Leadership Essentials identifies several of the skill sets that great leaders possess. Through engaging lectures delivered by Columbia Business School faculty, dynamic discussions with colleagues and hands-on workshops, participants explore the most crucial areas of leadership.

Participants emerge from the program with fresh insights into how to be better decision makers, leaders of people and groups, and agents of organizational change.

"This was a fully engaging course which has provided me with tools of leadership that I can use beginning tomorrow: tools with a lifetime warranty."
– Matthew Price, Director, Sales & Marketing, ACS

Other Formats

This program is also being offered in an asynchronous online format. Learn more about Leadership Essentials (Online). To compare program formats, click here.

Please Contact Us

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

IMPACT

In just two days, participants in Leadership Essentials take away several tangible benefits. They learn how to:

• Enhance emotional intelligence and apply it appropriately as a leader
• Strengthen the ability to lead and manage organizational change
• Improve decision making
• Motivate your team more effectively
• Manage the dynamics within and between groups that influence performance

Hear from the program's faculty director on the leadership essentials acquired in the program:

Note: This program does not include a 360-degree feedback tool. We encourage you to apply for High Impact Leadership should you be interested in benefiting from this specific feature.

Upon completion of this program, you will earn two credits towards a Certificate with select alumni and tuition benefits. Learn more.

PROGRAM STRUCTURE

PLEASE NOTE: The upcoming iteration of this program will take place in a live, virtual setting. The daytime session takes place from 2 to 5 p.m. Eastern Time. (View daytime schedule). To accommodate time zones in the Eastern Hemisphere, the evening session takes place from 7–10 p.m. Eastern Time, which is 8–11 a.m. Japan Standard Time. (View the evening schedule). You may also view the in-person program schedule for when our in-person programming resumes.

The program consists of four tightly connected sessions:

I. Leadership Styles and Emotional Intelligence

Key questions

• What are the different styles of leadership, and when is it appropriate to exercise one rather than another?
• What role does emotional intelligence (or EQ) play in enacting the different forms of leadership?

II. Leadership Styles and Managing Change

Key questions

• What are the key action steps needed to plan and implement change?
• What do you think you do well versus not so well when it comes to planning and implementing change?
• What leadership style makes people more likely to embrace rather than resist change?
• What makes it hard for agents of change to adopt a style that makes others embrace rather than resist change?
• What can be done to overcome the obstacles alluded to in the preceding question?

III. Leadership and Group Dynamics

Key questions

• Why do some groups work together effectively, while other groups seem to struggle?
• How does “who you are” influence the type of roles that you take on in a group?
• What climate do you create for groups that you lead?
• How can you motivate your team to take more risk and responsibility?

IV. Leadership and Personality

Key questions

• How much of your leadership behavior is driven by your environment?
• How much of your leadership behavior is driven by your own preferences?
• How can you learn about others preferences in order to more effectively lead, manage, and collaborate?

For a complete program schedule download the agenda.

PARTICIPANT PROFILE & TESTIMONIALS

Leadership Essentials is designed for mid-level executives looking to improve their effectiveness working with individuals and teams.

Columbia Business School alumni and up to four of their colleagues are eligible for a 25 percent tuition benefit for this program. More on the Alumni Tuition Benefit.

Typical Participant Mix

Hear from Past Participants:

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Desiree’ Kinney

Experienced Business Leader at JP Morgan Chase

“The Leadership Essentials program was truly impactful on my professional journey. From the insight on EI vs IQ to the knowledge gained on transactional vs transformational leadership, I feel more prepared for the next steps in my career trajectory as a leader, influencer, and change maker. Professors Joel Brockner and Sarah Brazaitis were encouraging, engaged, and empowering and they were truly credible and full of wisdom. Our program manager aides were also very supportive in the program. The interaction in the breakout sessions amongst the students was also phenomenal, even virtually! I would highly recommend this program for anyone who is seeking to be challenged to become the best version of themselves, for their teams and those they seek to inspire.“

This review was given for the live online version of the program.

Talis Lin

Talis Lin

Director, Consumer Marketing at The New York Times

“I highly recommend Leadership Essentials. All too often leadership is a thrust upon high achievers, but this creates a situation where one does not have time to reflect on where they are or how to improve. This program gives you those tools and time.”

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Tina Biswas

Director Project Management at SapientRazorfish

“Leadership Essentials is a crash course in the most relevant topics that can immediately impact your leadership style. I took away tools that can help me as a professional, a non-profit board member, a Girl Scout troop leader, and as a parent.”

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Octavio Buzo

Senior Business Development Consultant, Google

“Leadership Essentials will foster your EQ and will help you become the leader you want to be.”

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Caroline Petit

International Advertising and Promotions Lead at Takeda

“The Leadership Essentials program was a real breakthrough in my self-development journey at work. Not only did it enable me to become aware of unconscious bias that we all tend to have in our professional behaviors, but it was also a real eye opener on business patterns. The program encourages you to think out of the box and go to the extra mile on topics such as emotional intelligence, change management, self-awareness and team dynamics. What impressed me was the ability of both Professors Joel Brockner and Sarah Brazaitis to build paths between research theory and grounded practical work experiences and most importantly go beyond common thinking. The interactions between seasoned professionals during the break-out sessions were also adding considerable value to everyone’s experience. The Columbia team was very helpful in making this journey as smooth as possible — from the registration to the class delivery in the context of the pandemic. If you are looking to embrace change at all levels and nurture your growth mindset, you can’t miss this program.”

Rob Schwartz

Rob Schwartz

Chief Executive Officer, TBWA\CHIAT\DAY

"48 hours of Ivy League genius that will last throughout your career."

Angela Schooneman

Angela Schooneman

Partner, Mintner Ellison

"Although only two days long, the program was filled with useful, practical information balanced with the right amount of theory. I will definitely be able to use the tools in my daily work life."

Anthony Stevens

Anthony Stevens

National Director of Sales, SAV Holdings, LLC

"A big component of the program was the interactivity within the group. Participants came from all around the world, and I received a lot of input. I work with people from Dubai, China, and Japan, so working well cross-culturally is absolutely essential for my role. The cross-cultural feedback in this course, hearing their points-of-view, and how they come to conclusions was absolutely phenomenal."

Thomas Magnor

Thomas Magnor

President, Atlas Metal Parts

"After taking the Leadership Essentials program, I started to let the people in my company have more ownership in the decision making. I try to be better at delegating. One thing we do differently after I returned from the program is that we changed a weekly management meeting to a daily management meeting. Every person talks to a piece based on their department, and everyone gets to see what everyone else is doing."

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Neha Rajesh

Head of Strategic Deal Marketing at Temenos

"This program teaches you everything you need to know about effective leadership in two days. Amazing theory and the perfect marriage of theory and practice. I can't wait to put these concepts into action at my company."

Shirish Shetty

Shirish Shetty

Senior Manager, Sales and Marketing, Allcargo Logistics Ltd

"I was promoted to a new role and needed to shape up my management skillls. In the Leadership Essentials program, I learned that how you deliver your message can often have a greater impact than the message itself. I immediately applied this to my role when I returned, and instead of judging a team member, I changed my tone of communication and was able to get results much faster."

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Desiree’ Kinney

Experienced Business Leader at JP Morgan Chase

Talis Lin

Talis Lin

Director, Consumer Marketing at The New York Times

tina.jpg

Tina Biswas

Director Project Management at SapientRazorfish

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Octavio Buzo

Senior Business Development Consultant, Google

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Caroline Petit

International Advertising and Promotions Lead at Takeda

Rob Schwartz

Rob Schwartz

Chief Executive Officer, TBWA\CHIAT\DAY

Angela Schooneman

Angela Schooneman

Partner, Mintner Ellison

Anthony Stevens

Anthony Stevens

National Director of Sales, SAV Holdings, LLC

Thomas Magnor

Thomas Magnor

President, Atlas Metal Parts

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Neha Rajesh

Head of Strategic Deal Marketing at Temenos

Shirish Shetty

Shirish Shetty

Senior Manager, Sales and Marketing, Allcargo Logistics Ltd

FACULTY

Joel Brockner, Faculty Director
Phillip Hettleman Professor of Business, Columbia Business School

Joel Brockner is a leading authority on a variety of psychological issues in the workplace, including change management, leadership, decision-making, the role of the self, and cross-cultural differences in work behavior. He has consulted about the planning and implementation of significant organizational change, leadership development, and decision making with such organizations as the Association of Art Museum Curators, Canadian Health Services Research Foundation, Citigroup, ConocoPhillips, Eastman Kodak, IXIS Capital Markets, MBNA, Pfizer, State Farm Insurance, Southern New England Telephone, and Stratus Technologies.

Brockner’s book publications cover decision making in "sunk cost" situations, causes and consequences of employees’ self esteem, and the role of justice in the workplace. He has published more than 100 articles and book chapters in a variety of prestigious outlets, including Harvard Business Review and the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. He has served on the editorial board of numerous management and psychology journals including the Academy of Management Journal, the Academy of Management Review, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, and the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

Sarah J. Brazaitis
Associate Professor of Practice, Teachers College, Columbia University

Sarah Brazaitis is an associate professor of Practice in the Department of Organization and Leadership at Teachers College, Columbia University where she also directs the MA program in Organizational Psychology. Brazaitis teaches courses on group dynamics and team performance to masters- and doctoral-level students as well as in executive education programs. As part of her group dynamics course, Brazaitis runs an experiential group relations conference that provides participants with opportunities to learn in real time about covert processes affecting leadership and power in groups and organizations.

Brazaitis maintains a private practice of organizational consulting with a specialty in working with diverse teams and she has 20+ years of experience in providing coaching, consulting and training to executives, leaders and high potentials including to those in the C-suite. Clients have included organizations such as BNP Paribas, Deloitte, Google, KPMG, Thomson Reuters, Time Warner, Inc, as well as various schools and universities.

As an expert on group dynamics in social systems, Dr. Brazaitis has publications in scholarly journals, industry books and the popular press on conflict resolution in diverse teams, challenges related to the global community, improving race relations in multicultural organizations, and understanding and leveraging implicit, hidden dynamics in the workplace.

FAQ

 
Do you have questions about our live online programs? Please review our commonly asked questions on our live online programs FAQs page.