summary you can forward to whoever approves it.
How is this different from An Hour with Michael?
An Hour is one conversation about one thing. The Ascent is three months, a group, and the whole arc.
If you want to test whether I'm useful to you before committing, book an hour first. If it goes well, the January cohort will be there.
Do I need to be Catholic?
No. My work is shaped by Catholic vocation and it will show up in how I talk about the questions. It won't be the price of admission.
What happens after?
Nothing automatic. You keep The Boardroom subscription. Some people book an hour later. Some people I never hear from again, which is a fine outcome for a thing that's supposed to end.
Not ready for this? Ad Alta Weekly is free and publishes Tuesdays.