Practical Wisdom Seminar
What the Great Books Can Teach You About Writing
With Malachy Walsh
You know the Great Books make you smarter, more thoughtful, and more confident. Do you also know that they can help you become a much more effective writer and speaker in your everyday activities and special projects? Let GBGD’s Malachy Walsh show you how in this six-meeting Specialty Seminar.
This is a true masterclass: Malachy retired as Head of Creative Strategy at one of the top three ad agencies in the world, and he credits all of his successes in business and life to what he learned from a lifelong commitment the Great Books.
In this small-group course, you’ll learn the classic principles of communication that Malachy gleaned from the Great Books and employed on a daily basis.
Details:
- 6-meeting online seminar, 2 hours each meeting
- Weekly on Sunday evenings from 7:00pm to 9:00pm Central time
- Beginning January 18, 2026 and ending February 22, 2026
- Seminar leader: Malachy Walsh
Includes one-hour individual consultation on Zoom
Practical Wisdom Seminar
What the Great Books Can Teach You About Writing
You know the Great Books make you smarter, more thoughtful, and more confident. Do you also know that they can help you become a much more effective writer and speaker in your everyday activities and special projects? Let GBGD’s Malachy Walsh show you how in this six-meeting Specialty Seminar.
This is a true masterclass: Malachy retired as Head of Creative Strategy at one of the top three ad agencies in the world, and he credits all of his successes in business and life to what he learned from a lifelong commitment the Great Books.
In this small-group course, you’ll learn the classic principles of communication that Malachy gleaned from the Great Books and employed on a daily basis.
Details:
- 6-meeting online seminar, 2 hours each meeting
- Weekly on Sunday evenings from 7:00pm to 9:00pm Central time
- Beginning January 18, 2026 and ending February 22, 2026
- Seminar leader: Malachy Walsh
- Includes one-hour individual consultation on Zoom
Binging The Bard
An Overview of Our 6 Months Together
10-30
Pages Per Day
1
Monthly Seminar
6
Plays
10-30
Pages Per Day
1
Monthly Seminar
6
Plays
Improve your Writing with Great Books and Malachy Walsh
You know the Great Books make you smarter, more thoughtful, and more confident. Do you also know that they can help you become a much more effective writer and speaker in your own everyday activities and special projects?
Let Malachy Walsh show you how, in this course based on his book Socratic Scribbling.
In Socratic Scribbling, Malachy reveals secrets he learned from Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, Quintillion, Shakespeare, and other great writers and thinkers that helped him make his mark in advertising. Malachy believes good writing is less about following rules and more about making things happen with words. He shows us how to explain complicated things in simple ways, how to persuade people by getting them to convince themselves, how to tell stories that delight and instruct, and how to make speeches that engage and enchant. And it all starts when we follow Socrates as he asks the right questions.
Malachy says the Great Books show us how to improve our writing and speaking in two ways:
1. Great Books are made from great writing, which can serve as role models for all kinds of writing situations and opportunities.
2. Several of the authors of the Great Books, including Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, and Quintillion, among others, offer specific advice for crafting writing and speeches that can impact what your audience thinks, feels, and does-
Join Malachy to discuss the insights in his book and learn how to put the principles into practice. During the course, you will have an opportunity to discuss your own writing issues. And, as a bonus, Malachy will provide each course participant a one-hour private zoom consultation!
REQUIRED TEXT: Participants will need to order Malachy Walsh’s Socratic Scribbling book from Amazon. 
Meet Your Host
MALACHY WALSH retired as Senior Partner, Director of Strategy and Account Planning for J. Walter Thompson (JWT), Chicago. Through the ad-campaigns he created, Malachy has made you a fan of some the most well-known products in the world. His clients included a range of package goods, consumer technology, business to business, and financial services companies, including Kraft, Nabisco, Kellogg, Motorola, Northern Telecom, Oscar Mayer, Northwestern Mutual Life, Northern Trust, Nestle, Blockbuster, and many others. Through the ad-campaigns he created, Malachy has made you a fan of some the most well-known products in the world. He also served on the JWT Global Planning Council and as Director of Training.
Meet Your Host
MALACHY WALSH retired as Senior Partner, Director of Strategy and Account Planning for J. Walter Thompson (JWT), Chicago. Through the ad-campaigns he created, Malachy has made you a fan of some the most well-known products in the world. His clients included a range of package goods, consumer technology, business to business, and financial services companies, including Kraft, Nabisco, Kellogg, Motorola, Northern Telecom, Oscar Mayer, Northwestern Mutual Life, Northern Trust, Nestle, Blockbuster, and many others. He also served on the JWT Global Planning Council and as Director of Training.
Frequently Asked Questions
Reading the great books can seem daunting, but it doesn’t have to be. That’s why we created a community where you can:
Who can read the great books?
Anyone can read these books. Even if you aren’t the strongest reader, even if you haven’t read in years.
These books are for everyone, and we read them in an unpretentious way. Most of our members are not academics, and many of them don’t have college educations.
However, these books will challenge you. They can sound a little different, and have big ideas.
It’s our mission to make these books approachable. Our experienced guides know how to guide you through challenging readings to help anyone get the most out of them.
When and where are we meeting?
We meet online and have members all over the world. This is the best way for us to bring together like minded individuals on a schedule that works for busy people. The online format also enables us to use note taking and small group organization that just aren’t possible in person.
The frequency of meetings depends on how you choose to get involved. Our seminar program is a once monthly meeting, and our special seminars come in weekly and monthly formats. These meetings are all typically in the evenings in the U.S. time zones, but, if you want to get involved, and these times don’t work for you, please contact [email protected]
Will I feel stupid when we read and discuss these books?
Yes, and no.
These books are for everyone, and we read them in an unpretentious way. Most of our members are not academics, and many of them don’t have college educations.
However, these books will challenge you. They can sound a little different, and have big ideas.
It’s our mission to make these books approachable. Our experienced guides know how to guide you through challenging readings to help anyone get the most out of them.
What are the other members like?
Most of our members are not academics, and many of them don’t have college educations. The live all over the world, and have a variety of hobbies, interests, faiths, professions, and backgrounds.
The thing that brings all of us together is our common goal to discuss the big ideas together in an honest and inquisitive way.
Will I do more than just read?
Our members often say that they “came for the books, but stay for the people.”
The thing that they enjoy most about our community is our discussions. They love that we have a cultivated community where people can comfortably discuss the big ideas – even if they are touchy subjects in your everyday life.