Leadership Best Practices
When evaluating how world-class companies pull ahead of the competition in challenging business conditions, experts consistently pinpoint one differentiating factor: strong leadership. In response, Harvard Business School (HBS) offers Leadership Best Practices—an Executive Education program that provides new strategies for enhancing best leadership practices. From innovative tools and tactics to groundbreaking research and findings, you will discover new ways to implement these effective strategies and position your company for future success.
What You Can Expect
Through dynamic lectures, case studies, and small group interactions, you will be immersed in a transformational experience. By rethinking your approach to management, leadership, and leadership development, you will strengthen your individual capabilities.
Your Course of Study
In five stimulating modules, HBS faculty present landmark research on leveraging leadership for competitive advantage. You will explore how to deliver superior value, link strategies with operations, create a sense of urgency, engage in moral leadership, and sustain organizational performance.
Who Is Right for the Program
Created for executives with significant corporate management responsibilities, this leadership development program is targeted to 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.
| Fee: | $10,500 |
View other leadership programs
The program fee covers tuition, books, case materials, accommodations, and most meals.
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.
What You Can Expect
Incorporating a powerful mix of lectures, case studies, class discussions, small group interactions, and informal gatherings, the program provides an important opportunity for you to:
- Gain early access to groundbreaking research on leadership
- Examine and compare leadership best practices across a range of complex organizations
- Build relationships with other industry leaders to foster ongoing peer collaboration, learning, and support
- Strengthen your individual capabilities and strategically advance your organization by rethinking your approach to management, leadership, and leadership development
- Find ways to translate research theory into practical application
- Develop an action plan with innovative concepts and best practices that yields measurable results and sustained impact in your workplace
How Will My Organization Benefit?
Executive Education programs at Harvard Business School are a significant investment for both you and your organization. Going far beyond the basic transmission of skills and theories, each leadership development program provides applicable lessons in the classroom that can be implemented successfully within your organization. You will acquire a fresh perspective on global business from our groundbreaking curriculum, world-renowned faculty, and an accomplished group of elite peers from around the world.
"This intellectually challenging and invigorating program is an excellent opportunity to benchmark your leadership skills and style, as you gain exposure to high-level thinking and best practices from one of the world's leading executive education providers. I have applied the lessons learned to improve our partnership selection, elevate our thinking with regard to strategy and direction, and lead change within our large organization."
Stephen Gillespie [Partner], Allen & Overy LLP
Your Course of Study
Business Leadership: Shaping Industries & Individuals
Nitin Nohria is the Richard P. Chapman Professor of Business Administration at HBS and Cochair of the HBS Leadership Initiative. Nohria is the author of more than 10 books and over 100 articles and cases; his work centers on leadership and sustainable corporate performance. His most recent book (with Anthony Mayo and Mark Rennella), Entrepreneurs, Managers, and Leaders: What the Airline Industry Can Teach Us About Leadership, seeks to paint a fuller picture of the interdependent relationship between the actions of leaders, the context of their times, and the evolution of an industry. In this session, Nohria will explore the role that business leaders play in shaping industries and how the evolving context of industries shapes leaders in turn. This co-evolutionary process of leadership and industry development is particularly relevant for today's rapidly changing global marketplace: it is critical to understanding the types of leaders and the nature of leadership required for success.
The Coming of the SuperCorp: How Vanguard Companies Create Innovation, Profits, Growth, and Social Good
At a time of global financial crisis and public mistrust of business, the companies that will endure and thrive will find profitable growth by tapping the power of social purpose. In this presentation, Rosabeth Moss Kanter, the Ernest L. Arbuckle Professor of Business Administration at HBS, will provide examples and frameworks from a study of "vanguard companies" from every continent that are leading the way, based on 250 interviews in 20 countries, including IBM, Procter & Gamble, Digitas andPublicis Groupe, Banco Real in Brazil, and others. The implications for innovation, market entry, successful mergers and acquisitions, attracting and motivating the best talent, government connections, and community betterment will be highlighted. Leadership skills will also be discussed, including how leaders can use new technology tools such as social networking to facilitate effective action.
High Performance Organization
Eric Van den Steen, author of "Culture Clash: The Costs and Benefits of Homogeneity" and "Organizational Beliefs and Managerial Vision," will lead a discussion on organizational alignment with a particular focus on the role of culture and the important role that leaders have in shaping culture. Topics include:
- Aligning culture and other organizational design factors
- Culture's different dimensions and how they affect performance
- How leaders can affect and shape culture
Leading in Turbulent Times—Past, Present, and Future
In this session, Niall Ferguson, Laurence A. Tisch Professor of History at Harvard University and William Ziegler Professor of Business Administration at HBS, will offer a historian's perspective on globalization and on the current financial crisis. Drawing upon insights from his bestselling book, The Ascent of Money, and his inquisitive and interactive style, Ferguson will challenge you to consider the benefits of a long-term financial perspective. He will also offer fresh insights into the shifting economic balance of power from west to east.
The Ownership Quotient: Putting the Service-Profit Chain to Work for Unbeatable Competitive Advantage
W. Earl Sasser, author or coauthor of numerous books and Harvard Business Review articles, including "Putting the Service-Profit Chain to Work," explores how world-class companies deliver superior value by consistently delighting their customers, employees, and shareholders. Topics include:
- The ownership opportunity
- Building ownership into your business strategy
- Increasing your customer ownership quotient (OQ) by putting customers to work
- Boosting your employee OQ
- Shaping an ownership culture
Strategic Negotiations
Guhan Subramanian is the Joseph Flom Professor of Law and Business at the Harvard Law School and the H. Douglas Weaver Professor of Business Law at HBS. He is the faculty chair for the JD/MBA program at Harvard University and the faculty director for the Corporate Dealmaking project at the Harvard Law School Program on Negotiation. His research explores topics in negotiations, corporate dealmaking, and corporate governance. He is the author of the forthcoming book Negotiauctions: New Dealmaking Strategies for a Competitive Marketplace, and the related article in the Harvard Business Review, "Negotiate or Auction? Finding the Right Way to Your Deal." Examining case studies as diverse as buying a house, haggling over the rights to the television show Frasier, and selling "toxic" assets into the U.S. government's bailout fund, this session will offer participants a practical and accessible guide to negotiating deals in today's increasingly competitive marketplace.
A Sense of Urgency
In his most recent work, A Sense of Urgency, 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. During this session, Kotter will walk through his fundamental eight-step framework for successful organizational change. He also will explore how to distinguish between constructive true urgency and destructive false urgency, and how to develop strategies for creating the right kind of urgency within your organization.
"Attending Leadership Best Practices at HBS was the fulfillment of a long-held ambition, and the impact has been profound. This program challenged my self-perceptions as a leader in a global corporation, delivered a broader perspective by pulling me out of my comfort zone, and prompted me to explore the challenges of leadership at a deeper level."
David Robertson [Sector Leader], IBM, Australia
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 operating officer
- Chief administrative officer
- Senior vice president
- General manager
- Senior human resources officer
- Divisional director or leader
Visit the admissions section for details about our application process.
Past Participants Represented:
| Industries | Nationalities | ||||
| 5% | Chem/Pharm/Bio | 6% | Africa | ||
| 3% | Communications | 8% | Asia | ||
| 5% | Consumer Products | 6% | Australia/NZ | ||
| 18% | Financial | 30% | Europe | ||
| 5% | High Technology | 2% | Latin America | ||
| 7% | Manufacturing | 2% | Middle East | ||
| 12% | Nonprofit | 43% | North America | ||
| 2% | Other | 3% | Other | ||
| 9% | Other Services | ||||
| 16% | Professional Services | ||||
| 6% | Raw Materials/Energy | ||||
| 2% | Real Estate/Construction | ||||
| 4% | Retail Services | ||||
| 6% | Utilities/Telecommunications | ||||
Participating Companies Have Included:
|
Allied Irish Banks, plc |
Oracle Corporation |
"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
Meet the Program Faculty
Like all Harvard Business School Executive Education programs, Leadership for Senior Executives is developed and taught by a core faculty of HBS professors. Our faculty members are widely recognized for being 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.
Niall Ferguson, William Ziegler Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School. Laurence A. Tisch Professor of History, Harvard University. Member of the Business, Government and the International Economy Unit; and faculty chair of "The Global Economy: Historical Perspectives and Future Opportunities."
Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Ernest L. Arbuckle Professor of Business Administration. Member of the General Management Unit.
John P. Kotter, Konosuke Matsushita Professor of Leadership, Emeritus.
Nitin Nohria, Richard P. Chapman Professor of Business Administration. Faculty cochair of the HBS Leadership Initiative; member of the Organizational Behavior Unit; and faculty chair of "Building a Global Enterprise in India."
W. Earl Sasser, Baker Foundation Professor. Member of the Entrepreneurial Management Unit; faculty chair of "Leadership Best Practices," and the original architect of the "Program for Leadership Development."
Guhan Subramanian, H. Douglas Weaver Professor of Business Law, Harvard Business School, and Joseph Flom Professor of Law and Business, Harvard Law School. Member of the Negotiation, Organizations, and Markets Unit; faculty chair of "Managing Negotiators and the Deal Process" and "Changing the Game: Negotiation and Competitive Decision Making – Europe."
Eric J. Van den Steen, Assistant Professor of Business Administration. Member of the Strategy Unit.
"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