While today's companies are making a concerted effort to grow leaders from within, many are missing a crucial opportunity by not fully utilizing the talents of executive women. In this women’s leadership program, you will join an exceptional group of seasoned women to take your management and leadership skills to the next level. As you explore emerging research and best practices, share experiences and insights, and try out new ideas in a supportive environment, you'll prepare to contribute more fully to your organization's ongoing success.

Summary: While today's companies are making a concerted effort to grow leaders from within, many are missing a crucial opportunity by not fully utilizing the talents of executive women. In this women’s leadership program, you will join an exceptional group of seasoned women to take your management and leadership skills to the next level. As you explore emerging research and best practices, share experiences and insights, and try out new ideas in a supportive environment, you'll prepare to contribute more fully to your organization's ongoing success.

Key Benefits

This program will help you lead with lasting impact and build strategic advantage for your company. You will emerge reenergized about your career and empowered with a realistic agenda for change in your company—and in your own approach to leadership.

DetailsExpand All Collapse All

Help your organization achieve key business goals Help your organization achieve key business goals

Adapt your business to current conditions and build strategic advantage
Expand your organization's ability to innovate and capture new opportunities
Negotiate skillfully inside and outside your company

Become a more effective leader Become a more effective leader

Address personal blind spots
Work more effectively with a diverse range of colleagues
Make decisions with greater confidence

Enhance your organization's culture and leadership capacity Enhance your organization's culture and leadership capacity

Develop talent and leadership qualities in others
Create an internal culture that thrives on diversity and change
Foster ethical decision making throughout the organization

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 across the globe
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 key business goals

Adapt your business to current conditions and build strategic advantage
Expand your organization's ability to innovate and capture new opportunities
Negotiate skillfully inside and outside your company

Become a more effective leader

Address personal blind spots
Work more effectively with a diverse range of colleagues
Make decisions with greater confidence

Enhance your organization's culture and leadership capacity

Develop talent and leadership qualities in others
Create an internal culture that thrives on diversity and change
Foster ethical decision making throughout the organization

Expand your personal and professional network

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

Who Should Attend

This women's leadership development program is designed for women in senior leadership positions in public and private companies and nonprofit organizations, including senior executives, business owners and entrepreneurs, business unit leaders, and other senior businesswomen.

Participating Companies Have Included:

Accenture

Adidas

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

CEMEX Mexico

CooperVision

Moody's Analytics

Pepsi

Pricewaterhouse Coopers

Rabobank

SAP

The World Bank Group

Dive Deeper into the Experience

We Celebrate New Ways of Thinking. Are You Ready?

Thrive in a learning environment that welcomes diverse ideas and perspectives.

Experience the Case Method in the Classroom

Watch participants debate the issues and present their viewpoints.

Discover more about business. And yourself.

Global perspectives > Leadership growth > Organizational impact.

Who Should Attend: This women's leadership development program is designed for women in senior leadership positions in public and private companies and nonprofit organizations, including senior executives, business owners and entrepreneurs, business unit leaders, and other senior businesswomen.

Participating Companies Have Included:

Accenture

Adidas

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

CEMEX Mexico

CooperVision

Moody's Analytics

Pepsi

Pricewaterhouse Coopers

Rabobank

SAP

The World Bank Group

Dive Deeper into the Experience

We Celebrate New Ways of Thinking. Are You Ready?

Thrive in a learning environment that welcomes diverse ideas and perspectives.

Learn More

Learn More

Experience the Case Method in the Classroom

Watch participants debate the issues and present their viewpoints.

Learn More

Learn More

Discover more about business. And yourself.

Global perspectives > Leadership growth > Organizational impact.

Learn More

Learn More

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.

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.

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.

Admissions Criteria and Process

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. No payment is necessary until you have been accepted. Payment is required prior to the program start date. 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. 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.

What You Will Learn

Learning alongside other accomplished senior businesswomen from around the world, you will engage in a rich learning experience that includes faculty presentations, case studies, small-group exercises, self-assessments, and personal coaching. The program features the latest research on leadership, gender in the workplace, and emerging best practices that are helping today's most successful companies outperform the competition. As you learn how other successful women have overcome challenges in their industries, their companies, and their personal interactions, you will expand your repertoire of leadership strategies.

Each day, you will meet with a "board of advisers"—a small group facilitated by a professional coach. These intimate meetings will help you identify your strengths and weaknesses, articulate and overcome personal leadership challenges, and develop your personal action plan focused on your leadership approach. Your action plan will then help you apply your learning and continue developing as a leader long after the program.

What You Will Learn

Key AreasExpand All Collapse All

Leadership Leadership

Aligning your leadership strategy and style with your own personal values and self-image

Innovation Innovation

Identifying opportunities for new or enhanced products, services, and business models, while supporting entrepreneurial initiatives

Negotiation Negotiation

Capturing maximum value through skillful and effective negotiation

Service management Service management

Enhancing service and differentiating on service excellence

Change Change

Leading organizational change and creating an environment that inspires and sustains results-focused change

Values Values

Implementing ethical negotiation and decision-making strategies across all levels of the organization

Key Areas

Leadership

Aligning your leadership strategy and style with your own personal values and self-image

Innovation

Identifying opportunities for new or enhanced products, services, and business models, while supporting entrepreneurial initiatives

Negotiation

Capturing maximum value through skillful and effective negotiation

Service management

Enhancing service and differentiating on service excellence

Change

Leading organizational change and creating an environment that inspires and sustains results-focused change

Values

Implementing ethical negotiation and decision-making strategies across all levels of the organization

Faculty

Our Executive Education programs are developed and taught by HBS 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

Janice H. Hammond

Jesse Philips Professor of Manufacturing. Senior Associate Dean for Culture and Community. Member of the Technology and Operations Management Unit; and faculty chair of "The Women's Leadership Forum."

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Faculty

Iris Bohnet

Professor of Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School

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Thomas J. DeLong

Senior Fellow and former Philip J. Stomberg Professor of Management Practice. Member of the Organizational Behavior Unit; course head for the required MBA course on Leadership and Organizational Behavior; faculty cochair of "Leading Professional Service Firms" and "Authentic Leader Development."

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Anita Elberse

Lincoln Filene Professor of Business Administration. Member of the Marketing Unit; and faculty chair of "The Business of Entertainment, Media, and Sports."

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Francesca Gino

Tandon Family Professor of Business Administration. Unit Head, Negotiation, Organizations & Markets; and faculty cochair of "Behavioral Economics: Understanding and Shaping Customer and Employee Behavior" and "Driving Profitable Growth."

Read Full Bio

Tsedal Neeley

Professor of Business Administration. Member of the Organizational Behavior Unit.

Read Full Bio

Leslie A. Perlow

Senior Associate Dean for Research. Konosuke Matsushita Professor of Leadership. Member of the Organizational Behavior Unit.

Read Full Bio

Faculty: Our Executive Education programs are developed and taught by HBS 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

Janice H. Hammond

Jesse Philips Professor of Manufacturing. Senior Associate Dean for Culture and Community. Member of the Technology and Operations Management Unit; and faculty chair of "The Women's Leadership Forum."

Read Full Bio

Faculty

Iris Bohnet

Professor of Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School

Read Full Bio

Thomas J. DeLong

Senior Fellow and former Philip J. Stomberg Professor of Management Practice. Member of the Organizational Behavior Unit; course head for the required MBA course on Leadership and Organizational Behavior; faculty cochair of "Leading Professional Service Firms" and "Authentic Leader Development."

Read Full Bio

Anita Elberse

Lincoln Filene Professor of Business Administration. Member of the Marketing Unit; and faculty chair of "The Business of Entertainment, Media, and Sports."

Read Full Bio

Francesca Gino

Tandon Family Professor of Business Administration. Unit Head, Negotiation, Organizations & Markets; and faculty cochair of "Behavioral Economics: Understanding and Shaping Customer and Employee Behavior" and "Driving Profitable Growth."

Read Full Bio

Tsedal Neeley

Professor of Business Administration. Member of the Organizational Behavior Unit.

Read Full Bio

Leslie A. Perlow

Senior Associate Dean for Research. Konosuke Matsushita Professor of Leadership. Member of the Organizational Behavior Unit.

Read Full Bio