This paper examines formations of the 'self' as a wise leader at both personal and professional levels. Drawing on Aristotle and theories of reflective and experiential learning, the possibility of cultivating wisdom through an experience of a leadership course, provided at the University of Melbourne for PhD candidates, is explored. Applying an autoethnographic methodology, a reflexive account of a doctoral student who experienced this programme is narrated to explore the (re)construction of a wiser 'self'. A synthesis of multiple points of personal and collective judgements, decision-making and performative actions leads to promising implications for future research, and for deeper pedagogical practices in leadership programmes.