Actively Learning Leadership in Executive Program
Exercising Leadership is Alive and Well in the Classroom

Participants expecting to sit back and be taught all they needed to know in order to become better leaders were certainly in for a surprise last April. Instead of sinking into their seats and soaking in the knowledge of their Kennedy School instructors, participants in the Leadership for the 21st Century executive program actually took part in their own live case study during this intensive five-day course last spring. Before converging on Cambridge, each of these 33 participants from the government, nonprofit, and for-profit sectors had submitted a one- to two-page write-up about their greatest current leadership challenge. They knew they had something to learn. But it was only as they were leaving campus that they discovered how much they had learned from one another about how to lead their own organizations.

A CEO from a veterinary hospital in Scotland, a chief of staff to a New York City commissioner focusing on social issues, and a former head of a research institute at a prominent West Coast university were just three of the participants taking part in this innovative program, which began in 1996. While they may have arrived with copies of Leadership on the Line: Staying Alive Through the Dangers of Leading by Marty Linsky IOP 1973, faculty chair of the program, and Ronald Heifetz MPA 1983 tucked safely under their arms, undoubtedly, they couldn’t have known how the week would unfold.

Taking part in a live case study can be a real learning experience, says Linsky, who insists that the experience can teach about the ‘perspirational’ aspects of leadership.

By focusing on the dynamics of the class, questioning their own role as students versus the role of faculty members, and challenging one another’s most basic perceptions of leadership, participants experienced right there in class “getting on the balcony” (which requires removing yourself temporarily from the situation to get a clearer view of reality and some perspective on the bigger picture), “thinking politically” (about dealing with your allies, your opposition, and those who are uncommitted but wary), and “orchestrating the conflict” (by creating a holding environment and adjusting the heat created by tackling tough issues).

During their time in lecture halls and in smaller groups, participants grappled in real time with some of the most difficult aspects of effective leadership, including creating and claiming value, understanding the relationship between leadership and power, exercising influence, and managing individual and institutional dynamics that accompany and impede learning and change.

“Analyzing a leadership challenge of a peer is a challenge in and of itself, for both the case presenter and the participants who are consulting. The real value of the consultation often comes from diagnostic breakthroughs, helping the presenter see the situation in a fundamentally different way than the way it was presented to the group,” says Linsky.

According to Linsky, this program, which runs each spring and autumn, focuses on four main concepts. These concepts include providing participants with the language and ideas to take on their leadership challenges, awakening participants to looking at what they do in a new way, exposing them to different ways of thinking about leadership, and arming them with practical and tactical ideas. Ultimately, Linsky hopes that participants leave the Kennedy School feeling inspired to take on challenges in the future, armed with the new lenses that they learned — and earned — in this program.

Ask Hannah Riley Bowles
Why take out time for an executive program?

Hannah Riley Bowles MPP 1994, assistant professor of public policy, teaches and has conducted case research on leadership in crisis and complex multi-party conflict. Her interest is in how people negotiate for resources and opportunities to advance into leadership positions and when gender differences tend to arise in negotiation expectations and performance.

Bowles is faculty director of Women and Power, the Kennedy School’s executive program for women leaders from public, private, and nonprofit sectors. The recipient of the Kennedy School’s 2003 Manuel Carballo Award for Excellence in Teaching, she also teaches in Leadership for the 21st Century and Senior Managers in Government, among other executive programs.

How is teaching executive program participants different from teaching regular master’s students?
The biggest difference I’ve noticed is that executive program participants are currently engaged in their work environment, so they have specific problems that they’re dealing with. They’re trying to mine what the faculty has to say for tidbits, tools, and insights that can help them deal with the particular problems that they’re facing at the moment.

Why are executive programs relevant to those working in public service?
Participants are generally working really hard all the time, trying to “do.” While they’re doing, doing, doing, these professionals rarely have the luxury of just sitting back and trying to take on the big picture.

We give participants new lenses so they can see what they do on a daily basis in a slightly different way. Hopefully, by adopting these new lenses, participants can gain new insights and strategies for how to tackle familiar problems.

Custom Programs

The Kennedy School offers both Cambridge-based and portable executive programs tailored to clients in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. Designed to meet the needs of the individual organization, programs can involve one session on a particular topic or a series of sessions covering multiple topics. For example, new leadership in a cabinet department engaged in planning for strategic change looked to the Kennedy School to customize a program to meet its needs. Taught by Kennedy School faculty and lecturers, executive programs focus on improving real-world skills for senior executives.

Some examples of current and past clients within the U.S. government include the White House, the Central Intelligence Agency, and the Departments of Defense, Transportation, and Education. Foreign governments include China, Mexico, Northern Ireland, Russia, South Africa, and United Arab Emirates.

Some for- and non-profit organizations include General Electric, the World Bank, the American Red Cross, the International Women’s Forum, the Inter-American Development Bank, and United Way.

For information about custom program development, call 617-496-0484; fax 617-495-3090; e-mail ksg_execed@harvard.edu; or visit the Web site www.execprog.org.