Your Course of Study
The PLD curriculum is built around four educational modules: a foundational skill-building module that you complete before arriving on campus; a two-week on-campus module that builds a cross-functional business approach; a business simulation module that allows you to formulate and implement strategies while working at your home company; and a final two-week on-campus module that offers a big-picture perspective on business and builds leadership skills.
Module 1: Foundational Skill Building
Format: Off-Campus Learning
Duration: Ten Weeks
Distance-Learning Courses – Given their different educational and professional concentrations, participants tend to 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 ensure that you maximize your learning experience and keep up with this fast-paced program, you need to work individually to finish the required coursework—including proficiency exams—in these areas before arriving on campus for Module 2. Satisfactory completion of each module is required in order to advance to the next module of the program.
Module 2: Cross-Functional Business Approach
Format: On-Campus Learning at HBS
Duration: Two Weeks
Through an in-depth, cross-functional examination, you will develop capabilities in key business functions as you gain valuable insights into the latest management techniques and technologies. In the areas of strategy, marketing, and operations, the focus is less on growth and more on operations. You 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.
The overarching framework for integrating critical business functions includes:
Strategy – 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.
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: Fourteen Weeks
You will complete strategy projects and engage in synchronous and asynchronous online exercises, group work, and individual study. On average, you should expect to commit three to six hours per week to these program assignments and activities. Satisfactory completion of each module is required in order to advance to the next module of the program. Components 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 your desired 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 the strategies for your respective companies. As you strive to achieve competitive advantage over the companies run by your peers, senior teams 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, these teams will evaluate company performance, assess teamwork effectiveness, and reinforce the results-oriented learning.
Introduction to Change Management – You will complete online learning sessions, which include video case studies, multimedia faculty presentations, and hands-on exercises. Through these tools, you are introduced to the elements of leading change—interfunctional relationships; internal communication networks; incremental and discontinuous organizational change; organizational ambidexterity; and strategic experimentation and learning. Additionally, you will be presented with a framework for implementing the results of the company-specific strategy exercise completed earlier.
Customized Leadership Learning Path Assessment – Together with your company sponsor, you will complete an assessment of individual leadership and management competencies. The assessment results are evaluated at HBS, with particular focus on strengthening individual leadership capacity. A prioritized list of areas to be addressed during the program then is developed for every manager. The assessment results are the basis for personal coaching in Module 4, as well as for a curriculum of leadership resources and tools.
Module 4: Actionable Leadership
Format: On-Campus Learning at HBS
Duration: Two Weeks
Through an integrated organizational perspective, you and your peers will analyze the individual leadership challenges you face in making decisions and your roles in driving real results throughout the company. More time is spent analyzing the stresses surrounding job security, as well as the uncertainty among direct reports and colleagues. Working with personal coaches, you will build confidence and individual capabilities that will enhance your leadership effectiveness in the workplace. The primary focus is on:
Risk Management – Importance of being entrepreneurial; challenges of balancing risk and innovation and of embedding a risk management discipline into management processes; the role of the chief risk officer; and strategies for exploiting global opportunities.
Balanced Scorecard and Strategy Map – Performance measurement and evaluation; development of a strategy map and an associated Balanced Scorecard (BSC) of metrics to communicate and implement the “Objectives–Advantage–Scope” (OAS) strategy developed in Module 3. You will present your strategy map and BSC in an interactive exercise with your living group.
Effective Decision Making and Execution – Personal leadership; teamwork; group effectiveness; compensation and incentives; leadership development; management versus leadership; and conflict leadership.
Personal Coaching – The coaching program is designed to help you transfer the learning and knowledge acquired from the course modules to your specific professional situation. During Modules 2 and 4, a personal coach is assigned to work with each participant. Through a combination of team-based action learning sessions and one-on-one coaching meetings, you will gain greater insight into your personal leadership style and approach. The coaching component also provides a forum for participants to process personal feedback, seek advice on management and leadership skills, and develop an action plan for continued personal and professional development.
Participants also learn what is required of them in other vital areas of management:
Innovation Challenges – Common language for company-wide collaboration; experimentation and learning; opportunity identification; balance between core businesses and innovations; and new-growth businesses.
Change Management – Performance and opportunity gaps; organizational alignment and design skills; organizational culture; and links between innovation and organizational evolution.
Globalization – International expansion; global strategic postures; cross-border competitiveness and local responsiveness; management roles and relationships in transnational companies; and country economic priorities and development strategies.
"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