Executive Education
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"This program gave me very valuable insight into new aspects of leadership and management and taught me a number of tools I can easily apply in my professional life. It also offered a great opportunity to network globally."
– Program Participant Mette Joergensen, Chief Operations Officer at Topsoe Fuel Cell
Over two weeks, top Columbia Business School faculty offer a curriculum inspired by the School's world-renowned MBA program, covering the full spectrum of critical business subjects with a specific focus on developing your leadership abilities.
Designed to equip you for success not only now but in the future, the Executive Development Program empowers you to take your management and leadership skills to the next level through the following key program benefits.
New normals, new challenges, new opportunities – they all require new ways of approaching your leadership and management responsibilities. The Executive Development Program accelerates your learning to prepare you for immediate success. After completing the program, your new credo will be “challenge-ready.”
Mid- to upper-level executives face the unique challenge of leading talented individuals who are leaders in their own right. Creating conditions in which they succeed becomes the key to your and your organization’s growth. We’ll equip you with the tools and concepts required to successfully lead a team of leaders – combining just the right amount of direction, orchestration, and support.
Recognizing that your work now directly impacts the success of your organization, another primary goal of the program is to provide you with the perspective, knowledge base, and skills to lead strategically. The program sessions are designed to help you align the goals and activities of your unit with the mission and values of the overall enterprise.
Interactive sessions and small-group work stretch your abilities and test your assumptions. Case discussions, simulations, workshop activities, and exercises provide the opportunity to apply your learning to actual business challenges. Sophisticated assessment and feedback tools help you identify opportunities for improving your leadership capabilities as well as successfully manage individual and organizational performance.
Return to your organization equipped with actionable skills and ready to realize the return on your investment.
For a complete program schedule download the agenda.
Please contact our Learning Solutions Specialists at +1 212-854-3395 for a personal conversation to learn more.
"The Executive Development Program is designed to equip you for success not only now but in the future. This comprehensive and integrated learning experience will help you address your immediate business challenges and develop your capacities to anticipate and capitalize on new opportunities as you progress in your career."
– Grant Ackerman, the program’s Faculty Director
The Executive Development Program’s comprehensive curriculum, personal business case project, and world-class self-assessment tools deliver an unparalleled program experience with an immediate return on learning.
*Numbers in this section are based on program evaluations from Executive Development Program participants in 2015 and 2016
Upon completion, participants earn the Certificate in Management, granting the following Columbia Business School benefits:
Participants also earn 13 days towards a Certificate in Business Excellence. Participants may use their 15 percent tuition benefit toward the remaining five days of programming required to complete the certificate. Learn more.
In only two weeks, you will take a deep dive into the full spectrum of critical business subjects with a specific focus on developing your leadership abilities. This fast-paced curriculum is inspired by Columbia Business School’s MBA program and structured around three major components – personal leadership growth, strategic leadership sessions, and business-critical skills.
Constituting the foundation of the program, these critical tools will help you understand your current leadership strengths and weaknesses, identify your opportunities for growth, and develop your future leadership agenda.
Through a series of strategic leadership sessions, including those listed below, you will learn actionable skills so you can return to your organization ready to realize your return on your investment.
Critical for any leader is a sound understanding of cross-disciplinary functions. Inspired by Columbia Business School’s world-renowned MBA program, the following is a selection of the sessions during the program that will provide you with a greater understanding of the whole picture.
For more information on the program schedule download the sample agenda or contact Alberto Cruz, assistant director of Learning Solutions, at 212-854-6037 or [email protected].
The Executive Development Program is designed for mid- to upper-level executives across disciplines and industries who lead a functional, country, or unit role. The program is ideal for executives who seek to further their leadership development because they are on the path to a broader role that requires leading outside their areas of education and expertise.
"It's been the best professional learning experience that I've been a part of before. There was a great diversity of participants which was really important to me. I'll take away a clear understanding of what I want to represent as a leader. I'll also take away some new business tools that I can apply, and I'll take away a lot of networks and friends."
"The Executive Development Program has shifted aspects of my thinking. I walk away from the program with an advanced framework for better decision making, solid management skills, and a world-class network."
"At Columbia Business School, you learn that you have to work at being a better leader, and they provide you with the tools to do it. The way the Executive Development Program is structured into different sessions is great. And the number of faculty that we had the chance to meet was amazing. After the program, you are encouraged to stay in touch with participants and the school. There is always an email from Columbia recommending things to do or what to read or who to connect with. It's great. [Executive education] is definitely the best scenario to grow yourself and your business."
"The exercises in the Executive Development Program allowed me to improve the way I operate, which in turn benefits my team and the business. I am now more aware of different styles of people, and I look for certain characteristics in meetings. I actively ensure that I relate to team members or stakeholders in a way that will bring the best out of them. For example, when important decisions need to be made and I see that reflective personas [who are uncomfortable with making quick decisions] are in the room, I say, 'Let's get back tomorrow morning to make a decision.' That gives them a bit more time, and I know that I'm going to better engage those people down the road by giving them a sense of ownership in what we're doing.
Another great part of the program was the networking aspect. It gave me an appreciation for different industries, different ways of doing things, different opinions on matters. That was very valuable to me. I’ve stayed in touch with a number of participants, to the point where I’ve visited them overseas and they’ve come to see me in Australia. One of the participants and I even decided to meet again at Columbia Business School to complete our Certificate in Business Excellence together."
Matthew Choy explains how the Executive Development Program has offered him different perspectives on management.
"At the program, I had the chance to look at the big picture. The session about networking connected everything for me. I realized that I could be more successful with the collective force. I was networking well outside of my company, but I needed to do more work internally. I had to make sure to put the right team structure in place so that I could spend more time on innovation and creativity. I even relayed some of the program learnings to my team. For instance, every Wednesday, we have an innovation brainstorming day. All of this helped me think more strategically, and that's how my team and I achieved the largest deal in our company's history. No one expected us to achieve what we did, but it worked, and everyone enjoys the team and work environment."
"Since completing the program a year ago, I’ve definitely matured as a leader. While I still focus on what I achieve, I’m now more aware that the team that’s working towards those results is at least as important. I try to get input from a much broader group than I used to, and often times this results in a much broader solution. I’ve used the learnings from the innovation sessions in the program to lead workshops with my team – to think about how we can do things differently. I’ve also learned how to create better alignment with stakeholders."
Past participant Niels talks about the networking opportunities at the program.
"The Executive Development Program at Columbia Business School provided an excellent growth opportunity and new perspectives on leadership. This has been the most beneficial leadership training that I have been a part of in my 30 year career."
"A great, full immersion on the latest management issues, with an outstanding faculty in a beautiful facility. I had the chance to talk with managers coming from all around the world, sharing experiences, problems and insights. A powerful leader, Professor Ackerman, with an excellent support team."
"I came to this program from a technical and scientific background not a business background. I now know what the business side is thinking about. I found a lot of value in that understanding. My purpose is to apply the tools and learnings in my job — to direct my efforts and projects in a more focused and clear manner to have a positive outcome."
Hear about the program’s cross-disciplinary approach from past participant Niels Petersen, FPSO Project Manager at Maersk Oil and Gas.
Grant Ackerman, Faculty Director
Faculty Member, Columbia Business School Executive Education
Grant Ackerman’s research and teaching focuses on executive leadership, collaborative leadership models, managing conflict and consensus within and between firms, cross-cultural negotiations and dispute resolution, organizational justice, and lessons for leadership from the creative and performing arts. He has extensive experience in organizational consulting and has provided his expertise to such companies as Avon, Banker's Trust, Coca-Cola, Deloitte, Ford Motors, Sampoerna (Indonesia), GE Credit Corporation, Lend Lease Americas, Time Warner, United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations, and World Vision, USA. For several years, he served as director of the Institute for International Trade with Educational Services Exchange with China, Inc. (ESEC).
Along with Grant Ackerman, additional Columbia Business School faculty contribute to and teach in the program, including the following:
![]() | Bob Bontempo |
Silvia Bellezza |
![]() | Joel Brockner |
![]() | Gita Johar |
![]() | Peter Meola |
![]() | Doron Nissim |
![]() | Clifford Schorer |
The Executive Development Program takes you outside of the traditional academic setting by combining experiential, action-oriented learning opportunities with intellectual, thought-leadership focused learning, and physical, well-being.
Leadership Jazz is an involving and entertaining evening where music mixes with thought-provoking conversation to explore the improvisational world of jazz and its relationship to leadership and management techniques. Top musicians not only display their musical talent but also share their insights on such topics as collaboration and the importance of listening, and answer questions from participants. What emerges is a valuable discussion of the dynamics of individual excellence and constructive teamwork.
Hear more from the faculty director and past participants:
Towards the end of the first week, you’ll depart for a day trip to the Columbia University campus in New York City and learn about brand management with a hands-on approach on a tour of world-famous Fifth Avenue in midtown Manhattan.
Throughout the program, professors of Columbia Business School will visit the group for guest lectures on a number of specialty topics relevant to today’s business leaders, giving exclusive insight into the School’s world-renowned thought leadership.
Messiness. Finding that too much organization may actually be inefficient, Professor Eric Abrahamson draws on concepts in his new book, A Perfect Mess, to show participants the value of (just enough) disorder.
Strategic Intuition. Using concepts presented in his new book, Strategic Intuition, Professor Bill Duggan helps participants understand the intuitive side of strategy and how they can develop their own capacities to see new solutions to old problems.
The Changing Distribution of Global Power. Professor Ray Horton surveys the business and political landscape over the next 25 years and explores with participants power shifts and their implications for individuals, business, and society.
The Art and Science of Leadership and Motivation. How do great leaders stay motivated even in the most difficult of times? Professor Hitendra Wadhwa looks at both empirical research and real life examples from around the world to illustrate the art and science of motivational leadership.
Experiential Marketing. Professor Bernd Schmitt, considered the founder of the Experiential Marketing school, presents material that shows participants how to use all of the five senses in marketing campaigns.
Fairness. Drawing on concepts outlined in his recent Harvard Business Review article, "Why It's So Hard to be Fair," Professor Joel Brockner explores with participants why being "fair" is so important and, at times, so hard to do.
To lead requires focus and energy, so one’s health and wellbeing is essential. Executive Wellbeing is a comprehensive model that teaches you how to manage your energy at the program and to develop long-term positive health practices through daily sessions. The connection between the physical self and successful leadership is made in other parts of the program as well.