"In order to adapt and thrive, organizations need leaders who can think strategically and harness each wave of digital change to create new value for customers and new opportunities for their business."
– David Rogers, the program's faculty director and a renowned expert on digital transformation

Today, every business is a digital business. In every industry, traditional business models and processes are being transformed by the spread of new digital technologies and the rise of disruptive threats.

If electricity transformed manufacturing during the Industrial Revolution, the impact of digital technology today is even greater. Digital is changing the constraints under which every business, and every domain of strategy, operates. In order to adapt and thrive, organizations need leaders who can think strategically and harness each wave of digital change to create new value for customers and new opportunities for their business.

Columbia Business School’s Digital Business Leadership Program is an intensive, six-month, multi-modular program that prepares global executives to innovate new strategies and business models and lead their organizations to thrive in the digital age.

Executives begin the program with an immersion week at Columbia’s New York Campus where the focus will be on the strategic principles of digital business models. While in New York, they will form teams to work on real-world digital innovation projects, applying the Lean LaunchPad method for rapid innovation. This is followed by an online module on digital marketing and remote work on their team projects with online coaching.

Participants then go to San Francisco to study new disruptive business models and learn from organizations at the forefront of the digital revolution. This is followed by another online module on digital marketing and remote work on their innovation projects. In the final module, participants return to the New York Campus for a week, focusing on organizational leadership and digital transformation.

Case studies will feature both digital trailblazers and traditional enterprises that are adapting to the digital age. Participants will leave with a set of planning tools and strategies to apply immediately in their own companies.

Program Partner: Eruditus Executive Education is the program partner for Columbia’s Digital Business Leadership program. Prospective participants with questions on the program are encouraged to contact them for further information by email at dblp_columbia@eruditus.com or phone at +91-22-61623112 (India), +97144302011 (Dubai), or +65 68714030 (Singapore).

IMPACT

Key learning themes of the program include:

• Developing leadership abilities to advance digital transformation
• Engaging with customers’ changing needs in the digital age
• Learning to innovate with the speed of digital startups
• Understanding disruptive business models and strategies for mastering them

The Digital Business Leadership program is an exceptional way to:

• Engage with Columbia Business School’s world class faculty around their latest research and deep experience in digital strategy, innovation, and leadership
• Increase your network of connections with experienced business people from a wide variety of cultures, nationalities, and backgrounds
• Understand the latest developments in the digital world and how traditional business models and processes are being transformed as every industry goes digital
• Combine theory and practice by working on real-world projects relevant to each participant
• Establish lifelong connections to Columbia Business School by receiving select Columbia Business School alumni benefits

Certification

Upon completion of the program, executives earn the following select Columbia Business School alumni benefits:

• A 25 percent tuition benefit for themselves and up to four colleagues each year for programs lasting up to seven days
• Global Columbia Business School alumni networking opportunities
• Access to Columbia Business School Alumni Career Services resources, including access to unique career content, a job board, an online networking platform, the alumni directory, and more. Download the full list of resources
• Lifetime Columbia Business School forwarding e-mail address
• Subscriptions to all Columbia Business School alumni publications
• Eligibility to join a Columbia Business School alumni club. View the alumni clubs list

PROGRAM STRUCTURE

The program is centered around three key topics — digital strategy, rapid innovation, and organizational transformation — and features project work as well as company speakers and visits.

Digital Strategy

• The 5 Domains of Digital Transformation
• Platforms, Coopetition, and Multi-Sided Business Models
• From Mass Marketing to Customer Networks
• Disruptive Business Models & Asymmetric Competition
• The Value Proposition Roadmap: A Customer-Centric Tool for Rapid Change

Rapid Innovation

• Innovating Through Experimentation and Minimum Viable Prototypes
• The Lean LaunchPad: How Startups Search for Business Models
• Value Proposition Design & Jobs to Be Done Theory
• Building an Opportunity Portfolio
• Translating the Lean Start-up to Enterprise Scale Innovation

Organizational Transformation

• Leading Organizational Change
• Data-Driven Decision Making & Quantitative Intuition
• Building Data as a Strategic Asset in Your Business
• Surviving Disruption: Six Incumbent Responses to a Disruptive Challenger
• Digital Transformation in the Enterprise

Project Work

• Work in teams on real-world innovation projects submitted by participants
• Apply the Lean LaunchPad methodology used by startups to rapidly test and innovate
• Conduct customer interviews and fieldwork to validate and iterate your business model
• Learn digital innovation by putting theory into practice

Company speakers and visits

• Hear from leading practitioners in both New York City and Silicon Valley
• Conduct site visits to accelerator labs, startups, and enterprise firms
• Past presenters have included: startup founders, venture capitalist, technology giants, corporate innovation officers, chief digital officers, and experts on A.I., blockchain, and other emerging technologies

For a complete program schedule and curriculum, download the program brochure.

Topics and sessions are subject to change.

PARTICIPANT PROFILE & TESTIMONIALS

Participants might come from large- or medium-sized firms who are focused on digital transformation and innovation within existing industries.

The Digital Business Leadership program will help talented leaders prepare to take on larger digital transformation roles. All the key elements of the Digital Business Leadership program experience — the faculty, the content, peer interactions and application exercises etc. — are designed specifically for participants with:

• A minimum of 10+ years of work experience
• International exposure (preferred)
• An urgent agenda for digital transformation
• Confident fluency in written and spoken English

Typical Participant Mix

Hear from Past Participants:

Paula.jpg

Paula Ospina

Senior Proposition Manager, HSBC Bank, London, UK

The Digital Business Leadership Program was a very fulfilling experience and the diversity of the class really helped everyone make the most of it. Through the program I have discovered new tools to showcase some of my strengths. It showed me how I can turn on creative innovation by inspiring others, how to develop a common customer language to approach business challenges, and how to convince others that the digital transformation goes way beyond technology and starts with an individual mindset shift followed by a common cultural change ambition.

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Cheryl Ng

Head of Marketing and Innovation for APAC at Xaxis

"The value and knowledge I received from the curriculum and professors have exceeded my expectations. There are many lessons that I have already applied to my work. Needless to say, the network I got to build at the program is also invaluable."

Paula.jpg

Paula Ospina

Senior Proposition Manager, HSBC Bank, London, UK

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Cheryl Ng

Head of Marketing and Innovation for APAC at Xaxis

FACULTY

David Rogers, Faculty Director
Faculty Member, Executive Education

David Rogers is a globally-recognized leader on brands and digital business strategy. He has advised startups and global companies on digital strategy, including Visa, SAP, Kohler, Pernod Ricard, Toyota, China Eastern Airlines, and others. He has appeared on CNN, CNBC, Channel News Asia, The Economist, and The Wall Street Journal, in addition to delivering keynotes at conferences worldwide on the ways that technology is transforming brands and business strategy.

Rogers is also the founder and host of the Center on Global Brand Leadership's acclaimed BRITE conference on brands, innovation, and technology, where global CEOs and CMOs come together with leading technology firms, media companies, and entrepreneurs, to address the challenges of building strong brands in the digital age. His recent research at the Center has focused on big data, the Internet of Things, in-store mobile shoppers, and data privacy.

Rogers is the author of four books, including the forthcoming, The Digital Transformation Playbook: Rethink Your Business to Adapt and Thrive in the Digital Age.

Additional Faculty

Along with the above listed faculty, additional Columbia Business School faculty may contribute to and teach in the program.

HOW TO APPLY

To apply to the program kindly send in the following materials to our program partner, Eruditus, at dblp_columbia@eruditus.com before the application deadlines:

• The completed program application form
• The application fee
• A recent resume or a link to your updated LinkedIn profile

Admitted participants will have to pay 10 percent of the fee within 10 days of their admission to confirm their seat. Please note that if a candidate is admitted and accepts the admission, the application fee is adjusted with the program fee payable.

Please note that admissions to the program are on a rolling basis. We strongly recommend interested participants apply early.

The first module of the program takes place in the United States. For those applicants who need a visa to travel to the US, it is recommended you apply by the early application deadline to allow sufficient time for your visa processing formalities.

Round 1

Date: February 4, 2020
Application Fees: $300

Round 2

Date: March 17, 2020
Application Fees: $400

Round 3

Date: April 14, 2020
Application Fees: $500

Round 4

Date: May 12, 2020
Application Fees: $600