Custom Programs

Harvard Business School works one on one with companies of all sizes to create high-impact learning experiences that are tailored to the needs of each firm. Whether your organization is striving to adapt to shifting markets, new competitors, demanding customers, or other strategic challenges, we can partner with you to develop a customized program that strengthens executive leadership capacity and drives organizational performance.

The Experience

Each Executive Education custom program has one primary goal: to develop leaders who can make a difference within the organization. Recognizing that individual companies face unique challenges, our faculty works closely with company executives to develop programs that meet the specific challenges of each organization, including implementing a strategic change that moves the company forward, enhancing specific management skills, or building organizational competency in areas such as marketing, operations, and governance.

The Learning Model

While learning outcomes vary due to tailored goals, every custom program equips a group of committed and accomplished executives with the strategies to position the organization for competitive advantage in the new economy. Through dynamic interaction with the HBS faculty and accomplished peers, participants gain broader global perspectives, improve their decision-making skills, and acquire the frameworks to apply their takeaway learning across the organization.

Sample Programs

Harvard Business School works with a select group of companies that vary in size, industry, and geography, and range from well-established companies to high-growth businesses to major nonprofits. Starting from the CEO level, these firms are committed to strengthening the leadership capacity of their managers, executives, and organizations.

Process

A team composed of faculty and program staff works with executives to design a program that meets the company's specific needs. Based on the objectives outlined, they develop the appropriate curriculum and learning materials. Every aspect of a custom program—from classroom activities and web-based exercises to project teams, living groups, and social events—is tailored to optimize learning and maximize the educational process.

For More Information on Custom Programs, please complete and submit the custom program inquiry form.

"We began working with HBS on custom programs around the merger that created our company. The initial program was immensely important in bringing people together, dealing with differences, identifying similarities, and clarifying where we wanted to go as a corporation. More recent programs have focused on growth and deal making, as well as finance, to build the skills of our people. It has been a tremendous learning experience for everyone, and our people have been proud to study at HBS. Our work together has become a true collaboration, and it continues to expand and deepen."
Dr. Daniel L. Vasella [Chairman], Novartis AG

The Experience

Environment

Most organizations come to Harvard Business School to participate in the vibrant community, residential learning environment, and vast resources. A similar learning environment also can be created off-site to accommodate your company’s priorities. In both instances, executives have ongoing opportunities to interact with one another and with the faculty inside and beyond the classroom.To reinforce the School's extraordinary sense of community, on-campus participants:

• Enjoy personalized service and expansive facilities that help them concentrate, interact, and learn
• Live, dine, and work in an exclusive enclave that is solely dedicated to executive development
• Access common areas that promote interaction and live in technology-enabled single rooms

Capability Development

Custom programs are tailored to the specific needs of each organization. Whether the goal is to prepare for a major change initiative or to build individual or organizational competency in a particular area, your leaders will gain the required skills and frameworks.

Based on an organization’s key objectives, faculty members incorporate their latest research and insights into the curriculum materials. A custom program is developed to enhance capabilities in crucial areas such as: market differentiation, sustainable corporate strategy, technology innovation, operations excellence, performance measurement, globalization and outsourcing, corporate governance, and business ethics.

Each custom program offers a one-of-a-kind learning experience with the focus on identifying critical issues and formulating solutions that deliver results.

Direct Application

Developed around stated goals, custom programs consistently deliver high takeaway value for both executives and their organizations. This is accomplished in three ways:

• Involvement is limited to groups of deeply committed individuals who possess a level of personal responsibility for learning and extending the lessons beyond the classroom
• Program content and faculty delivery focus on practical ways for you to leverage the content and apply your enhanced expertise within the workplace
• Concepts, insights, models and frameworks, case lessons, and best practices can be applied directly to your organizational challenges

Sample Schedule

Executive Growth

By fostering professional, intellectual, and personal development, custom programs empower executives to develop critical leadership skills, shape powerful ideas into competitive solutions, and think and manage proactively in a changing business world. Through the process of discussion, discovery, and application, they will refine their management style, rethink the firm’s business practices, and establish effective peer networks. As a result, they will return to the organization with the mindset, skills, and strategies needed to contribute more broadly as leaders.

Impact

For both participants and their sponsoring organizations, the ongoing value of a custom program becomes evident in many ways. Executives will acquire a deeper, shared understanding of your company, as well as broader perspectives on the latest industry trends and strategies. Focused on improving leadership and teamwork skills, each program explores how to sustain higher levels of trust and transparency, while building more effective communication networks. Participants will leave inspired to accomplish corporate goals and committed to sharing their learning throughout the organization.

For groups of executives across diverse functions, business units, and regions within the same company, the custom experience translates into a readiness to respond to the challenges facing their business groups, their companies, and themselves as managers. As more leaders have the opportunity to experience the same program, the benefits grow exponentially—and deliver an even higher return on investment to your company.

Learning Model

Whether focusing on change management, capability enhancement, or organizational development, custom programs add value in five distinct categories:

• Reinforcing positive intangibles—such as confidence, trust, organizational commitment, openness to change, and inspiration—to energize executive efforts, transform managers into leaders, and spread leadership throughout the organization
• Fostering collective recognition of the company's mission and values, core businesses, key challenges, and promising opportunities—as well as a common level of understanding—to improve the communication of ideas within the business group and across the organization
• Providing a dynamic learning culture that allows the necessary time and space for participants to step back from their daily responsibilities to reflect, rethink, and reassess critical industry and organizational issues
• Creating professional and personal networks that enable executives to enhance intracompany relationships, develop a different mindset, break through barriers, and "make it happen"
• Focusing on best practices, case lessons, models, frameworks, and tools to empower leaders to apply their new knowledge, course concepts, and innovative approaches back at the workplace

Based on the HBS learning model, the custom program experience is a powerful, interactive process of discussion, discovery, and application. The program components intermesh to create a uniquely tailored, in-depth opportunity for both individual and collective learning.

These include goal setting, program design, instructional methodologies, innovative teaching styles, case analysis, peer interaction and teamwork, and hands-on implementation. The impact is both immediate and long term: you will emerge from the program with the leadership capacity to position your organization for ongoing success.

Case Method

Pioneered by Harvard Business School, the case method engages you in a highly stimulating, collaborative process of identifying relevant issues and applying practical business lessons to your own situations and organizations. You will benefit from an added dimension that no other business school can offer—the opportunity to be taught by many of the faculty who wrote the cases and have personal knowledge of the problems and solutions presented. Assuming the position of executive in charge, you will work under typical management conditions. Through analyzing information and identifying problems, you will formulate and compare alternative solutions and commit to an action plan.

Moreover, a custom case can be developed that enables you to debate the approaches for dealing with an existing management situation at your company. Learn more about the HBS case method.

Complementary Methodologies

While the case method is the foundation of HBS’s dynamic learning model, other effective teaching methods are used to facilitate learning on multiple levels. These diverse approaches include faculty lectures and presentations, interactive group discussions, individual and team projects, customized workshops and exercises, and online simulations.

Interaction

Custom programs are structured to promote a dynamic interchange and extend the program learning across the organization. Through working and learning together, executives will develop a shared language and understanding of your company's mission, values, businesses, challenges, and opportunities. This sense of camaraderie helps build professional and personal networks based on trust, communication, and collaboration.

Technology

To accommodate dynamic case discussions, HBS classrooms feature an amphitheater seating design that gives every participant an unobstructed sight line to the boards, the professor, and each other, as well as cutting-edge acoustics that allow everyone to be easily heard. Each room is fitted with multimedia technology for introducing video, presentations, and live web material into case discussions. Learn more about the HBS campus facilities.

Focused Workshops

Since workshops are tailored to the learning objectives of each custom program, the nature of these sessions can vary from one learning experience to the next. Assigned group work typically includes a variety of exercises, presentations, and sessions in which participant teams concentrate on competitor analysis, creative case writing, hands-on lesson application, change recommendations, action plans, and other value-adding activities.

Reflected Best-Self Exercise

Before the program begins, participants complete a personal assessment of occasions when they performed at their best. This assessment requires feedback from 10 to 20 people—coworkers, clients, friends, and family—who are asked to describe the situations and the individual’s actions; participants collect this data during the program.

Unlike traditional models of performance evaluation, the Reflected Best-Self Exercise focuses on how key constituents perceive managers when they apply their strengths. It enables participants to create a developmental agenda for leveraging their reflected best self, expanding their capacity to add value within the organization, and fostering an environment where employees can engage their best selves and work optimally from positions of strength.

Learning Enhancement

The custom program experience can be extended via numerous learning resources available through HBS. More than 80 open-enrollment programs—ranging from a few days to several weeks—offer complementary Executive Education opportunities for further management development.

Harvard Business School Publishing also plays a key role, providing access to the Harvard Business Review, press books, case studies and related products, conferences, newsletters, and e-learning programs.

All these resources can augment the custom program experience by providing continued exposure to the faculty's ongoing research and latest thinking on management practice. Adding significant value for both participants and the sponsoring organization, these additional tools deepen the face-to-face learning experience and help to drive the takeaway learning for lasting impact across the organization.

The Faculty

Meet the Program Faculty

Like all Harvard Business School Executive Education programs, Custom programs are developed and taught by a core faculty of HBS professors. Our faculty members are widely recognized as skilled educators, groundbreaking researchers, and award-winning authors.

Through publishing, consulting, and teaching, they leverage their business expertise and field-based research to create new knowledge and enduring concepts that shape the practice of management. The result is a teaching team that exposes participants to multiple perspectives, challenging their thinking and encouraging new practices that result in superior business leadership.

Your program faculty team will be selected from the School's diverse teaching units.

The result is a reciprocal learning experience for executives and faculty members alike. In addition to being committed to being at the forefront of the current practice of business, the School is supported by a self-funded research budget. This powerful combination presents educational opportunities and research initiatives that reflect the realities of the evolving marketplace. Custom programs tap into this expanding knowledge base and benefit from the latest thinking in leadership development, sustainable strategies, corporate accountability, innovation and growth, customer management, and long-term success.

"One of the primary reasons that my colleagues and I had such a successful experience in our program was the dedication of the faculty. Their commitment to teaching and their level of preparation helped us sharpen our reasoning and work as a true team. As well, the cases they taught allowed us to draw many analogies to our situation at DT, while translating learning into action."
René Obermann [Member of the Board of Management], Deutsche Telekom AG; [CEO], T-Mobile International AG

Sample Programs

Select Companies

Harvard Business School works with a select group of companies to strengthen the leadership capacity of their executives and their organizations. Starting at the CEO level, these companies share the desire to develop a long-term, multifaceted relationship with the School. HBS has developed and conducted custom programs for a wide range of organizations, including well-established companies, high-growth businesses, and major nonprofits.

Formidable Challenges

Custom programs can be developed to help executives build capabilities for addressing any management challenge—organizational leadership, change leadership, customer management, service excellence, innovation, technology, competitive strategies, or other areas of concern. No matter the issues at hand, past client companies can attest to the power of a value-adding educational partnership with HBS.

Industry Profiles

Consumer Products

After a leading consumer products company consolidated its North American activities under one leadership, the chairman and CEO wanted to work with HBS to create a platform and process for introducing the new management strategy to its top 300 business leaders. A two-month development process included:

• In-depth discussions with key members of the management team, idea generation, design, feedback, and refinement helped to facilitate the implementation of the change initiative.
• The core themes—integration management, company values, leadership and change management, and action planning—rallied all leaders around supporting the company's new direction.
• The entire rollout included six two-and-a-half-day sessions over a two-year period, with 50 to 60 leaders attending each session; leaders were engaged in case studies, brief lectures, and group discussions.
• The faculty team created a workshop environment to encourage open dialogue and enable leaders to collaborate on applying the program's concepts, tools, and approaches to their specific challenges.
• The chairman/CEO's involvement in all program activities signaled top-level commitment to developing leaders who would be poised to implement the necessary change.

By reinforcing the entire change initiative, the company is accelerating a shared sense of direction among its leaders. Past participants say they have a better understanding of the company's new strategy and values, as well as greater insight into implementing change as a business team. The School is developing a case study that spotlights the company's strategic and organizational progress, and some leaders are planning to attend open-enrollment Executive Education programs that address related issues.

Energy

Several years ago, one of the world's largest industrial companies approached Harvard Business School for help in changing its corporate strategy to become a global leader in natural gas and electricity. The company wanted a broad-based executive development program for its senior leaders to support this strategy change.

• The program included faculty from HBS and Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government as well as industry experts.
• Working with top company leaders, they developed a program that addressed critical issues, such as managing in regulated and deregulated environments; corporate governance and the role of the corporate center and business units; and leadership, culture, and values.
• Selected company leaders participated in a customized course on finance for senior executives, and many have attended key open-enrollment programs on campus.
• A case has been written about the firm and is used in both custom programs and the MBA program.

Financial Services

A large financial services institution asked HBS to develop an executive leadership program for its top 250 executives. The firm had a history of strong earnings, but needed to find new ways to drive growth in an increasingly competitive global environment. The CEO hoped to increase the firm's strategic agility by enhancing its executives’ ability to drive business performance and boost innovation.

• Following a collaborative needs’ assessment process with the company, a program was created that focused on three key themes:
• Strategic thinking—analyzing the market, determining strategic direction, and sustaining success over time in the face of competitive threats.
• Service excellence—nurturing loyal customers and setting the marketplace standard for quality and value.
• Leadership—helping participants understand the role of leadership and leadership styles in creating effective organizations.
• Conducted over one year, the five-day curriculum included a customized case study based on a recent acquisition and integration completed by the company, as well as a "lifeline" exercise focused on key people and formative events in their lives.

Both the participants and the CEO are building relationships and opening channels of communication. As a result of the program, participants report significant gains in strategic insights and leadership skills, along with an enhanced network of professional peers.

Information Technology

One of the largest information technology and services companies in the world decided to revamp its strategic planning process. They wanted to place individual general managers in charge of the work, challenge them to link strategy directly to specific issues, and execute their action plans. The firm's Corporate Strategy Senior VP asked the School to create a program that would help senior executives to develop their strategic leadership skills.

• A curriculum was designed that was geared toward the firm's new approach to strategy and that outlined a plan to drive new learning across the organization. Each program opened with a day on strategy, focusing on marketplace insight and business design.
• The following days were dedicated to understanding change and innovation, and applying the lessons learned to the firm's own issues. Participants spent a total of 17 hours in team breakouts applying what they learned to the key business issues central to their team's success.
• The use of technology-based learning tools in the program has enabled the firm to extend and deepen the learning to an entire generation of leaders who now embrace the strategy planning process and focus fully on successful execution

The Corporate Strategy leadership group believes that the powerful combination of executive education and real-time application has accelerated learning, enabling leaders to have a common understanding of strategy, to approach issues with the same structured process, and to communicate using the same vocabulary.

Investment Firm

As one of the cornerstones of its ongoing management development program, a major investment institution looked to HBS to develop a customized strategic leadership program that would help senior executives develop the business decision-making and leadership skills required for success.

• The firm's CFO served as the executive sponsor of the program and worked with the faculty to create a curriculum designed to build competencies in two critical areas: executing strategy and delivering results.
• Participants gained knowledge and built their skills at the beginning of the six-day program, and then began to apply their learning to a real-life initiative within the firm.
• Project teams were assigned the task of developing a recommendation on how to implement the initiative to maximize value for both customers and the corporation.

Throughout the week, faculty coaches and the company’s HR staff assessed both team and individual performance. This led to the creation of an individualized development plan for each participant.

Pharmaceutical

The School has been working with a large international pharmaceutical firm since the mid 1990s when company leaders and faculty planned the firm's first executive forum. The program was designed to help the organization create alignment and develop an effective company culture following a major merger.

• The CFO identified a need to educate and expand the perspective of managers in the finance and business planning functions of the firm.
• Faculty worked with the CFO and his team to develop a program that would help managers drive business goals and work in partnership with the unit's general manager.
• A parallel program for nonfinancial managers was created to introduce the key elements of corporate finance.
• A second executive forum focused on helping the company accelerate growth and targeted senior executives from each of the company's major operating groups. Key themes included:
• Exploring advances in technology
• Examining partnerships
• Building alliances
• Specific action-learning projects allowed executives to develop and test new business ideas that have subsequently been brought forward at the business unit or corporate level for further analysis and seed funding.

Harvard Business School has continued to work closely with the firm. A third-generation executive forum has recently been launched, with the focus on leadership challenges facing the company and its managers. The CEO continues to participate personally in every program session.

Venture Capital/Private Equity

A later-stage venture capital firm selected HBS to create an education and networking forum to help company owners and management teams achieve their strategic and financial goals. This opportunity to view business through the lens of general management is intended to strengthen the leadership capacity of these high-caliber portfolio companies. The program concentrates on the processes that are central to portfolio companies and on their highest-priority business issues as identified in a survey of company CEOs.

• The entrepreneurial and multidisciplinary expertise of the faculty team provides a sound understanding of what is involved in launching and building new ventures, as well as an approach for managing these opportunities over time.
• Focusing on different stages within the entrepreneurial lifecycle, the theme of the second module—profitable growth and scaling—built upon the first module, which covered assessing opportunities and building new business models.
• The high-energy atmosphere fosters learning on three levels—individual, small group, and classroom.
• Through case studies, interactive presentations, and informal group discussions, participants explore new ideas, share innovations and strategies, and develop invaluable peer networks.

The result is a win-win-win. Portfolio companies develop highly effective management teams for enhanced competitiveness, while the sponsoring venture capital firm reaps the rewards of continued business growth and greater shareholder value. Faculty also benefit from exposure to new case development opportunities with entrepreneurial companies.

Process

Through building relationships that help position the School as a powerful force in the global marketplace, both faculty and students have the opportunity to drive innovation in education and research, while anticipating and meeting the evolving needs of business leaders.

Needs Assessment

To develop a program that addresses your company's most vital concerns, HBS faculty and staff conduct an exacting needs' assessment that uncovers your organization’s underlying issues and challenges. An integral part of the educational process, the assessment encourages buy-in from senior leaders as the process unfolds.

Custom Design

Composed of faculty and program staff, the team works with key individuals from your firm to design a program that meets your precise needs. Based on the objectives that have been outlined, faculty members develop the curriculum and learning materials. Every aspect of a custom program—from classroom activities and web-based exercises to project teams, living groups, and social events—is tailored to optimize learning and maximize the educational process.

Custom programs provide access to the rich resources of the Harvard University community—Baker Library, the world's largest business library; HBS Publishing; the faculties of Harvard Business School, Arts and Sciences, Medicine, Law, and Government; and the School's global network of research centers.

Collaborative Effort

Ongoing collaboration and a commitment to service and flexibility ensure that the program not only creates a high-impact learning experience for you, but also leads to your company's desired outcome.

Post-Program Renewal

The School's readiness to work with your company continues long after the program concludes. In an effort to examine, evaluate, and refresh the learning experience, a range of activities can be conducted to generate informative feedback—from surveying participants and company sponsors to reviewing the program's objectives, content, and methodologies.

This in-depth analysis often leads to the fine-tuning of various components and significantly improves the learning experience for successive company groups. The discovery of novel ways for participants to apply their learning also increases the impact of future programs. Moreover, the faculty's commitment to stay informed about changes within your company, your strategic challenges, and your goals greatly contributes to the program's long-term success.

For More Information on Custom Programs, please complete and submit the custom program inquiry form.

Programs, dates, fees, and faculty are subject to change

In accordance with Harvard University policy, Harvard Business School does not discriminate against any person on the basis of race, color, sex or sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, age, national or ethnic origin, political beliefs, veteran status, or disability in admission to, access to, treatment in, or employment in its programs and activities.