Executive Education » In-Person Programs » Comprehensive Leadership » Executive Development Program

Executive Development Program

Date  
To Be Announced  
Questions? Contact Us:
Alberto O. Cruz
Director, Learning Solutions
+1 212-854-6037
[email protected]


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Location
HNA Palisades Premier Conference Center
Palisades, NY
(30 minutes outside of Manhattan)
Accommodation is included in the program tuition. Plan your stay
 
Certificate Credits: 13
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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

Hear about the program from past participants and Faculty Director Grant Ackerman.

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.

Accelerated Learning

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.”

Leading Leaders

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.

Aligning with the Organization

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 Us

Please contact our Learning Solutions Specialists at +1 212-854-3395 for a personal conversation to learn more.

IMPACT

"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.

Summary of Benefits:

  • Develop immediate and lasting leadership skills for yourself and your organization. A 360-degree survey identifies the strengths and weaknesses of your leadership style, equipping you with the tools and insights to develop your personal Leadership Credo and to assume larger responsibilities in the future.
  • Gain proficiency in critical functional business areas, including leadership, strategy, accounting and finance, innovation, and marketing.
  • Create solutions to your actual business challenges. Participants work in teams on personal cases and develop a personal action plan to implement when they return to their organization, giving them the opportunity to apply and integrate their learnings in real time and receive actionable feedback from peers and faculty.
  • Learn from faculty who are experts on essential business topics. Faculty members who teach in the School's MBA program lead you through case discussions, focused leadership sessions, self-development exercises, and workshops in an intensive off-site format.
  • Build a network of executives from various industries and functions. Throughout the program, you will learn from and network with other executives from around the world, giving you varied perspectives for a deeper understanding of global business challenges.

We Bring Proof*

  • 97 percent of participants said they developed new skills in the Executive Development Program.
  • 96 percent of participants said the knowledge gained in the program was applicable to achieving their professional goals.
  • 100 percent of participants said the program helped them develop new ways of thinking.

*Numbers in this section are based on program evaluations from Executive Development Program participants in 2015 and 2016

 

Certification

Upon completion, participants earn the Certificate in Management, granting the following Columbia Business School benefits:

  • 15 percent tuition benefit on programs lasting up to seven days, for you and up to two colleagues each year
  • Subscriptions to the School’s publications

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.

PROGRAM STRUCTURE

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.

Personal Leadership Growth

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.

  • Leadership Evaluation & Feedback. Before arriving at the program, participants complete a 360-degree feedback instrument. During the program, participants review their 360 report with experienced coaches who can help identify existing strengths and opportunities for improvement.
  • Learning Styles. Participants begin the program by looking at how preferences for various learning styles impact the learning process. By evaluating their own preferences and those of their colleagues, participants begin to develop a cohesive and effective learning community.
  • Emotional Intelligence (EQ) and Derailers. Participants explore and apply various elements of Emotional Intelligence as they develop a better awareness of self and a better understanding of the needs of others. Particular attention is given to “derailers,” those personal and professional attributes that start out as strengths but can become weaknesses if not properly managed.
  • Leadership Credo. The leadership credo exercise provides participants with an opportunity to inventory their personal beliefs about leadership and assess what will make their organization a success. Elective Leadership Communications sessions help participants develop their skills in public speaking and presentations.
  • Personal Cases. During the two-week program, participants work in teams on personal cases that provide an opportunity to apply and integrate their knowledge of strategy, leadership, marketing, operations, and finance. Plenary discussions and team presentations during the program showcase thought leadership in action. After receiving feedback about their case from peers and faculty, each participant develops a Personal Action Plan to implement these ideas when they return to their organization.
  • Individual Development Plans. During the second week of the program, after receiving their 360 feedback, each participant creates a personalized plan that will serve as a guide for his or her continued learning and development.
  • Tomorrow, Today. This capstone session at the end of the program explores what the world will look like in the not-so-distant future. Drawing on all of their learnings from the program, participants consider ideas and opportunities that can be accessed right now.

Strategic Leadership Sessions

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.

  • Systems Thinking. Your work and the work of others is embedded in an interconnected framework that constitutes a complex whole. Understanding how your activities influence others and impact the greater good becomes a key to your leadership success.
  • Networks and Social Capital. Program participants consider the power of personal and organizational networks as a tool for leading and managing in organizations. A self-assessment instrument permits each participant to evaluate the reach and magnitude of their own network. Strategies for creating, developing, and leveraging network ties are also explored.
  • Building Coalitions. Getting things done in organizations often requires working across boundaries or in an environment where lines of authority are blurred or non-existent. You’ll explore how to identify and evaluate various constituencies in your organization including their power and attitudes. You’ll leave the program able to build coalitions that ensure the success of your strategic initiatives that require cooperation across your organization.
  • Conflict, Negotiations, and Persuasion. Working effectively with others within and across organizations requires a cutting edge capacity to gain their support. We’ll consider various approaches to managing conflict, building consensus, and persuading others. Self-assessment instruments help you identify your current approach to conflict and consider how you can expand your repertoire to use other approaches when needed.
  • Essence of Decisions. We often think of decision making as rational and predictable. We’ll explore the politics and (sometimes irrational) process of making strategic decisions. Simulation exercises help participants understand how they can use these learnings to navigate through the complexity of decision-making in their own organizations.
  • Creating a Culture of Performance. Too often, an enterprise’s vision and values become empty slogans that do not inform in any way the daily activities of the organization. In this session, participants consider how to align individual performance goals, feedback, and evaluations with an organization's vision and mission to ensure everyone is moving forward together, successfully.
  • Global Perspectives and Challenges. With few exceptions, the continued success of your products or services will be directly impacted by developments around the world. As an experienced leader, you’ll be expected to understand and adapt to a constantly changing global environment. During the program, participants survey the business and political landscape over the next 25 years and explore how power shifts and other dynamics will impact their work.
  • Leading Change. In the contemporary business environment, the only thing constant is change. As a capstone to their learning, EDP participants consider the dynamics of change and how to lead individuals and organizations through a constructive and effective change process.

Business-Critical Skills

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.

  • Strategy and Innovation. Program participants review the theory and practice of strategic thinking as they develop their capacity to analyze market and competitive forces to create winning propositions for their organizations. Application exercises help participants develop their own new ideas about next level strategic initiatives for their organizations.
  • Marketing and Advertising. Participants explore various frameworks and concepts in marketing and consider how advertising plays an integral role in an organization's overall brand management.
  • Finance and Accounting. Recognizing that sound financial analysis is critical to the success of any enterprise, participants develop their capacities to use financial data to assess business performance and ensure sufficient cash to meet the organization's needs.
  • Operations. Recognizing that a firm’s day-to-day activities must be aligned with its overall strategy, program participants learn about various aspects of operations, including logistics and supply chain management. Case studies illustrate how a firm can leverage its capacities across the organization and around the world to create innovative and cost-effective operations.

Sample Agenda

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].

PARTICIPANT PROFILE & TESTIMONIALS

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.

Typical Participant Mix

Geographic Spread

Years of Management Experience

Job Function

Industry

 

Hear from Past Participants:

 

FACULTY

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

Bob Bontempo
Adjunct Professor,
Management Division

Silvia Bellezza

Silvia Bellezza
Gantcher Associate Professor of Business

Joel Brockner

Joel Brockner
Phillip Hettleman
Professor of Business,
Management Division

Gita Johar

Gita Johar
Meyer Feldberg
Professor of Business,
Marketing Division

Peter Meola

Peter Meola
Adjunct Professor,
Management Division

Doron Nissim

Doron Nissim
Ernst & Young Professor
of Accounting & Finance

Cliff Schorer

Clifford Schorer
Entrepreneur in
Residence,
The Eugene Lang
Entrepreneurship Center

SPECIAL FEATURES

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

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:

Fifth Avenue Tour

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.

Exclusive Specialty Topics

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.

Executive Wellbeing

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.