Strategic IQ

Creating Smarter Corporations

Bolster your company's ability to anticipate and adapt to an ever-changing competitive environment. In this multifaceted, dynamic program, you will explore interrelated concepts and practices that are essential for responding to new realities quickly and effectively.

What You Can Expect

You will learn to inspire and lead change—and equip your company with the agility to transform itself—by examining and cultivating the critical relationship among strategy, structure, and people.

Your Course of Study

Through lectures, case studies, small group discussions, and individual exercises, you will enhance your ability to keep pace with rapid change and capitalize on new opportunities.

Who Is Right for the Program

This leadership development program is designed for CEOs, COOs, CFOs, group vice presidents, HR directors, and other senior executives who are in a position to influence the company's strategic direction and organizational structure.

What You Can Expect

Enhancing your Company's Long-Term Performance

More than ever before, it is clear that today's companies must have the capacity to adjust quickly to new developments. This has become more obvious since the start of the recent financial crisis, but in reality it exists in all economic climates. In good times and bad, companies of all types, and in every industry, fail to respond to early signals that the landscape is changing and a new approach is needed.

In this program, you will explore the many ways in which your company can anticipate change and adapt successfully to changing markets, shifting technologies, and evolving business climates. You will examine the role of strategy, structure, and individual and collective mindsets in your organization's capacity to become and remain nimble, and you will learn how your company can shape the competitive environment.

Taking your Skills to the Next Level

Confronted by change, today's businesses need executives who are able to build and execute versatile strategies, create flexible organizational structures, and challenge traditional ways of thinking. In this program, you will improve your ability to:

Your Course of Study

In this program, you will explore the fundamental conditions that prevent strategic change and identify ways to address them.

The course structure consists of:

You will develop skills in diagnosing your organization's responsiveness to change by studying the experiences of thriving companies in a number of sectors and the factors that drove their success. You will learn about once-prosperous companies that failed by rigidly adhering to inflexible strategies and structures, and troubled companies that learned from their mistakes, continued to evolve, and ultimately surpassed their rivals. Drawn from a wide range of industries, these case studies offer fresh perspectives on anticipating change, adapting to new realities, and thriving in the long term.

The program is composed of three complementary modules that present the essential elements for strategic change:

Smart Strategy—Overcoming Strategic Inertia

How can your company develop strategies that enhance its responsiveness to a fast-changing environment? You will explore the roles of explicit and shared models of past success, shared visions of the future, option generation, creativity, and choice, as well as the importance of strategic scorecards, constructive paranoia, and action-based learning.

Agile Structure—Designing Flexible Structures

Can you build capacity for change directly into the core of your organization? You will examine both formal and informal organizational structures, identifying levers for transforming traditional enterprises into more nimble companies. You will learn how to fundamentally alter the way business is done by applying Self-Organizing, Edge-Oriented Structures.

Smart Minds—Developing Human Capacity for Change and Learning

An organization's ability to change is ultimately limited by the capacity and willingness of its people to change. In this session, you will participate in group and individual exercises that will not only enhance your creativity, but also show you how natural ingenuity can be expanded and harnessed to strategic goals and nurtured throughout the firm.

Who Is Right for the Program

Strategic IQ is an advanced course on strategy and change designed for top executives from any company, industry, or country who significantly influence the firm's strategic direction, organizational design, or human capital development. Participants may include, but are not limited to:

When several executives from one company attend, they can address the company's challenges as a team. Leveraging a shared understanding of the factors that drive strategic IQ, they will be able to put the program's methods to work immediately upon their return.

Meet the Program Faculty

Like all Harvard Business School Executive Education programs, Strategic Agility 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-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. For more detailed biographies, click on each faculty name.

David J. Collis, Thomas Henry Carroll Ford Foundation Adjunct Professor of Business Administration. Member of the Strategy Unit; and faculty cochair of "Corporate Level Strategy."

Mikołaj Jan Piskorski, Associate Professor of Business Administration and Richard Hodgson Fellow. Member of the Strategy Unit.

John R. Wells, Professor of Management Practice. Member of the Strategy Unit; and faculty chair of "Strategic IQ: Creating Smarter Corporations."

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.

Team Attendance

This program is appropriate for individuals as well as teams of executives from the same organization. When colleagues attend a program together, the organization benefits from their shared knowledge and common vision. This, in turn, enables participants to enhance their ability to pursue business goals as a team, effect critical transformations, and transfer knowledge. HBS client service specialists are available to advise on optimal team composition. The application for each team member must be received before the team's materials are reviewed by the Admissions Committee.

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.

The application for each team member must be received before the team's materials are reviewed by the Admissions Committee.

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).