Your Course of Study
Focused on leadership, change, and innovation, the PLD curriculum is built around four educational modules—two distance-learning and two on-campus sessions—plus a fifth optional module.
The first module builds on foundational business skills; the second presents a cross-functional business approach; the third hones strategic skills through a business simulation; and the fourth sets the stage for leading innovation and change. Module 5—an optional two-week session—further accelerates your leadership skills development and provides a path for earning HBS alumni status. Completion of each module is required in order to advance to the next module of the program.
Two important components of PLD begin in Module 1 and continue throughout the program, both facilitating the personal and professional transformation that sets PLD apart.
- Personal Case: You bring your PLD lessons to life through a personal case, which enables you to address a challenge in your organization through an in-depth strategy and implementation plan. In Module 1, you identify the topic and begin to scope the challenge, and then build your strategy during the following modules. At every stage, you draw on the members of your living group for the insight and feedback essential to formulating an effective strategy.
- Coaching: The PLD coaching program helps you apply the knowledge you have acquired to your specific professional situation. A professional coach who is assigned to each living group provides one-on-one sessions and facilitated team meetings that help you develop your personal leadership style. These sessions provide the opportunity to process personal feedback, seek advice on improving leadership skills, and customize an action plan for personal and professional development.
Module 1: Foundational Skill Building
Format: Off-Campus Learning
Duration: 10 Weeks
Distance-Learning Courses – Given their diverse educational and professional concentrations, participants will have varying degrees of experience and proficiency in fundamental areas such as accounting, finance, and quantitative methods. To establish a common level of understanding and to maximize your learning experience, you must finish the required coursework—including proficiency exams—before arriving on campus for Module 2.
Leadership Skills Assessment – You will begin to determine your goals for the program through an assessment of your personal leadership and management competencies.
Faculty-Led Webinars - HBS faculty will lead interactive case discussions on selected PLD topics. You'll have a chance to meet other participants online within the context of the discussion.
Module 2: Cross-Functional Business Approach
Format: On-Campus Learning at HBS
Duration: 2 Weeks
Through an in-depth examination of key functional areas, you will examine the latest business techniques and technologies. You also will explore new ways to manage in down cycles as your company faces increasing budget reductions, shrinking markets, intensifying competition, more price-sensitive customers, and fewer resources. Functional areas examined include:
Strategy – Functional and business-unit strategy formulation; strategy implementation; alignment of strategy and control systems; and growth strategies.
Marketing – Product management; marketing strategy; market segmentation; product positioning; pricing; market analysis and planning; branding; customer acquisition and retention; and employee, shareholder, and customer satisfaction for profit and growth.
Finance and Accounting – Financial accounting; financial statements; accounting choices and financial reporting policies; financial analysis; budgeting; forecasting; control systems; and profitability analysis.
Operations – Internal processes; technology and operations strategies; product and market capabilities; operations improvements; coordination/supply chain management; new product/process creation and analysis; and human resource capacities.
Module 3: Strategy Formulation and Implementation
Format: Off-Campus Learning
Duration: 14 Weeks
You will engage in synchronous and asynchronous online exercises, group work, and individual study designed to improve your strategic skills and drive cross-functional collaboration. These include:
Strategy Project – You will formulate a detailed strategy statement and implementation plan for your organizational unit. Drawing from the foundational skills and cross-functional business knowledge you acquired in the previous modules, you will make organizational decisions and apply management techniques and technologies that will drive optimal results.
Business Simulation Exercise – Assigned to management teams in companies competing in the same industry, you and your peers will each assume the role of a senior executive in charge of a primary business function. Working together through a dedicated portal, virtual meeting rooms, and teleconferencing, you will analyze the competitive landscape, and then formulate and implement strategies for your respective companies. As you strive to achieve competitive advantage, you will make decisions about raising capital, entering or exiting product categories, manufacturing and distribution, and marketing and sales strategy. Through online debriefings with program faculty during the simulation exercise, you will evaluate company performance, assess teamwork effectiveness, and reinforce the results-oriented learning.
Introduction to Change Management – Through video case studies, multimedia faculty presentations, and hands-on exercises, you will explore the elements of leading change—interfunctional relationships; internal communication networks; incremental and discontinuous organizational change; organizational ambidexterity; and strategic experimentation and learning. You also will be presented with a framework for implementing the results of the company-specific strategy exercise.
Customized Leadership Learning Path Assessment – PLD provides you with an enlightened perspective through 360-degree feedback from your program sponsor, managers, and coworkers on your skills, leadership competency, and performance. The results not only will help you develop goals for strengthening your individual leadership capacity, but also will serve as the basis for personal coaching activities in Module 4 and for a personalized set of leadership resources and tools.
Faculty-Led Webinars - HBS faculty will lead interactive case discussions on selected PLD topics. There will also be some opportunity to get insights on your personal case study/strategy project.
Module 4: Leading Change
Format: On-Campus Learning at HBS
Duration: 2 Weeks
With an integrated organizational perspective established, you and your peers will be ready to learn how to drive real results for your organization. Focused on change and innovation, you will learn how successful executives move their company from market player to market leader. You will explore:
Change Management – Performance and opportunity gaps; organizational alignment and design skills; organizational culture; and links between innovation and organizational evolution.
Innovation Best Practices – Common language for company-wide collaboration; experimentation and learning; enablement of an entrepreneurial mindset; opportunity identification; balance between core businesses and innovations; and new-growth businesses.
Leadership and Execution – Decision-making processes; negotiation strategies; teamwork and group effectiveness; management versus leadership; conflict leadership; risk management; and adaptation of leadership styles.
Format: On-Campus Learning at HBS
Duration: 2 Weeks
This two-week session brings all the elements of your PLD learning together in an intensive exploration of what it means to be a leader, your responsibilities as a leader, and how to lead effectively at each stage of your professional development. Through the completion of this module, you will earn HBS alumni status. (You also can earn alumni status by completing 10 days/two credit weeks of open-enrollment or custom programs.)
You will acquire a deeper understanding of how exceptional leaders influence their companies as well as the people around them. Key elements of this module include:
Authentic Leadership – The leadership journey; experiences and passions that inform your leadership; self-awareness; values, ethics, and standards; life balance; and leadership through purpose.
Leadership in Action – Common leadership styles; leadership through example; empowerment of team members; challenges to leadership; effective use of power; selection of the right tools, strategies, and methods.
Leadership Development – Leadership exercises; reassessment of your personal leadership goals and action plan.
"PLD was an important life experience—I only wish I had done it 10 years earlier. The cases were highly effective in demonstrating principles, and the fourth module really opened my eyes to the essence of leadership. I found the self-reflections insightful and the positive feedback powerful, something that I will definitely carry forward in my teams."
Adam Cox [Commercial Executive], MBD Credit Solutions (Pty) Ltd., South Africa
"In this intellectually stimulating program, I acquired concepts and practical tools I can use to expand my contribution to the company. But more than that, I gained a deeper understanding of myself as well as the confidence to be the best leader I can be."
Tracey Paterson [General Manager, HR], Ravensdown, New Zealand