Advance Your Leadership Capabilities

Who typically attends the Program for Leadership Development?

PLD participants are roughly 10 to 12 years into their careers. On average, they are in their late 30s. They have good jobs and significant leadership potential with a long career ahead of them. They may be individual contributors moving into management or functional managers moving up in the organization. They're usually well versed in a particular business function, such as R&D or sales, or they're running a department. They have learned a great deal on the job. But to succeed in new roles, they need to develop new skills and new ways of thinking.

How does PLD compare with an executive MBA?

With its condensed, accelerated format, PLD is often likened to a rapid-fire MBA. In fact, it's a wonderful alternative to an executive MBA. With personal coaching and individualized projects, PLD is much more tailored to each person's unique needs and leadership challenges. In addition, it offers the opportunity to exchange insights with HBS faculty and an incredible group of accomplished peers from all over the world. Participants are introduced to the latest best practices and all the fundamentals of an MBA program—marketing, accounting, strategy, negotiations, organization building, leadership and corporate accountability, and so on. Together, these elements create a unique learning experience that fuels transformation.

How is executive education at HBS different from that of other schools?

Having taught all over the world, I can confidently say that HBS is unique. First, full-time, research-oriented HBS faculty members teach in our programs. I have a faculty team that's completely dedicated to PLD. Second, each one of us is highly experienced in teaching through the case method, which was pioneered here. That shared experience helps us work extremely well as a team. Third, we have a wonderful physical environment in which participants live, work, and interact with peers and faculty. The dedicated HBS Executive Education buildings have been designed to reinforce the program objectives. For example, we assign people to eight-person living groups—with eight private rooms arranged around a common area. A great deal of learning occurs in these groups because we build in tremendous diversity and we pressure people to work together. Then they come into our amphitheater-style classrooms and share their insights with other groups. This collaborative process expands participants' global perspective and builds their ability to work effectively in teams.

And all of this is made possible by PLD's fourth unique ingredient—we attract great participants from all over the world. They learn from the faculty, but they also learn a great deal from each other.

How is the program structured?

PLD is a six-month program during which participants spend four weeks on campus. During the 10 weeks of Module 1, they work on tutorials in accounting and economics and work with faculty via several webinars. That prepares them to operate from a common foundation of vocabulary, knowledge, and skill. In Module 2, they spend two weeks living on campus and learning intensively about key business functions. They begin working in living groups and collaborating with a personal leadership coach. For Module 3, they go back to their organizations for 14 weeks, begin to apply what they've learned, work on a personal case involving a challenge in their organization, and work remotely with their team on an alumni challenge project.

For Module 4, they're back on campus for another two weeks, where they focus on actionable leadership. They deepen their knowledge of global issues, learn to identify and balance innovation opportunities, examine ways to improve leadership effectiveness, and work closely with their coach to develop a personal leadership action plan as well as work on their own personal case.

How does alternating on-campus and off-campus modules contribute to learning?

In leadership development, we talk about the importance of knowing, doing, and being. It's not enough to know about a best practice—you have to be able to do it. In PLD, participants learn intensively on campus and then immediately practice what they've learned. When they go back to the office for Module 3, they're testing many new ideas in their day-to-day work.

During Modules 3 and 4, they're also working on two long-term projects: the personal case and the alumni challenge, both of which are unique aspects of our program. Participants develop their personal case during Module 3, focusing on an opportunity gap or performance gap. They come back to campus, obtain feedback from their colleagues, and then execute the business case, so to speak, back at work. So they're learning, practicing, learning, and practicing as they internalize the lessons and make these practices their own.

For the alumni challenge, they collaborate with living group members via a dedicated portal, online meeting rooms, and teleconferencing to develop a solution to a challenge presented by one of our alumni—often a strategic issue that requires them to analyze competition and apply other aspects of their learning. When they come back to campus for Module 4, each group presents its solution and the alumni pick the winner. This project provides a great opportunity for participants to put their business acumen to the test and to practice working in global teams.

What is the purpose of Module 5?

The optional Module 5 rounds out the program, adding depth on specific topics such as negotiations, finance, and authentic leadership development. We run two sessions of PLD each year and then one session of Module 5. Anyone who has completed the first four modules is eligible to attend Module 5.

Participants who complete Module 5 become alumni of HBS, and that is valuable because alumni status connects. Executives can take advantage of the wonderful alumni base of HBS. They can connect with HBS alumni anywhere around the world—not just people in their living group or their PLD cohort, but also the community of PLD alumni and the broader HBS alumni community. That alumni base is an important asset for them and for their organizations. Alumni status also provides more opportunities for lifelong learning.

You teach innovation. Why is that subject especially important for PLD participants?

One focus of PLD is helping teams be more innovative and drive innovation throughout their organizations. We focus broadly on three key capabilities—innovation, leadership, and change management. Organizations must innovate in many different ways, from incremental change to architectural innovation to discontinuous innovation—doing something completely new. Leaders need to foster incremental innovation and at the same time open the door to new ways of addressing customer needs. My teaching includes how to come up with innovative products and services but also how to execute. I emphasize building the structures, processes, capabilities, cultures, and behaviors to drive what I call streams of innovation, from incremental to discontinuous.

How does leadership development improve the organization's ability to innovate?

Innovation is all about reinvention—the renewal of a business, a business process, an organization, or a product line. PLD is based on the notion of personal reinvention. You cannot renew your organization if you are not prepared to renew yourself. This is one of the most shocking things participants encounter during the program. They come to a striking realization: "If I keep doing what I'm doing, I may derail my own career."

When PLD participants arrive on campus for Module 2, I tell them, "Let go of the fact that you're a very important person in your organization or your country. Let go of your status and let yourself learn." They quickly realize that others are as smart and motivated as they are. Once they get over their own egos and can actually be vulnerable intellectually and emotionally, their ability to learn from this remarkable community begins to skyrocket. We push the living groups to work together—to understand that you cannot do this kind of learning by yourself. It's a real team sport. We create an environment where everyone is teaching and everyone is learning. They take that spirit back to their organizations.

What happens to these relationships after the program ends?

One of the biggest assets people take away is the set of bonds they form within the living group and within the PLD cohort. They continue to be coached by their new friends and colleagues. In addition, they can form relationships across the entire group of people who have attended the 22 sessions of PLD. We sponsor events, people connect with each other, and wonderful things happen, including work advice, coaching, and new business ventures.

I'm struck by how often the living groups or the cohort meet up regularly, both electronically and in person, and help each other throughout their careers. For example, one PLDer had an amazing opportunity to lead change in his organization but was stuck in regards to the right approach. He pulled together a few of his PLD living group colleagues electronically, got some great ideas, and went on to develop a valuable innovation. His fellow PLDers knew the background from working with him during the program, and they led this amazing intervention, nurturing him through the process.

What do you enjoy most about teaching in PLD?

Every day, I walk to campus thinking how lucky I am to have this job—to be able to conduct research and teach material I'm passionate about and to run a magnificent program with a faculty team that truly cares about the participants and their growth. When we bring together those very motivated participants with a very motivated faculty in this beautiful space at HBS, great things happen.

When participants complete the program, what do you hope they will do?

I hope they leave with much richer ways of thinking about macroeconomics, strategy, organizational execution, and other topics—but also with a much richer way of thinking about themselves as leaders. I hope to hear what they've accomplished for themselves and their organizations—how they’ve applied the tools from PLD, how they've leveraged the PLD community, how their careers have evolved, and how they have lived up to their aspirations.