The Connection Course is for people who are curious explorers, always seeking to grow and understand themselves and the world around them. It’s for people who want to unlock their full potential, become more fulfilled by their work, and form true connections. This course is for those who want to courageously face themselves, with the knowledge that individual perspectives drive their experience of themselves, others, and the world.

This course is designed to be unlike any course you’ve experienced before. It emphasizes being in your truth and applying what you learn to real-life situations. While being truthful with yourself and others (even if it’s scary) is key for the course to have a transformative impact, there’s no need to worry about strict discipline – just be ready to commit fully! By bringing your current life problems to the course, you’ll gain the tools and guidance to tackle them and get real results.

Over the three weeks of the Connection Course, there are a total of 14.5 hours of calls to attend. This course is made up of 6 session calls. The first call is 3 hours, the last call is a 1.5-hour Q&A with Joe, and the remaining 4 calls are each 2.5 hours long. Outside of the sessions, there is minimal work, including one weekly podcast episode and daily integration into your everyday life.

Most communication courses are all about a technique and focus on what to say or how to say it. The main focus of AOA is the state of mind. There is hardly any technique.

We choose this approach for two reasons. First, any communication technique can be hurtful or stop working if it is coming from strategy instead of authenticity. It is why most techniques have a high failure rate. The second reason is that freedom and peace come from a state of mind or a perspective — not from communicating correctly. This state of mind will positively affect far more than your communication.

The Connection Course is not a course on communication. While learning and applying the VIEW mindset will lead to more fulfilling and effective communication, that is not the end goal of this course. Rather than teaching a communication technique, which can be weaponized and misused, we focus on the mindset and increasing your ability to connect with yourself. 

While listening to the podcast is a great way to learn about the VIEW mindset, this course is designed to help you fully integrate the teachings into your life. Think of it like the difference between watching a baseball game and actually getting into a batting cage. The podcast gives you the knowledge, but the course equips you with the skills necessary to bring the teachings into your life. It's about taking what you learn and putting it into action, making those positive changes a reality in your own life. 

You can absolutely join without a partner. This is the most common way for people to enroll. The cohort model of the course was specifically built to accommodate and take advantage of this. The course manager will ensure you are matched with another individual for any partner work.

The Connection Course sets itself apart from other AOA courses in a few key ways. It's our only course solely focused on developing the skills to handle conflict productively and build stronger connections. This focus on connection makes it a foundational course – the core principles you learn here serve as the building blocks for all our other courses. It’s also the perfect course to take with someone you want to build a stronger relationship with, be it a friend, family member, or coworker.

It's not about what you should do, it's about following what interests you. But if you’re looking to increase connection with others, handle conflict more productively, have a better relationship with yourself, and learn to communicate in a way that is both effective and feels great, then you would be interested in this course.

Coaching is often about trying to get somebody somewhere, or add value to their life, whereas AOA is about being on a discovery journey together. It’s about deeply understanding that the person you’re talking to has all the wisdom they need to take the right next step in their life. It is about connection, not fixing.

The framework emerged through Joe Hudson’s work with top executives and companies in Silicon Valley and elsewhere, including organizations like Apple, Alphabet, SpaceX, HP, Lyte, and Hand in Hand Parenting, among many others.
It was further developed and tested over more than five years of public workshops in multiple cities with more than 1,000 participants and is currently used by more than 100 participants from among Joe’s clients.

There are no formal prerequisites, but we ask everyone who comes to be committed to doing the work, willing to be transparent and vulnerable, responsible for their own learning and enjoyment, and clear on the aspects of life they want to work on.

Yes. During the application process, you will have access to a pre-written template which you can use to explain the value of the program to your manager or company and request reimbursement. Many organizations provide professional development stipends to their employees.