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In facing the challenges of managing their careers to maximize professional and personal goals, women often struggle with how to develop their own leadership styles and effectively enhance their power and status within an organization. To reach the highest levels of management, it is essential for women to recognize, understand, and transform common business challenges into career-building opportunities.

Through a rigorous combination of lectures and interactive exercises this unique program allows women executives to explore frameworks and tactics to achieve their goals in dynamic work environments.

Program tuition includes private accommodations, all meals, and course materials.
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Program Overview

Taught by the world's leading professors in business, the Executive Program for Women Leaders confronts the critical areas of negotiation, team effectiveness, power and relationships, social networks and influence, and communication, empowering participants with the latest techniques to navigate these complex management issues.

SAMPLE SCHEDULE
Faculty Directors
Other Faculty
Deborah H. Gruenfeld
Deborah H. Gruenfeld

Moghadam Family Professor of Leadership and Organizational Behavior; Codirector of the Executive Program for Women Leaders

Deborah H. Gruenfeld is a social psychologist whose research and teaching examine how people are transformed by the organizations and social structures in which they work. The author of numerous articles on the psychology of power, and on group behavior, Professor Gruenfeld has taught popular courses on these and related topics to MBA students and executives at Stanford and at Northwestern University's J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management.

Margaret A. Neale
Margaret A. Neale

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

Margaret Neale's research focuses primarily on negotiation and team performance. Her work has extended judgment and decision-making research from cognitive psychology to the field of negotiation. In particular, she studies cognitive and social processes that produce departures from effective negotiating behavior. Within the context of teams, her work explores aspects of team composition and group process that enhance the ability of teams to share the information necessary for learning and problem solving in both face-to-face and virtual team environments.

Jennifer L. Aaker

General Atlantic Professor of Marketing

Francis J. Flynn

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

Sarah A. Soule

Morgridge Professor of Organizational Behavior; Professor of Sociology (by courtesy), School of Humanities and Sciences

Larissa Z. Tiedens

Jonathan B. Lovelace Professor of Organizational Behavior; Morgan Stanley Director of the Center for Leadership Development and Research

Key Takeaways
  • Knowledge of the dynamics involved in successful negotiation and the skills to develop expertise as a negotiator
  • Ability to optimize team effectiveness through analyzing team composition, leveraging information sharing, and resolving leadership issues
  • Skills to interpret the subtle messages of power, identify and understand management styles and their organizational impact, and manage meetings involving many individuals with different goals and agendas
  • A deeper understanding of social networks and techniques to influence individuals and groups
 
 
 
 
 
 

Highlighted Sessions

Influencing Without Authority: The One to the Many
Learn the importance of influencing small groups, particularly with little or no authority. Participants will analyze effective influence tactics and develop multiple perspectives on how to gain influence through dynamic interactions with others.

Acting with Power
The ability to function effectively within a hierarchy is a crucial component of leadership, yet many women struggle with "authority issues" that make certain hierarchical roles and positions difficult for them. This session draws on the craft of acting and the concepts of psychology to help participants learn to use themselves to develop the characters that can play these roles effectively.

Leadership Communications
As a leader, you spend the majority of your time communicating with others—team members, subordinates, clients, and public constituents. You probably don't spend much time thinking about the way you communicate, nor are you likely, in the corporate setting, to get honest feedback on the messages you send. Yet the quality of your communications largely determines your effectiveness. This session will help you appreciate the nature and complexity of communication and provide guidelines for both improving your own communication style and recognizing the unique styles of others.

Building Alliances
Building strong alliances is critical for today's leader particularly when the formation and implementation of new strategies depend on allies who may not be subordinates and who may even seem like natural adversaries. Ultimately, alliances are based on trust and reciprocity.

Who Should Attend?

Designed for functional managers who aspire to positions of greater influence and authority in their organizations as well as those identified as high-potential talent by their organizations, this program offers an excellent development opportunity for women 8 to 12 years into their careers. New mid-level and senior-level managers leading teams with direct reports will also benefit from this course, as well as women entrepreneurs and women business owners.
SAMPLE Participant Mix
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This program has been an incredible, transformative experience. The world-class faculty, research driven curriculum and interactive, hands-on approach have given me tremendous new insights into effective management.
– Clara Shih
Founder and CEO of Hearsay Labs,
Author, The Facebook Era
I have a fresh and new view of organizations, motivation, team work, and the amazing feeling that we have incredible potential still to be used.
– Mariangela Rossetto
Director
Loro Piana S.p.a
The course content, the quality of the faculty, and the learning from my fellow participants have contributed to an experience that I will keep with me for life. Attending a course at Stanford came at a time in my life when I was looking for something to help me put together my professional experiences and make sense of them for the future.
– Saskia Groen-in't-Woud
Assistant to Executive Committee
Holcim Group Support Ltd.
Integrating the powerful results of empirical research and translating those results into prescriptions for action, we have chosen topics and designed sessions to improve the skills and tools of women and the challenges that they, uniquely, face as they move into leadership roles.
– Margaret A. Neale
Faculty Director
 
 

Facilities

 
 
 
 
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Stanford University
The Stanford campus is world renowned for its natural beauty, Spanish mission-style architecture, and temperate climate. With more than 8,180 acres (3,310 hectares), Stanford's campus ranks as one of the largest in the United States. Participants in Stanford's Executive Programs become part of a quintessential university setting, residing together, walking or biking to classes, and enjoying access to Stanford University facilities.
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The Knight Management Center
Opened in spring 2011, the Knight Management Center has transformed the Stanford Graduate School of Business into a vibrant and unified indoor-outdoor, living and learning community. Participants will take classes at this new state-of-the-art campus, which features tiered classrooms with extensive floor-to-ceiling glass, the latest in audiovisual technology, numerous breakout and study rooms, outdoor seating areas to encourage informal discussion, and an open collaboration lab that employs hands-on and design thinking techniques.
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Schwab Residential Center
Designed by renowned Mexican architect, Ricardo Legorreta, the Schwab Residential Center gives residents ample privacy while promoting collegial interaction through shared lounges, outdoor meeting areas, a library, and an exercise room.

CONTACT

Sara Fernandez
Associate Director, Programs
Phone: 650.724.4882
Email: [email protected]