Leadership Best Practices

Strong leadership rises to the top again and again as the key advantage that separates world-class companies from the rest. Great leaders are able not only to craft winning competitive strategies, but also to drive critical innovation, implement change, and create agile organizations that can succeed in complex markets. Leadership Best Practices is an HBS Executive Education program that explores the many dimensions of great leadership. From global research on strategy to new tactics for leading your team, you will gain a deeper understanding of how leadership is evolving in the 21st century and how you can steer your company to a more successful future.

What You Can Expect

Designed to build strategic vision and personal leadership skills, the program examines today's leadership best practices in depth. Through dynamic lectures, case studies, and small group interactions, you will prepare to take your leadership to the next level and enhance your contribution to company growth.

Your Course of Study

In seven modules focused on the latest HBS research and analysis, you will examine the many ways you can drive competitive advantage for your company. You will explore the strategic function of visionary leadership; the importance of gathering ideas from outside your sector; the path to success in emerging markets; and strategies for driving continuous innovation, taking service to a new level, building the right sense of urgency, and growing talent from within.

Who Is Right for the Program

Created for executives with significant corporate management responsibilities, this leadership development program is designed for chief executive officers, chief operating officers, chief administrative officers, senior vice presidents, general managers, senior human resources officers, and divisional directors or leaders.

The Leadership Initiative

The Leadership Initiative at Harvard Business School was created as a catalyst to achieve the School's mission to: "…educate leaders who make a difference in the world." Since its inception, HBS has been committed to shaping business leaders with the integrity and capacity to build world-class organizations. Today, the Leadership Initiative seeks to ensure that HBS remains at the forefront of leadership research and development for the 21st century and beyond.

What You Can Expect

Enhancing Your Company’s Performance

Emphasizing the strategic leadership qualities needed for innovation and business agility in the 21st century, this HBS Executive Education program will build your company’s leadership capacity. Through lectures, case studies, and small group discussions, you and a select group of peers will explore groundbreaking best practices that enable companies to evolve, compete, and succeed in crowded and complex markets.

Providing relevant lessons in the classroom that transform your perspective on leadership and management, this program helps companies build strong leaders who excel in day-to-day management and who can capably lead the company through strategy formulation and execution, organization building, change implementation, and more.

Taking Your Skills to the Next Level

This program offers a unique opportunity to consider diverse approaches that can make you a more effective leader—someone who can take on new challenges. Evaluating the implications of cutting-edge research, engaging in a dynamic exchange with faculty and peers, and comparing leadership across a range of complex organizations, you will enhance your ability to:

• Establish a strategic vision for your company or division
• Draw on lessons from across the business spectrum to improve your company’s processes and performance
• Improve your company’s ability to engage and serve its customers, employees, and shareholders
• Create processes for innovating continually while executing today’s business
• Lead change by maintaining a sense of urgency and ensuring that new ideas are not shot down before they get off the ground
• Develop an action plan using innovative best practices—one that yields measurable results and sustained impact in your workplace

"Leadership Best Practices was an excellent experience. I particularly appreciated the stimulating breakout sessions, which prompted us to look at leadership from multiple perspectives. With classmates from small, medium, and large companies, we also explored how leadership changes with organization size. The wide range of case studies and the group's diversity stimulated my creativity and challenged me to think about leadership in a different way."
Khaled Alnaseebi [Director, Group Organizational & Leadership Development], Zain, Bahrain

Your Course of Study

Leadership Best Practices comprises a series of carefully selected modules featuring landmark research on strategic leadership that builds a competitive advantage. Topics include:

Are You a Good Boss—Or a Great One?

Leadership has always been hard and is getting harder. Faced with conflicting demands from above and below, unpredictable developments, and office politics; managers can often become exhausted and discouraged. Indeed, developing into an effective manager is a seemingly endless, frequently arduous journey. In a recent book titled Being the Boss, HBS professor Linda A. Hill and coauthor Kent Lineback explain that managers can complete this journey with the right approach. During this session, Hill will discuss three imperatives—manage yourself, your network, and your team—that can provide both first-time and seasoned managers with the tools they need to conquer the challenges of leadership.

Overcoming Anxiety in the Workplace

Those who are afraid to fail rarely take chances and are therefore unable to explore, learn, and grow. In today’s uncertain economic environment, this fear grips even the best and the brightest, who too often steer clear of new challenges that may increase their likelihood of making mistakes. However, in his recent book titled Flying Without a Net, HBS professor Thomas J. DeLong asserts that vulnerability does not have to result in fear and weakness. During this session, he will examine the roots of anxiety among high achievers, destructive behaviors adopted to relieve anxiety, and productive behaviors that are necessary to gain strength from vulnerability.

Disconnecting in a 24/7 World

Success in professional services requires being connected, on call, and ready to work at all times. Or does it? This is the question HBS professor Leslie A. Perlow explored as she studied one of the world's leading consulting firms. Through a series of experiments, which are chronicled in her forthcoming book titled Sleeping with Your Blackberry, Perlow and her research team analyzed the impact of simultaneously making personal time off a team responsibility, while also creating space for structured dialogue about work and personal issues. In this session, she will describe the potential to change organization culture in ways that benefit both individuals' personal lives and the work process itself.

The Ownership Quotient: Putting the Service-Profit Chain to Work for Unbeatable Competitive Advantage

W. Earl Sasser, Baker Foundation Professor and author of numerous books and Harvard Business Review articles, including "Putting the Service-Profit Chain to Work," explores how world-class companies are building winning strategies on their consistent ability to delight customers, employees, and shareholders. He will discuss the advantages of building ownership into your business strategy, increasing your customer ownership quotient (OQ) by putting customers to work, and shaping an ownership culture among your employees.

Leading Large Scale Change

In his recent work, A Sense of Urgency, HBS Professor Emeritus and best-selling author John P. Kotter discusses what a true sense of urgency is in an organization, why it is becoming an exceptionally important asset, and how you can create and sustain it within your organization. In his latest book, Buy-in: Saving Your Good Ideas from Getting Shot Down, he talks about one of the most challenging aspects of leading change—getting buy-in to the change vision and overcome resistance to new ideas. During this session, Kotter will walk through his fundamental eight-step framework for successful organizational transformation. He will also provide insight into how successful companies lead change and some of the potential hazards on the path to remarkable results.

Is Shared Value Lasting Value?

Several researchers have recently suggested that organizations must pursue not just value, but "shared value"—through a business model that integrates economic and social goals. During this session, HBS Professor Rebecca Henderson will discuss whether and how a focus on shared value can foster innovation, competitive advantage, and sustained growth.

International Strategy: Developing a Global Mindset

Multinational companies that expand into emerging markets often find that they must reorient their strategic thinking, balancing what made them successful in their home market and what "works" in other parts of the world. In this session, HBS Professor Felix Oberholzer-Gee examines the challenges facing globalizing businesses and discusses what managers can do to foster a global mindset in their organizations.

 

"From the program content and cases to the lectures and networking, this program exceeded my expectations. The value of the experience extends far beyond the time spent in the classroom. I came back with many new ideas on leadership and change and other topics, which I'll be sharing with the partners in my company."
Panos Manolopoulos [Vice Chairman – Regions, Managing Partner – UAE], Stanton Chase International, United Arab Emirates

Who Is Right for the Program

Leadership Best Practices is intended specifically for senior executives with significant corporate management responsibilities.

Typical participant titles include:

• Chief executive officer
• Chief operating officer
• Chief administrative officer
• Senior vice president
• General manager
• Senior human resources officer
• Divisional director or leader

Past Participants Represented:

Industries			Nationalities
7%		Chem/Pharm/Bio	27%		Asia/Pacific
3%		Communications	28%		Europe
7%		Consumer Products	8%		Latin America
16%		Financial	37%		North America
6%		High Technology
6%		Manufacturing
19%		Nonprofit Services
6%		Other Services
16%		Professional Services
2%		Raw Materials/Energy
5%		Real Estate/Construction
4%		Retail Services
3%		Utilities/Telecommunications

Participating Companies Have Included:

Allied Irish Banks, plc Amerada Hess Corporation Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu   International General Electric Company Government of the United States Hewlett-Packard Company Lockheed Martin Company Novell, Inc.

Oracle Corporation The Procter & Gamble Company Sun Microsystems, Inc. Tribune Company Unisys Corporation Verizon Communications, Inc. Viridian Group PLC Wells Fargo & Company

"These five days offered me the chance to step away from the challenges of my job to focus on the personal and corporate challenges that lie over the horizon. It also gave me a new set of peers with a shared experience whom I can contact for ideas and development. This small investment will pay big dividends to my company’s future and employees."
Art Gorman [Chief Operating Officer for Public Finance], Bank of America/Merrill Lynch, U.S.

Meet the Program Faculty

Like all Harvard Business School Executive Education programs, Leadership Best Practices is 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 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. For more detailed biographies, click on each faculty name.

"The faculty was a brilliantly selected group of academics and executives with real-world experience. In some segments, they took us on emotional, personal journeys—we didn't expect this and were affected profoundly by the faculty's authenticity and their courage in daring to go there."
David Robertson [Sector Leader], IBM, Australia

Admissions

Because a diverse participant mix is an important part of every HBS Executive Education program, we look for candidates who reflect a broad range of industries, functions, countries, and backgrounds to enrich the learning experience.

Fees, Payments, and Cancellations

The program fee covers tuition, books, case materials, accommodations, and most meals.

No payment is necessary until you have been accepted into an HBS Executive Education program. After admission notification, we will send you an invoice via email; payment is due within 30 days of the invoice date. If admission is within 30 days prior to the start of the program, payment is due upon receipt of the invoice. Payment is required prior to the program start date. We accept payment by company check, bank wire transfer, or credit card (American Express, MasterCard, Visa). Details are included on the program invoice.

If you need to cancel or defer participation, you must submit your request in writing more than 30 days before the start of the program to receive a full refund. Due to program demand and the volume of preprogram preparation, cancellations or deferrals received 14 to 30 days prior to the start of the program are subject to a fee of one-half of the program fee. Requests received within 14 days are subject to full payment.

Requirements

Although there are no formal educational requirements, admission is a selective process based on professional achievement and organizational responsibility. We look for professionals who have demonstrated business talent and leadership potential.

HBS Executive Education programs enrich both participants and their sponsoring organizations, and require full commitment from each party. While participants devote time and intellect to the learning experience, sponsoring organizations agree to relieve individuals of their work responsibilities during the program.

Language Proficiency

We deliberately design our programs to encourage individual growth and to foster productive interaction among participants. For that reason, proficiency in written and spoken English is essential. If English is your second language, or if you have less than one year's experience working in an English-speaking environment, HBS requires a brief statement documenting proficiency in English-language skills, both conversational and written. This may include a list of the English-language certification programs that you have completed; the degrees you have earned at English-speaking colleges and universities; or the results of the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) exam. The Admissions Committee also may request a telephone interview.

Application Process

Program participants must be nominated and sponsored by their current employer. HBS must receive your application and all required documents in order to prepare the application for review by the Admissions Committee.

To apply, you may use our online form or download an application. You also may request a brochure by mail.

If you submit your application online, we will promptly acknowledge receipt of your submission via email. In the unlikely event that an email acknowledgment is not received, please contact the Admissions Committee by email: exed_admissions@hbs.edu, phone: +1-617-495-6226, or fax: +1-617-496-1731.

If you choose to submit a printed application, be sure to type or print legibly and sign your application. Send the application to the address or fax number listed on the form. Mailed or faxed applications are processed and acknowledged promptly upon receipt via email.

Complete Your Application

Please answer all questions thoroughly—the Admissions Committee will only consider completed applications. After reviewing your application and making the necessary edits or corrections, print or copy the application for your records.

Meet the Deadlines

We request applications at least four weeks in advance of the program start date. Early application does not guarantee admission. Programs often fill to capacity, so early application is recommended.

Notification of Acceptance

We acknowledge receipt of all applications and maintain all application information in strict confidentiality.

To optimize the learning experience and maximize the exchange of ideas, the Admissions Committee selects a class that balances each participant's experience, the scope of his or her current responsibilities, and the type of organization.

The Admissions Committee begins reviewing applications four months before the start date, and qualified candidates are admitted on a rolling, space-available basis. Once the review process has begun, applicants are notified within three weeks via email regarding Admissions Committee decisions. If your application is received within three weeks of the program's start date, the Admissions Committee will notify you of their decision as soon as possible.

Need help?

For further assistance, contact our client service specialists at: 1-800-427-5577 (outside the U.S., dial +1-617-495-6555).