Upcoming Session
(1 of 1)

Status: Accepting Applications

Dates: 03–08 DEC 2023
Format: In-Person Learning takes place on the HBS campus or a designated location.
Location: HBS Campus
Fee: $16,000

The program fee covers tuition, books, case materials, accommodations, and most meals.

Admissions Criteria and Process

Apply

Download Brochure

Program Finder

Need Help? Contact Us:

Program Advising team

Email: executive_education@hbs.edu

Apply

Download Brochure

Program Finder

Need Help? Contact Us:

Program Advising team

Email: executive_education@hbs.edu

Summary

Today's leaders are evolving their approaches to leadership and innovation in response to quantum shifts in how we work and live—shifts that have been accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic. In the midst of economic, societal, and technological disruptions, leaders must build and lead agile organizations able to collaborate, leverage digital assets, and innovate again and again.

This lab-style leadership program immerses you in every stage of the innovation process. You'll roll up your sleeves and experience first-hand what it really takes to build the culture and capabilities required to encourage collaborative problem-solving, creative thinking, rapid iteration, and learning from success and failure. You will focus on addressing one of your organization's innovation challenges—and return to work ready to foster the innovations that will drive your organization's competitive advantage and growth.

This corporate innovation program is offered in cooperation with the HBS Leadership Initiative.

This program is eligible for the Certificate of Management Excellence. Learn More

Summary

This corporate innovation program is offered in cooperation with the HBS Leadership Initiative.

This program is eligible for the Certificate of Management Excellence. Learn More

Key Benefits

Focusing on the nature of innovation and on your leadership practice, you will expand your personal effectiveness in building an organization able to execute innovative ideas at scale. As you explore the culture and capabilities needed to inspire organization-wide innovation, you will practice the behaviors and skills needed to drive innovation and change, deepening your understanding of what it takes to lead creative and collaborative teams that empower everyone to innovate.

DetailsExpand All Collapse All

Help your organization achieve ambitious goals in complex and uncertain times Help your organization achieve ambitious goals in complex and uncertain times

Improve your organization's ability to collaborate and innovate boldly and consistently
Innovate in the face of today's competitive pressures and prepare to take advantage of longer-term opportunities while meeting shorter-term objectives
Work effectively with peers and upper management to facilitate necessary change and realize the potential of pioneering ideas
Embrace your role as change agent

Bring out the best in people Bring out the best in people

Create a supportive environment that enables people to take risks, experiment, and learn from failures
Unleash the diverse talent in your organization to create "collective genius"
Manage your network of relationships with colleagues, employees, and other stakeholders to break down barriers to change

Step up to new challenges Step up to new challenges

Expand your leadership practice to encourage behaviors that drive creative thinking and a new level of collaborative learning across your team and organization
Create a culture that promotes both incremental and breakthrough change
Build agility and respond more effectively to shifting priorities
Execute innovative ideas at scale

Expand your personal and professional network Expand your personal and professional network

Extend your network by living and working with accomplished executives from various backgrounds, industries, and countries
Build relationships with a diverse group of peers who can provide wide-ranging insights into your business challenges and career decisions

Key Benefits

Details

Help your organization achieve ambitious goals in complex and uncertain times

Improve your organization's ability to collaborate and innovate boldly and consistently
Innovate in the face of today's competitive pressures and prepare to take advantage of longer-term opportunities while meeting shorter-term objectives
Work effectively with peers and upper management to facilitate necessary change and realize the potential of pioneering ideas
Embrace your role as change agent

Bring out the best in people

Create a supportive environment that enables people to take risks, experiment, and learn from failures
Unleash the diverse talent in your organization to create "collective genius"
Manage your network of relationships with colleagues, employees, and other stakeholders to break down barriers to change

Step up to new challenges

Expand your leadership practice to encourage behaviors that drive creative thinking and a new level of collaborative learning across your team and organization
Create a culture that promotes both incremental and breakthrough change
Build agility and respond more effectively to shifting priorities
Execute innovative ideas at scale

Expand your personal and professional network

Extend your network by living and working with accomplished executives from various backgrounds, industries, and countries
Build relationships with a diverse group of peers who can provide wide-ranging insights into your business challenges and career decisions

Who Should Attend

General managers who lead companies, business units, divisions, or other large-scale organizations, as well as executives with cross-functional responsibilities
Change management executives
Leaders focused on innovation, R&D, or IT, including chief innovation officers, chief technology officers, chief information officers, and chief HR executives
Leaders from corporate strategy, finance, legal, human resources, marketing, manufacturing, customer service, and sales

Individuals and teams are welcome to attend. Participation by multiple company representatives will foster teamwork and amplify the program's impact on your organization.

Program for Leadership Development participants earn 5 PLDA Points on completion of this program.

Dive Deeper into the Experience

What Makes a Great Leader?

Leaders must be architect, bridger, and catalyst to drive innovation and impact.

Learn More

Global perspectives > Leadership growth > Organizational impact.

See how exchange with faculty and peers yields new insights into critical business trends.

Who Should Attend

General managers who lead companies, business units, divisions, or other large-scale organizations, as well as executives with cross-functional responsibilities
Change management executives
Leaders focused on innovation, R&D, or IT, including chief innovation officers, chief technology officers, chief information officers, and chief HR executives
Leaders from corporate strategy, finance, legal, human resources, marketing, manufacturing, customer service, and sales

Individuals and teams are welcome to attend. Participation by multiple company representatives will foster teamwork and amplify the program's impact on your organization.

Program for Leadership Development participants earn 5 PLDA Points on completion of this program.

Dive Deeper into the Experience

What Makes a Great Leader?

Leaders must be architect, bridger, and catalyst to drive innovation and impact.

Learn More

Global perspectives > Leadership growth > Organizational impact.

See how exchange with faculty and peers yields new insights into critical business trends.

Learning and Living at HBS

When you participate in an Executive Education program on the HBS campus, you enter an immersive experience where every aspect of the learning model has been carefully designed to facilitate your growth. Your learning will take place on your own, in your living group, and in the larger classroom, driven by the renowned HBS case method.

Review Our Campus Health & Safety Protocols

Learning and Living at HBS

Review Our Campus Health & Safety Protocols

Admissions Criteria and Process

We admit candidates to specific sessions on a rolling, space-available basis, and encourage you to apply as early as possible. Although most programs have no formal educational requirements, admission is a selective process based on your professional achievement and organizational responsibilities.

Answering Your Questions

Our Program Advising team can help you at any stage of the admissions process—starting with identifying the program that best addresses your learning and development goals. Contact a program advisor via email or call 1.800.427.5577 (outside the U.S., call +1.617.495.6555).

Application Submission

We recommend that you apply at least four weeks before the program start date. You may use our online form or download an application. HBS maintains all application information in strict confidentiality. We acknowledge receipt of applications via email. In the unlikely event that you do not receive an acknowledgment, please email us at exed_admissions@hbs.edu or call us at +1.617.495.6226.

Application Review

To optimize the learning experience and maximize the exchange of ideas, our Admissions Committee makes selections that balance each participant's experience, scope of current responsibilities, and type of organization. HBS seeks candidates who reflect a broad range of industries, functions, countries, and backgrounds. We review applications monthly and will contact you via email with the Admissions Committee's decision.

Fee, Payment, and Cancellations

The program fee covers tuition, books, case materials, accommodations, and most meals. You will be invoiced upon admission to the program. Invoices are due within 30 days of receipt, or upon receipt if the program start date is less than 30 days from the invoice date. If you need to cancel or defer your participation, you must submit your request in writing more than 30 days before the start of the program to receive a full refund. Cancellation or deferral requests 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.

Admissions Criteria and Process

Answering Your Questions

Application Submission

Application Review

Fee, Payment, and Cancellations

What You Will Learn

Immersing yourself in the process of exploration, experimentation, failure, and examination, you will discover new ways to surface and develop ideas, discuss them openly, evolve them, and set the stage for ongoing innovation. As you dig into the characteristics of innovative organizations, you will learn what it takes to lead the changes that transform promising ideas into reality.

Balancing Collaboration and Personal Reflection

While this innovation program emphasizes collaboration, you also will engage in guided self-reflection and a unique approach to peer-to-peer collaboration that is designed to boost your creativity and expand your innovation mindset.

Your Innovation Challenge

During the program, you will work with a team of peers, known as a "brain trust," to spark new thinking on innovation and help you evolve your ideas. You'll have the opportunity to focus on an innovation leadership challenge facing your organization, share your approach with your brain trust, and iterate your solutions with their help.

Participants should expect to spend at least 9-12 hours on self-paced case preparation prior to attending the program. Case materials will be made available approximately two weeks prior to program start.

What You Will Learn

Balancing Collaboration and Personal Reflection

Your Innovation Challenge

Key TopicsExpand All Collapse All

Understanding the realities of innovation Understanding the realities of innovation

Anaylzing the differences between execution, innovation, and change
Considering innovation broadly, not limited to products and services
Exploring how innovation can become a mandate for everyone in every function
Identifying common practices that can stifle collaboration and innovation
Understanding what contextual intelligence is and how to apply it to thrive in different environments

Developing a leadership approach that fosters innovation Developing a leadership approach that fosters innovation

Interpreting the responsibility for driving innovation
Framing the leader's role as social architect
Playing the role of change agent and advocating for change at different levels of your organization
Embracing the often-messy process of collaborative innovation
Balancing the inherent tensions and paradoxes of leading innovation
Fulfilling three key leadership imperatives—managing yourself, your team, and your network—in ways that facilitate innovation

Instilling habits that can unleash creative potential throughout your organization Instilling habits that can unleash creative potential throughout your organization

Creating more opportunities for creative collaboration
Recognizing how diversity expands the range of possibilities and elicits more and better ideas
Fostering trust and a shared sense of purpose and values
Understanding and managing creative abrasion, creative agility, and creative resolution
Institutionalizing experimentation, risk-taking, and the tolerance for failure

Creating structures that support innovation in your organization Creating structures that support innovation in your organization

Organizing spaces that support collaborative problem solving
Introducing new, innovation-specific rules of engagement
Developing an effective marketplace of new ideas
Developing processes to support the generation of breakthrough innovations while simultaneously maintaining existing business operations
Identifying and overcoming obstacles to collaboration and innovation
Evolving decision-making processes to align with the nature of innovation

Transforming innovative ideas into reality Transforming innovative ideas into reality

Analyzing and managing the implications and trade-offs of promising new ideas
Leading the changes needed to experiment with an innovative solution
Dealing with the obstacles to change
Working with different constituencies in your organization to ensure successful implementation

Key Topics

Understanding the realities of innovation

Anaylzing the differences between execution, innovation, and change
Considering innovation broadly, not limited to products and services
Exploring how innovation can become a mandate for everyone in every function
Identifying common practices that can stifle collaboration and innovation
Understanding what contextual intelligence is and how to apply it to thrive in different environments

Developing a leadership approach that fosters innovation

Interpreting the responsibility for driving innovation
Framing the leader's role as social architect
Playing the role of change agent and advocating for change at different levels of your organization
Embracing the often-messy process of collaborative innovation
Balancing the inherent tensions and paradoxes of leading innovation
Fulfilling three key leadership imperatives—managing yourself, your team, and your network—in ways that facilitate innovation

Instilling habits that can unleash creative potential throughout your organization

Creating more opportunities for creative collaboration
Recognizing how diversity expands the range of possibilities and elicits more and better ideas
Fostering trust and a shared sense of purpose and values
Understanding and managing creative abrasion, creative agility, and creative resolution
Institutionalizing experimentation, risk-taking, and the tolerance for failure

Creating structures that support innovation in your organization

Organizing spaces that support collaborative problem solving
Introducing new, innovation-specific rules of engagement
Developing an effective marketplace of new ideas
Developing processes to support the generation of breakthrough innovations while simultaneously maintaining existing business operations
Identifying and overcoming obstacles to collaboration and innovation
Evolving decision-making processes to align with the nature of innovation

Transforming innovative ideas into reality

Analyzing and managing the implications and trade-offs of promising new ideas
Leading the changes needed to experiment with an innovative solution
Dealing with the obstacles to change
Working with different constituencies in your organization to ensure successful implementation

The HBS Advantage

Our Executive Education programs are developed and taught by top faculty who are widely recognized as skilled educators, groundbreaking researchers, and award-winning authors. Through their board memberships, consulting, and field-based research, they address the complex challenges facing business leaders across the globe.

Faculty Chair

Linda A. Hill

Wallace Brett Donham Professor of Business Administration

HBS Unit:

Organizational Behavior

Read Full Bio

Faculty

Ann Le Cam

Executive Fellow, Harvard Business School

Read Full Bio

Ryan L. Raffaelli

Marvin Bower Associate Professor

HBS Unit:

Organizational Behavior

Read Full Bio

Maurizio Travaglini

Ècole des Ponts Business School:

Adjunct Professor of Leadership and Innovation

Read Full Bio

The HBS Advantage: Our Executive Education programs are developed and taught by top faculty who are widely recognized as skilled educators, groundbreaking researchers, and award-winning authors. Through their board memberships, consulting, and field-based research, they address the complex challenges facing business leaders across the globe.

Faculty Chair

Linda A. Hill

Wallace Brett Donham Professor of Business Administration

HBS Unit:

Organizational Behavior

Read Full Bio

Faculty

Ann Le Cam

Executive Fellow, Harvard Business School

Read Full Bio

Ryan L. Raffaelli

Marvin Bower Associate Professor

HBS Unit:

Organizational Behavior

Read Full Bio

Maurizio Travaglini

Ècole des Ponts Business School:

Adjunct Professor of Leadership and Innovation

Read Full Bio

Your Peers Expand Your Learning

Global Perspective

Experience the world in your classroom.

Global Perspective

Experience the world in your classroom.

Africa

18%

Asia Pacific

16%

Europe

Latin America

16%

Middle East

36%

North America

8%Africa

18%Asia Pacific

16%Europe

6%Latin America

16%Middle East

36%North America

Top Industries Represented

Insights from a range of industries ignite your thinking.

22%

Financial

High Technology

Nonprofit Services

Professional Services

Manufacturing

Communications

Education

Raw Materials / Energy

Chem / Pharma / Bio

Health Care

Top Industries Represented

Insights from a range of industries ignite your thinking.

22%

Financial

High Technology

Nonprofit Services

Professional Services

Manufacturing

Communications

Education

Raw Materials / Energy

Chem / Pharma / Bio

Health Care

Experience

Years worked

Experience

Years worked

Less than 10 yearsLess than 10 years

10-14 years10-14 years

15-19 years15-19 years

20-24 years20-24 years

25-29 years25-29 years

30-34 years30-34 years

35-39 years35-39 years

40 years or more40 years or more

Less than 10 yearsLess than 10 years

10-14 years10-14 years

15-19 years15-19 years

20-24 years20-24 years

25-29 years25-29 years

30-34 years30-34 years

35-39 years35-39 years

40 years or more40 years or more

Participating Companies Have Included:

Fidelity

Google

HEB Grocery Store

KPMG

Microsoft

Mitsubishi

NASA

Nissan

Novartis

Oracle

PwC

Swiss Federal Railways

Your Peers Expand Your Learning: Global Perspective

Experience the world in your classroom.

Global Perspective

Experience the world in your classroom.

8%

Africa

18%

Asia Pacific

16%

Europe

6%

Latin America

16%

Middle East

36%

North America

8%Africa

18%Asia Pacific

16%Europe

6%Latin America

16%Middle East

36%North America

Top Industries Represented

Insights from a range of industries ignite your thinking.

Insights from a range of industries ignite your thinking.

22%

Financial

9%

High Technology

9%

Nonprofit Services

9%

Professional Services

6%

Manufacturing

5%

Communications

5%

Education

5%

Raw Materials / Energy

5%

Chem / Pharma / Bio

5%

Health Care

Top Industries Represented

Insights from a range of industries ignite your thinking.

22%

Financial

9%

High Technology

9%

Nonprofit Services

9%

Professional Services

6%

Manufacturing

5%

Communications

5%

Education

5%

Raw Materials / Energy

5%

Chem / Pharma / Bio

5%

Health Care

Experience

Experience

Years worked

Years worked

Experience

Years worked

Less than 10 yearsLess than 10 years

10-14 years10-14 years

15-19 years15-19 years

20-24 years20-24 years

25-29 years25-29 years

30-34 years30-34 years

35-39 years35-39 years

40 years or more40 years or more

Less than 10 yearsLess than 10 years

10-14 years10-14 years

15-19 years15-19 years

20-24 years20-24 years

25-29 years25-29 years

30-34 years30-34 years

35-39 years35-39 years

40 years or more40 years or more

Participating Companies Have Included:

Fidelity

Google

HEB Grocery Store

KPMG

Microsoft

Mitsubishi

NASA

Nissan

Novartis

Oracle

PwC

Swiss Federal Railways

Apply Download Brochure

More Admissions Information

Apply

Download Brochure

Program Finder

Need Help? Contact Us:

Program Advising team

Email: executive_education@hbs.edu

Apply

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Admitted? Plan Your Stay

Insights

Admissions Requirements

Admissions Process

International Applicants

Payment, Cancellation, and Deferral

Already Admitted

Leading and Building a Culture of Innovation

"Participants learn how to unleash the creative potential in their colleagues and create a more innovative organization."

"Participants learn how to unleash the creative potential in their colleagues and create a more innovative organization."

"This program has helped me inspire my team to think and act with fresh energy and vision."

"This program has helped me inspire my team to think and act with fresh energy and vision."

Summary

Summary

DetailsExpand AllCollapse All

Help your organization achieve ambitious goals in complex and uncertain timesHelp your organization achieve ambitious goals in complex and uncertain times Dropdown down

Bring out the best in peopleBring out the best in people Dropdown down

Step up to new challengesStep up to new challenges Dropdown down

Expand your personal and professional networkExpand your personal and professional network Dropdown down

Key Benefits Dropdown up

Key Benefits Dropdown down

Help your organization achieve ambitious goals in complex and uncertain times

Bring out the best in people

Step up to new challenges

Expand your personal and professional network

Who Should Attend

Who Should Attend

Learning and Living at HBS

Learning and Living at HBS

Admissions Criteria and Process

Answering Your Questions

Application Submission

Application Review

Fee, Payment, and Cancellations

Admissions Criteria and Process Dropdown up

Admissions Criteria and Process Dropdown down

Answering Your Questions

Application Submission

Application Review

Fee, Payment, and Cancellations

What You Will Learn

Balancing Collaboration and Personal Reflection

Your Innovation Challenge

What You Will Learn

Balancing Collaboration and Personal Reflection

Your Innovation Challenge

Key TopicsExpand AllCollapse All

Understanding the realities of innovationUnderstanding the realities of innovation Dropdown down

Developing a leadership approach that fosters innovationDeveloping a leadership approach that fosters innovation Dropdown down

Instilling habits that can unleash creative potential throughout your organizationInstilling habits that can unleash creative potential throughout your organization Dropdown down

Creating structures that support innovation in your organizationCreating structures that support innovation in your organization Dropdown down

Transforming innovative ideas into realityTransforming innovative ideas into reality Dropdown down

Key Topics Dropdown up

Key Topics Dropdown down

Understanding the realities of innovation

Developing a leadership approach that fosters innovation

Instilling habits that can unleash creative potential throughout your organization

Creating structures that support innovation in your organization

Transforming innovative ideas into reality

The HBS Advantage

The HBS Advantage

Your Peers Expand Your Learning

Your Peers Expand Your Learning

"Participants learn how to unleash the creative potential in their colleagues and create a more innovative organization."

"Participants learn how to unleash the creative potential in their colleagues and create a more innovative organization."

"This program has helped me inspire my team to think and act with fresh energy and vision."

"This program has helped me inspire my team to think and act with fresh energy and vision."

DetailsExpand All Collapse All

Help your organization achieve ambitious goals in complex and uncertain times Help your organization achieve ambitious goals in complex and uncertain times

Bring out the best in people Bring out the best in people

Step up to new challenges Step up to new challenges

Expand your personal and professional network Expand your personal and professional network

Key Benefits

Key Benefits

Admissions Criteria and Process

Admissions Criteria and Process

Key TopicsExpand All Collapse All

Understanding the realities of innovation Understanding the realities of innovation

Developing a leadership approach that fosters innovation Developing a leadership approach that fosters innovation

Instilling habits that can unleash creative potential throughout your organization Instilling habits that can unleash creative potential throughout your organization

Creating structures that support innovation in your organization Creating structures that support innovation in your organization

Transforming innovative ideas into reality Transforming innovative ideas into reality

Key Topics

Key Topics