Executive Leadership

Description

Leadership from Cornell University will set you apart from your peers. Develop new skills relevant to today’s business climate, refine the ones you already possess to advance your career, and impact the bottom line. This accelerated program can be completed in 2-3 months, allowing you to put your command of this powerful strategic leadership material to work quickly.

In this series you will get valuable hands-on experience developing an industry assessment analysis using Porter’s Five Forces model, creating a competitive analysis of your firm, applying the scenario-planning process to your industry and organization, identifying trend indicators to monitor, and outlining key success factors and core competencies specific to your industry.

As a successful executive leader, you will master the abilities taught in this certificate such as strategic thinking and scenario planning, critical evaluation of information, assessment of the environmental factors that shape a company’s actions and options, generation of new ideas for innovation in your organization, gathering feedback on your performance and the performance of your team, team leadership and team development, and using both informal and formal mathematical methods for optimizing decision making.

Executive Leadership comprises 4 core courses and 2 elective courses, which are offered in sets.

Through the elective courses, you may focus on:

• Personal Leadership Development
• Coaching to Develop and Engage Others
• Financial Acumen: Risk/Return and Raising Capital OR
• Financial Acumen: Time/Value of Money and Capital Investment.

Who Should Enroll in This Certificate?

This certificate series is appropriate to managers at all levels of the organization, as well as directors and company officers who are responsible for making their organization a leader in its industry.

Enrollment

To register, contact an Enrollment Counselor at info@ecornell.com or 1-866-326-7635 (+1-607-330-3200 from outside the United States).

Certificate programs are eligible for eCornell Payment Plans. Discounts are available for military personnel, veterans, and Cornell University Alumni. eCornell programs are not eligible for financial aid or federal Pell Grants. Contact an enrollment counselor for more information.

Courses in this Certificate

• Strategic Thinking

  • Strategic thinking is defined as both a way of looking at the world—particularly at challenging situations—and as a way of applying a set of techniques for framing and solving problems. It takes different forms in different situations, and certain levels of strategic thinking are more efficient for various industries and corporate cultures.

    In this course, participants learn the four basic levels of strategic thinking under which an organization can operate, and the circumstances under which an organization must shift to a higher strategic level. At the completion of the course, participants will be able to prepare a competitive analysis of an organization, with recommendations for strategic development based on an industry analysis and an understanding of the organization's history, culture, and current operations.

    Course Format

    All eCornell courses are delivered online and are self-paced. An eCornell instructor leads the online discussions, grades any course projects, and is available to answer specific questions about the course content.

    This course contains the following modules:

    • The Context for Strategic Thinking
      • The levels of strategic thinking at which an organization can operate, the factors that lead to an optimum level, and the circumstances under which organizations shift to a new strategic level
      • Determining the optimum level of strategic thinking for an organization's industry and culture
      • The concept of strategic intent and its appropriateness for your company or industry
    • Thinking Strategically About Your Organization
      • Using Porter's Five Forces model to analyze the operating environment in an industry
      • Managing products and product lines based on the BCG volume/margin model
      • The relationship between core competencies (at the company level) and key success factors (at the industry level)
      • Identifying core competencies and success factors required for any particular industry
      • Preparing a competitive analysis of a company, based on the industry in general, and an understanding of its current operations and culture

    
    
    Benefits to the Learner

    Participants who complete this course will be able to:

    • Identify different levels of strategic thinking and determine which is optimal for their organization
    • Determine the factors that influence organizations to change their level of strategic thinking
    • Determine the core competencies and key success factors in an industry
    • Apply the concept of strategic intent and evaluate its appropriateness in a specific organization or industry
    • Prepare a competitive analysis of an organization

    
    
• Scenario Planning

  • The complexities of rapidly expanding technology and economic globalization make it necessary for organizations to develop tools for strategic analysis to ensure their ability to compete as an industry leader. Scenario planning is a powerful tool used by the most successful corporations for strategic analysis and decision making, enabling an organization to chart a course or optimize its resource allocation in complex situations when the future is uncertain.

    In this course, participants learn to evaluate an organization's strategic position, competencies, and plans for expansion across a full range of potential future developments.

    Course Format

    eCornell takes a problem-based approach to learning, and our courses are built around realistic case studies and scenarios. All courses are self-paced, and are facilitated by an eCornell instructor, who leads the online discussions and is available to answer any questions about the course content.

    This course contains the following modules:

    • Context and Preparation for Scenario Planning
      • Introduction to the concept of scenario planning and its usefulness
      • Key elements of scenario planning (e.g., trends and uncertainties)
      • Organizing data: identifying how uncertainties may interact with each other, and addressing different levels of confidence in the data
    • Scenario Planning in Practice
      • Developing scenarios that integrate trends and uncertainties into alternate possibilities for your industry
      • Applying strategic frameworks to determine core competencies and key success factors for each scenario
      • Assessing an organization's current competencies and creating a development plan to acquire new competencies
      • Early warning systems to accelerate the conversion of uncertainties into trends

    
    
    Benefits to the Learner
    Participants who complete this course will be able to:

    • Assess whether scenario planning is right for their organization
    • Collect and arrange the data necessary for planning a scenario
    • Organize an effective team for scenario planning
    • Assess their organization's current competencies and develop robust strategies for multiple scenarios
    • Develop early warning indicators to identify emerging scenarios
    • Identify new competencies and courses of action that will give their organization the greatest strategic advantage
    
    
• Executive Decision Making

  • In today’s fast-paced, competitive business climate, executives need to be prepared to make smart decisions quickly and decisively. Making strategic decisions involves weighing risk and considering long-range implications for the organization.

    In this course, participants will learn how to apply formal decision-making processes in order to reduce risk and maximize benefit. Learn best practices and techniques for gathering data and making critical decisions with limited time and resources.

    Course Format

    All eCornell courses are delivered online and are self-paced. An eCornell instructor leads the online discussions, grades any course projects, and is available to answer specific questions about the course content.

    This course contains the following modules:

    • The Executive's Decision-Making Tasks
      • Organizational factors and personal characteristics that affect decision making
      • Framing and categorizing situations to aid in making effective, objective decisions
      • Conducting decision-tree analyses
      • Gathering data and evaluating it for completeness, relevance, and possible bias
    • Formal Methods for Executive Decision Making
      • Most common formal methods and when to use them
      • Bayesian analysis

    
    
    Benefits to the Learner

    After completing this course, participants will be able to:

    • Gather crucial data and resources to inform the decision-making process
    • Identify appropriate situations for involving others in a decision-making process
    • Ascertain risks, uncertainties, and ambiguities in an executive decision-making environment
    • Overcome organizational factors that complicate decision making
    • Apply formal methods such as decision trees and Bayesian analysis to arrive at appropriate decisions

    
    
• Leading Through Creativity

  • Leaders that actively encourage creative thinking in their employees are often the ones that drive organizational innovation. The creative power of individuals in the workforce can and should push the development of new products and services to make the business more competitive.

    Mastering the creative process and spurring on innovation isn’t a matter of having the gift of creativity; it is a matter of applying technique and intelligence. Creative innovation is essential to growing market share and increasing profits.

    In this course, participants will learn to cultivate organizational creativity through a series of individual and group exercises to develop new ideas. Participants will also learn to enhance their own capacity for creative thought.

    Course Format

    eCornell takes a problem-based approach to learning, and our courses are built around realistic case studies and scenarios. All courses are self-paced, and are facilitated by an eCornell instructor, who leads the online discussions and is available to answer any questions about the course content.

    This course contains the following modules:

    • Developing Your Creativity
      • Characteristics of creative people in business environments
      • Using visualization techniques for enhancing your creativity
      • Techniques for developing creative approaches to business challenges
    • Developing Your Organization's Ability to Innovate
      • Creative techniques and processes for groups, including some that can be implemented online
      • Features that limit an organization's creative potential
      • Fostering creativity throughout the organization

    
    
    Benefits to the Learner
    Participants who complete this course will be able to:

    • Greatly expand their own capacity for creative thought
    • Foster creativity throughout a department or organization
    • Utilize techniques for developing creative approaches to business challenges
    • Identify and overcome features in an organization that limit creative potential
    • Recommend steps to foster creativity
    
    

• Mastering the Time Value of Money

  • In today’s delicate global marketplace, it’s imperative that managers make smart decisions about projects and initiatives—carefully weighing costs versus future revenues and considering all outcomes. Managers should learn the “time value of money” concept and apply its principles to their daily work.

    In this course, you will use timelines and cash-flow calculations to track cash flow and payments; establish the value of securities and investments; and determine overall cost-effectiveness. The time value of money is a key concept in financial management and project development, and learning it will better prepare you to make smart business decisions.

    Course Format

    eCornell takes a problem-based approach to learning, and our courses are built around realistic case studies and scenarios. All courses are self-paced, and are facilitated by an eCornell instructor, who leads the online discussions and is available to answer any questions about the course content.

    This course contains the following modules:

    • Intuition and Conceptual Framework.
      • Explaining the importance of the timing of future cash flows.
      • Using a cash-flow timeline to conceptualize TVM problems.
    • Basic TVM Tools.
      • Using a financial calculator to solve TVM problems.
      • Calculating the future and present value of a lump-sum payment.
    • Advanced TVM Tools.
      • Calculating the value of perpetuities and growing perpetuities.
      • Calculating the future and present value of annuities.

    
    
    Benefits to the Learner

    After completing this course, participants will be able to:

    • Make planning decisions in the present, based on the accurate calculation of cash flow projections.
    • Use a cash-flow timeline to conceptualize time-value-of-money problems.
    • Use a financial calculator to solve time-value-of-money problems.
    • Calculate present and future values of payments, perpetuities, and annuities.
    • Use these concepts as a foundation for making capital investment decisions.

    
    
• Making Capital Investment Decisions

  • One of the most important aspects of a manager's job is to evaluate the feasibility of new initiatives and to make sound investment decisions. This includes thorough research and analysis using financial decision-making tools.

    In this course, you will learn six capital budgeting rules that provide a framework for making sound project investment decisions. Examine how the rules differ from one another, and which rules are most applicable in various project settings.

    Course Format

    eCornell takes a problem-based approach to learning, and our courses are built around realistic case studies and scenarios. All courses are self-paced, and are facilitated by an eCornell instructor, who leads the online discussions and is available to answer any questions about the course content.

    This course contains the following modules:

    • Conceptual Framework.
      • How value is created in a business.
      • How capital budgeting rules provide a framework for making project investment decisions.
      • Appropriate use of other accounting-based techniques such as return on assets and return on equity.
    • Basic Capital Budgeting Decision Rules.
      • Calculation and appropriate use of net present value (NPV) as a tool in making project investment decisions.
      • Internal rate of return (IRR), its strengths, weaknesses, and appropriate use as a decision rule.
      • Payback periods (PP), its strengths, weaknesses, and appropriate use as a decision rule.
      • Discounted payback periods (DPP), its strengths, weaknesses, and appropriate use as a decision rule.
    • Special Cases.
      • Calculation and appropriate use of profitability index (PI) as a decision rule.
      • Calculation and appropriate use of equivalent annual cost (EAC) as a decision rule.

    
    
    Benefits to the Learner

    After completing this course, participants will be able to:

    • Apply capital budgeting decision rules to make sound financial choices.
    • Accurately analyze decisions and projects for financial soundness.

    
    
• Risk and Return: How to Identify, Measure, and Incorporate Into Capital Budgeting Decisions

  • For the non-financial manager, this course introduces risk in capital budgeting, detailing precisely how it can be factored into budgeting decisions.

    Managers in today’s firms tend to work closely with finance, so having fundamental understanding of finance is imperative. Risk and return are critical components of capital budgeting and ultimately impact the value of an investment. This two-week course prepares non-financial managers to identify project risks and weigh them against expected returns.

    Course Format

    eCornell takes a problem-based approach to learning, and our courses are built around realistic case studies and scenarios. All courses are self-paced, and are facilitated by an eCornell instructor, who leads the online discussions and is available to answer any questions about the course content.

    This course contains the following modules:

    • Considering Investment Risk.
    • Investors and Risk.
    • Quantifying Risk and Return.
    • Two Kinds of Risk - Systematic and Unsystematic Risk.
    • How Firms Factor Risk into Capital Budgeting Decisions.
    • Systematic Risk.
    • Capital Asset Pricing Model.
    • Risk and Capital Budgeting Decisions.

    
    
    Benefits to the Learner

    After completing this course, participants will be able to:

    • Explain how risk enters into the capital budgeting decision and the impact it will have on the ultimate value of the investment under consideration.
    • Interpret what you read in the Wall Street Journal.

    
    
• Raising Capital: The Process, the Players, and Strategic Considerations

  • Firms routinely look to external capital markets for funding and operating investments. Making complete, well-informed financing decisions at the corporate level requires a thorough understanding of capital markets. This course provides the theory behind capital market investments and demonstrates how external factors may influence debt-equity decisions, such as changes within the industry or prevailing economic trends.

    Learn to observe external economic data and develop strategies to balance debt and equity at your firm. You’ll also see how decisions regarding corporate restructuring, mergers, acquisitions and bankruptcy are made.

    Course Format

    eCornell takes a problem-based approach to learning, and our courses are built around realistic case studies and scenarios. All courses are self-paced, and are facilitated by an eCornell instructor, who leads the online discussions and is available to answer any questions about the course content.

    This course contains the following modules:

    • Capital Structure Foundations.
    • Evaluating the Firm’s Financing Options.
    • The Debt Irrelevance Theorem.
    • Trade-Off Theory of Capital Structure.
    • The Effect of Taxes on the Firm’s Value.
    • The Effect of Financial Distress on the Firm’s Value.
    • Pecking Order Theory of Capital Structure.
    • Direct Costs of Issuing Securities.
    • Indirect Costs of Raising Capital.
    • Pulling It All Together – Reconciling and Applying Pecking Order and Trade-Off Theories.

    
    
    Benefits to the Learner

    After completing this course, participants will be able to:

    • View the process of raising capital in a broad context of capital-related decisions regarding the mix of capital and the process of entering into capital markets.
    • Explain how decisions in your department or division are influenced by capital structuring decisions.
    • Explain why changes in the industry and in the economy are important to capital budgeting decisions in your organization.
    • Contribute to decisions in your own firm more meaningfully with a good understanding of corporate restructuring, mergers, acquisitions, and bankruptcy.

    
    
• The Coaching Mindset for Engaging and Developing Others

  • Being a proactive coach is a fundamental component to being a good leader in the workplace. Coaching implies that leaders not only supervise, but develop the capacities and skills of all employees. A coaching mindset implies that leaders approach employees not simply as subordinates, but protégés, resources to be developed and expanded. Coaching is critical to good workplace leadership. In developing this course, Samuel Bacharach, McKelvey-Grant Professor at Cornell University, and Yael Bacharach, MA, LCSW, appreciate that not all styles of coaching are suitable for the workplace, and distill three decades of academic and business research into coaching best practices most appropriate for organizational leaders. The course emphasizes the importance of supplementing the traditional supervisory mindset with the coaching mindset.

    The course draws upon a variety of examples to illustrate coaching in an organizational context, and details the four functions of coaching in an easy-to-understand and practical context. The course takes a step-by-step approach through the five rules of the coaching dialogue and illuminates effective techniques for listening, asking questions, and providing feedback. The course provides a wealth of tools and processes, including instruction on how to recognize and use the language of coaching and balance the different functions of coaching.

    Through coaching, leaders are able to support and encourage their team members to learn skills and acquire knowledge that helps improve job performance. Coaching works laterally too, in that a leader can apply coaching techniques when working with colleagues. The organization as a whole benefits from a solid coaching culture. Without the right coaching principles in place, employees may not reach their full proactive capacity, rendering the organization less able to execute its goals. This course goes beyond the basics and offers detailed instruction on maximizing the proactive capacity of employees by showing leaders how to integrate the coaching mindset into their leadership style.

    Course Format

    eCornell takes a problem-based approach to learning, and our courses are built around realistic case studies and scenarios. All courses are self-paced, and are facilitated by an eCornell instructor, who leads the online discussions and is available to answer any questions about the course content.

    This course contains the following modules:

    • The Role of the Coach
    • The Sports Coach and the Workplace Coach
    • The Coaching Mindset
    • The Four Functions of Coaching
    • Personal Integrity and the Coaching Dialogue
    • The Role of Personal Integrity in Coaching
    • Listening and Reflecting in the Coaching Dialogue
    • Questioning and Providing Feedback in the Coaching Dialogue
    • Classic Mistakes in Coaching Dialogue

    
    
    Benefits to the Learner

    After completing this course, participants will be able to:

    • Define coaching in terms of the organizational context, differentiating the coaching mindset from the supervisory mindset
    • Apply the listening, questioning, and feedback skills necessary to facilitate the coaching dialogue
    • Assist others in building their proactive capacities

    
    
• The Coaching Process for Engaging and Developing Others

  • Leaders who have learned to develop a coaching mindset, studied coaching functions, and practiced the coaching dialogue in The Coaching Mindset, can continue their studies here by examining the coaching process. This course, developed by Samuel Bacharach, McKelvey-Grant Professor at Cornell University, and Yael Bacharach, MA, LCSW, teaches the essential steps of coaching. As in The Coaching Mindset, the authors realize that in the workplace not all coaching approaches are appropriate, and have developed a model process which is uniquely applicable for organizational settings.

    The course walks through the process of goal setting in each of the four arenas of coaching; helps you to understand the framing, prioritization, and execution of goals for your subordinates; and addresses roadblocks that appear throughout the coaching process. After taking this course, leaders will understand everything from how to help their protégés with specific work and personal issues to how to leverage coaching to become a high-performance leader within the organization. Leaders will come away with a deep understanding of how to work with their protégés on overcoming blocks and obstacles, providing their protégés appropriate feedback, and helping their protégés with goal setting and skill development. The coaching process specified in this course will enhance not only the leadership capacity of the coach, but also the proactive capacity of the protégé. Coaching is no longer a luxury. It is a tool that leaders must have when trying to get top performance from everyone in the organization. Successful organizations are those that make coaching part and parcel of their organizational culture.

    This course will give leaders additional tools for working effectively within their organizational culture and building the proactive capacity of individuals and the organization alike.

    Course Format

    eCornell takes a problem-based approach to learning, and our courses are built around realistic case studies and scenarios. All courses are self-paced, and are facilitated by an eCornell instructor, who leads the online discussions and is available to answer any questions about the course content.

    This course contains the following modules:

    • Clarifying Goals
    • Fundamentals of the Coaching Process
    • Understanding Goals in Terms of the Four Arenas
    • Clarifying Goals in Each Arena
    • Coaching the Protege to Action
    • Addressing Blocks and Achieving Goals Through the Coaching Process
    • External Problems and Obstacles
    • Internal Blocks
    • Goal Achievement

    
    
    Benefits to the Learner

    After completing this course, participants will be able to:

    • Use the coaching process successfully in a workplace relationship
    • Work with a protege to cultivate a vision of the future, while working effectively with the immediate situation

    
    

Accreditation / CEUs

HRCI Recertification

The courses in this certificate series have each been approved for six (6) Strategic Management recertification credit hours toward SPHR and GPHR recertification and six (6) recertification credit hours toward PHR, SPHR, and GPHR recertification through the Human Resource Certification Institute. Please contact the Human Resource Certificate Institute (HRCI) for further information about certification or recertification.

Accreditation

Participants who successfully complete the six courses in the series receive an Executive Leadership Certificate from Cornell University.