Leadership Development for EMBA Program Directors

A pre-conference program, the Director’s Forum offers experienced leaders of Executive MBA Programs the opportunity to explore key issues and network with peers.

The 2012 Director’s Forum will take place on Sunday, Oct. 14. The forum starts with lunch at 12:30 PM, where participants can network with peers. Lunch tables will be arranged by popular topic area to help facilitate discussion. ESSEC will host the Director’s Forum. Transportation from the conference hotel site to and from ESSEC will be available. The program ends at 5:30 p.m.

Spotlight on you
Improve your influence and your ability to successfully navigate in changing times. Spend some time reflecting on responding to the volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity in today’s environment and on enhancing your own leadership capabilities.

The 2012 Director’s Forum focuses on the professional development of participants and features Barbara Cheng, founder, president, and CEO of Executive Core, as the session’s speaker and leader. The session will include interactive components that allow directors to stretch or test skills that help them better manage organizational and economic market changes, grow their team, and apply their influence in situations where authority is not theirs.

After lunch, Cheng will open the session with a plenary, “Getting Through the Wilderness: Directors Dealing with the Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity (VUCA) of a Changing World,” which explores some of the biggest challenges that EMBA Program directors face.

The elements of VUCA are ones that are familiar to EMBA Program directors:

• Volatility refers to the nature and dynamics of change, and the nature and speed of change forces and change catalysts
  
  
• Uncertainty refers to the lack of predictability, the prospects for surprise, and the lack of awareness and understanding of issues and events
  
  
• Complexity refers to the multiplex of forces, the confounding of issues, and the chaos and confusion that surround an organization
  
  
• Ambiguity refers the haziness of reality, the potential for misreads, and the mixed meaning of conditions

Peer sharing
In coaching pairs, participants will share their challenges one-on-one with other participants from different regions and backgrounds. Later, in breakout sessions, groups of participants will discuss in depth topics that are related to VUCA and present relevant tips to the full group. Participants will be surveyed before the Director’s Forum to help determine the specific topics for breakout sessions. The afternoon also will include a session and practice on influencing without authority.

Expert guidance
Barbara Cheng, the 2012 Director’s Forum speaker and guide, has dedicated her career to strengthening the abilities of business leaders. At Executive Core, she leads a group of professionals with the mission to more quickly innovate professional development globally. Previously, she served in two senior vice president roles and as partner at Lore International Institute, helping lead the organization through start-up to a globally ranked firm before it was acquired by Korn Ferry International. She earned instructor of the year early in her career in her previous firm and consistently achieved some of the firm’s highest evaluations for her speaking and facilitation. She has authored numerous executive education programs, and written two books, numerous white papers, and articles.

Registration
Be sure not to miss this Director’s Forum; register early, as slots fill quickly. To register, check the Director’s Forum box when you complete your conference registration form at www.emba.org/conference_registration.htm.