To maintain competitive advantage and sustain success in a fast-changing business environment, organizations must identify, nurture, and prepare the next generation of high-performance leaders for excellence. Executive Leadership Development: Analysis to Action is designed for the emerging leader who will navigate the firm through tomorrow's business challenges.
The program will strengthen participants' analytical tools, management acumen, and interpersonal skills, thereby preparing managers to build effective teams, resolve strategic problems, drive change through the organization, and ultimately get to the next level. The objective is not to follow a specific recipe for leadership development, but rather to learn how to "cook for yourself" by refining a set of personal leadership skills to solve problems independently and to lead with confidence. Participants will leave the program with sharpened analytical skills, a better awareness of how they are perceived as leaders, and a fresh and informed perspective on accomplishing their individual leadership objectives.
Paul E. Holden Professor of Organizational Behavior; The Hank McKinnell-Pfizer Inc. Director of the Center for Leadership Development and Research; Codirector of the Executive Leadership Development Program
Frank Flynn's research focuses on interpersonal relations in organizations. In particular, he studies three topics of interest: (1) How employees can develop healthy patterns of cooperation, (2) How the negative impact of racial and gender stereotyping in the workplace can be mitigated, and (3) Why certain individuals tend to emerge as leaders and assume positions of power in organizations. His work bridges the fields of management and social psychology, leading to scholarly as well as practical insights on organizational life.
Robert A. and Elizabeth R. Jeffe Professor; Professor of Organizational Behavior; Professor of Sociology (by courtesy), School of Humanities and Sciences; Director of the Center for Social Innovation; Codirector of the Executive Leadership Development Program; Susan Ford Dorsey Faculty Fellow
Jesper Sørensen specializes in the dynamics of organizational and strategic change, and their implications for individuals and their careers. His research on firm outcomes has focused on the impact of organizational structure and culture on organizational learning, performance, and innovation. His work on the dynamics of teams has led to new insights concerning how people respond to changes in the racial composition of their workgroups. Currently, Sørensen is engaged in a large-scale project on the determinants of entrepreneurial behavior that examines several previously unanswered questions, such as how work environments shape rates of entrepreneurship.
Thomas M. Siebel Professor of Business Leadership, Strategy, and Organizations; Director of the Center for Global Business and the Economy; Senior Fellow, Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment
Associate Professor of Political Economy
Moghadam Family Professor of Leadership and Organizational Behavior; Codirector of the Executive Program for Women Leaders
STANCO 25 Professor of Economics
Thoma Professor of Operations, Information and Technology; Director of the Stanford Global Supply Chain Management Forum; Director of the Strategies and Leadership in Supply Chains Executive Program
Associate Professor of Organizational Behavior
The Class of 1968 / Ed Zschau Professor of Organizational Behavior; Claude N. Rosenberg Jr. Director of the Center for Social Innovation
Adams Distinguished Professor of Management; Director of the Managing Teams for Innovation and Success Executive Program Director of the Influence and Negotiation Strategies Executive Program; Codirector of the Executive Program for Women Leaders
The Robert L. Joss Consulting Professor of Management
Thomas D. Dee II Professor of Organizational Behavior
Gregor G. Peterson Professor of Accounting; Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs; Professor of Law (by courtesy), School of Law
Atholl McBean Professor of Organizational Behavior and Human Resources; Director of the Managing Talent for Strategic Advantage Executive Program; Codirector of the Customer- Focused Innovation Executive Program
MBA Class of '78 Lecturer in Organizational Behavior; Director of the Arbuckle Leadership Fellows Program
Sanwa Bank, Limited, Professor of Marketing; Director of the Strategic Marketing Management Executive Program
David and Ann Barlow Professor of Political Economy; Professor of Political Science (by courtesy), School of Humanities and Sciences
Theodore J. Kreps Professor of Economics
Morgridge Professor of Organizational Behavior; Professor of Sociology (by courtesy), School of Humanities and Sciences
Associate Professor of Finance
Critical Analytical Thinking—The primary objective of the Critical Analytical Thinking, or CAT component, is to provide training, practice, and feedback in the construction, presentation, and critical evaluation of clear, concise, and well-reasoned arguments. While participants will undoubtedly already have some proficiency at these skills, the objective is to hone them—especially in applying analytical and critical thinking to business issues where tradeoffs are inevitable and tough decisions are necessary. Taught in small groups of 12, participants will develop, deliver, and discuss arguments on assigned topics. Arguments will be dissected on the basis of the logic used, specification of objectives, the plausibility of assumptions invoked, and the adept balancing of tradeoffs. By understanding principles of critical analytical thinking, participants will be able to better recognize the essence of their argument and communicate it to others both orally and in writing.
Design Thinking—The Design Thinking process and its application to tackling business problems in organizations will be introduced. This process, taught in an experiential learning environment, draws on methods from engineering and design, and combines them with ideas from the arts, tools from the social sciences, and insights from the business world. Regardless of the steps taken, the elements underlying the process are the mindsets of empathy, an attitude of prototyping, collaboration, iteration and feedback. One of the key insights participants will gain is the logic behind and the methods of rapid prototyping and developing quick solutions to problems that can be easily tested and refined. To accomplish that, participants will be encouraged to focus on how they work, not just the final outcome of what they do.
Business Challenge—To focus the program takeaways around practical solutions, all participants are asked to bring a business challenge they are currently facing to the first program module—ideally a big picture leadership or strategy issue they will encounter as they work toward the next level in their professional advancement. The curriculum will provide fresh perspectives for addressing these challenges.
Leadership Coaching—During the first two-week module, participants will meet in small groups with an executive coach, who will facilitate application of the program content to their individual business challenges. During the period between the two on-campus modules, participants will complete a 360-degree feedback assessment. During the last on-campus program module they will be provided with a framework for analyzing the results and applying the insight to their future on-the-job performance. For an additional fee, participants will also have the option of engaging an executive coach for personalized leadership coaching after completing the program.
Understanding Competitive Advantage
Many firms are successful in their markets, but have only a limited understanding of the reasons behind the success. This lack of understanding can be dangerous: seemingly sensible decisions can turn the firm's fortunes for the worse. More generally, firms with a sustained competitive advantage are ones in which managers throughout the organization have a deep understanding of the firm's key success factors. This session will present a framework for analyzing the firm's basis of competitive advantage, and allow you to consider the implications of different sources of competitive advantage for strategic decision making.
Influencing Upwards
This session will tackle the challenge of influencing small groups, particularly those over which one has no authority. Through analysis of parts of the film Twelve Angry Men, participants will identify several perspectives on group dynamics which can be used to develop influence strategies, and examine which tactics are most effective, and why.
Motivating Employees to Work Harder and Smarter
In these tough economic times, leaders must find ways to motivate their employees to work harder and smarter. Most managers tend to rely on "carrots" as means of motivation. This session will explore alternative "psychological levers" — tools that truly motivate and inspire employees to perform without excess spending. The group will draw examples from successful firms that have unlocked their employees' true potential by providing meaning in their work.
Accounting for Valuation and Control
Financial reporting is the primary means by which current and prospective investors and other interested parties are informed of the financial position and the results of the operations of an organization. Management control is the process whereby managers assure that resources are obtained and used effectively and efficiently in the accomplishment of an organization's objectives. Participants will study the principles governing the measurement of income and financial position, as well as the design of systems for management control.
Strategy Beyond Markets
Most business school classes focus on firms' interactions with customers, competitors, suppliers, and shareholders in the form of mutually beneficial voluntary exchange transacted in markets. In contrast, these sessions consider firms' strategic interactions with comparably important constituents, organizations, and institutions outside of markets. Strategy beyond markets is a central component of a company's approach to achieving superior overall performance, and it must be integrated with the company's market strategy. Examples of topics to be discussed in these sessions include boycotts, activist pressures, regulation, judicial decisions, and political risk, all of which substantially impact firms' performance and profitability.
Leadership Vignettes
This session will draw on a collection of video cases featuring leaders talking about the toughest challenges they have faced, the decisions they have made, and the lessons they learned from these experiences. Participants will then discuss how these challenges relate to their own careers and to their development as leaders.
The Neuroscience of Decision Making
This session will explore the key drivers that affect decision making. Drawing on data from research in both the public and private sector, it will reveal the neural underpinnings of the crucial role that emotion and analytics play in the decision making processes. It will highlight the main processes employed in the decision-making process, and present some tools for harnessing the power of emotion to yield the most effective decisions.
Crisis Management
What should management do when a crisis focuses the harsh spotlight of public opinion on its organization? Whether it results from a firm's own missteps (think BP) or from strategic activism or media action (think Greenpeace), crisis is increasingly on the agenda for today's executives. This session will explore the skills and organizational structures required to prepare for, and productively manage, a crisis to avoid bringing lasting damage to a firm's reputation.
Strategy and Organizational Design: Translating Strategy into Action
This session will examine the role of organizational design in executing a company's strategy. The group will begin by identifying JetBlue's strategy and then discuss and evaluate how the company's organizational design supports this strategy. The case of JetBlue Airways will be used to discuss the way the company culture is built and reinforced and how this helps to support the execution of the company's strategy.
When asked upon completion of the program whether they recommend others attend the program, 2012 program participants give the program the high ranking of 4.96 on a 5-point scale
