This article outlines Rustic Pathways’ leadership philosophy for educational travel programs. We believe the most effective leaders in experiential education are engaged at the point of service delivery: at ‘the actual place.’ This approach prioritizes hands-on leadership over remote management. Why This Note Exists At Rustic Pathways, we don’t just send students abroad; we lead them, beside them. This note explains why. It’s for internal teams, future hires and anyone wondering what real leadership looks like in our world. Illustration of student travel leadership happening at the actual place. Hand-drawn illustration for editorial use. My Wake-Up Call “Luckily, tomorrow I’m taking over Abbey’s job as the Program Experience Manager, so I’ll have time away from the students.” Abbey, one of our managers, was heading home for the summer. Larry, a capable program leader, was stepping in for her during the final week of summer. To Larry, this shift felt like a break from students. When those words reached me, I felt something drop. Not because Larry was wrong, but because the system had trained him to see distance as advancement. That’s on us. We had built a structure where leadership suggested retreat. Where the most experienced people earned their way out of student interaction. Exactly the opposite of what we intended. Larry moved on not long after. I wish him well. But the wake-up call stayed. The Safety Imperative During our 10 to 15 program weeks each year, every leader in the company heads into the field with students. Our best people are where it matters, when it matters. We invest heavily in them through training, certifications and development. Not so they can manage from afar. But so they can lead, up close. At some organizations, senior staff take laptops to cafés while junior staff supervise the beach. Not here. At Rustic Pathways, the more trained the leader, the more valuable their proximity to students. That’s our standard. Safety is part of it, the physical risk, well documented in our plans. But the deeper risk is experiential: that a student’s week feels chaotic, lonely, or forgettable. Only experienced leaders can see both risks coming. And you can’t manage what you don’t witness. When Larry looked forward to Abbey’s role as time away from students, something important surfaced. We’d failed to make presence the privilege. We’ve corrected that now. The Broadway Show Principle Running an educational travel program is like running a Broadway show. You don’t leave the theater during showtime to check spreadsheets. At Rustic Pathways, every adult stays in the theater. We maintain kindergarten-level ratios: one leader for every 6 or 7 students and every one of them is part of the performance. The audience came for the show, not for administrative efficiency. The work that matters most is invisible. Last spring in Seoul, two European students arrived reserved, sitting together, phones out, speaking only to each other. By day five, they were asking about soccer, making new friends and calling South Korea their favorite trip ever. That shift didn’t come from any single moment. It came from dozens of quiet, human interactions. Trust builds by accumulation. Absent managers don’t even know what they’re missing. Learning from Service Leaders Walk into any Chick-fil-A and you’ll see the owner-operator refilling drinks. At a Four Seasons, senior management works the lobby and the breakfast area. These organizations embody a truth we have to keep sight of: in service, leadership means presence. For Rustic Pathways, this is the actual place where work happens: wherever our students are. What Leadership Actually Looks Like Scott, our Admissions Director, greets students as they arrive in Tokyo. In Japan, where there are no street trash cans, he carries a bag to collect their garbage throughout the day. Kayla, our Director of Marketing, wakes up at 6 AM to make breakfast and help students pack lunches for the day. Me? When Sunny from San Francisco got sick at dinner in Seoul, I called a cab to take her back to the hotel with a Program Leader. I stayed and cleaned up her vomit while the school administrators enjoyed their meal. This isn’t beneath us. This IS what leadership looks like. When It Works: A Success Story Like any great performance, what students remember isn’t the script. It’s the feeling. The safety, the surprise, the human moments. In our work, those moments happen on stage where the students are, not backstage in a base house. Last summer in Costa Rica, a student named Emma had a panic attack during a service project. Our Program Manager, Maria, could’ve been managing logistics off-site. But she wasn’t. She was there in the mud, beside the students, where the real work happens. She recognized the signs, stepped in and helped Emma find calm. Later, Emma’s parents wrote: “Maria didn’t just handle the crisis. She turned it into a growth moment. Emma came home more confident because someone she trusted was there when it mattered.” Maria could do that because she had been there. Every day. Every meal. Every walk to the worksite. That’s the Broadway Show Principle in action: Presence makes the performance. The Premium Promise A school coordinator in San Francisco put it simply: “Why would I pick anyone else? Rustic Pathways service is the best.” That’s our North Star. We don’t compete on price. We charge $1,000 more because we offer something different: presence. Rustic Pathways sends its best-trained, most experienced leaders into the field. They don’t manage from behind laptops. They stay in the theater, with the students. That’s what parents are paying for. Not better spreadsheets. Rustic Pathways has a 4.8 rating across Google, GoOverseas, GoAbroad and Trustpilot. This score is higher than EF and WorldStrides and it isn’t an accident. It reflects something we’ve learned: premium presence feels different. And when it’s your child on the trip, that difference matters. Everyone Leads, Nobody Manages So what did we do with the old idea that seniority meant stepping back? We retired the titles. There’s no more “Experience Manager” or “Program Manager” at Rustic Pathways. Now, everyone is a Program Leader. Some lead logistics. Some focus on learning, or storytelling, or group dynamics. Yes, there’s a Head Program Leader who calls the hard shots. But all of them share the same mandate: be fully engaged with the student experience. We haven’t eliminated management. We’ve eliminated management from afar. The captain stays on the field. During programs, admin work is minimal and when it arises, junior staff take it. Our most-trained leaders stay with students, where the stakes are real and the work can’t be faked. As I said to our Sales leader, “Why would we send our best people on grocery runs?” This model has scaled with us. The bigger we get, the more essential it becomes. The Bottom Line Larry saw promotion as a step away from students. That’s not how we define leadership at Rustic Pathways. He moved on to pursue his version of success. But here, at Rustic Pathways, we measure success through safety records, client testimonials and whether our leaders feel proud of their work. This job is joyful when it’s done fully. Not because it’s easy—but because the hard parts matter. When logistics are handled elsewhere, leaders can pour themselves into the human hours: dawn hikes, bus songs and quiet conversations under the stars. Students don’t remember spreadsheet managers. They remember the leader who danced in the rain and helped them feel brave in unfamiliar places. Some think seniority means distance. We don’t. At Rustic Pathways, seniority means being the most trusted adult in the room for 10 to 15 weeks a year, in the field, where the performance is live. If that energizes you, we’d be lucky to have you.