Executive Education: Case Studies

Predictable Surprises: For the Harvard Business School Press, Ishan designed and ran a 1/2 day program for 150 senior, public sector Human Resources Executives. The program focused on the need to create sense-and-respond capabilities. We used news clippings about an emerging problem - a diabetes epidemic - to build a slide-based case study that the attendees worked on in real time. The attendees learned the tools to analyze the situation from a separate video-case we taught in parallel.

General Management: Ishan helped our partner Genesis Advisers create an 18-day general management training for the Vice Presidents of one of the world’s best known companies. We won the contract over a competing proposal from one of the world’s best known business schools by offering to customize the curriculum to our client’s needs. To this end, we conducted "needs analysis" interviews with over 40 senior leaders, including most of the Executive Officers. Ishan delivered the five-day opening segment on "Strategy and Innovation in a Networked Company." We used non-traditional pedagogy, like basing a day-long discussion of innovation on the insights attendees gained from a visit to a museum dedicated to a famous music recording company. The overall program is currently in its pilot phase; it is slated to be rolled out to high achieving VPs across the world.

Leading Change: Together with Enspire Learning, Ishan developed and delivered the business strategy segment of a general management program at one of the largest American companies. Over 120 senior executives, mostly Vice Presidents and general managers of well known branded products, are attending in groups of 30 - 40. The two-day program incorporated mini-lectures on the key concepts of an Adaptive Business. Attendees, working in teams, developed strategies for their simulated companies and actually applied the concepts in a dynamic marketplace. They then defended their performance to a "Board" formed by the company's CEO and a few of its Executive Officers. Finally, Amit facilitated an expansive discussion among the attendees, the CEO and Executive Officers on the subject of driving change.

Operational Leadership: Together with Enspire Learning, Ishan developed and delivered a 3-day program for mid-level executives at a Canadian global company. Amit interviewed senior executives, including the CEO, and Enspire customized aspects of its The Executive Challenge® simulation. Amit presented the program's rationale and design to the client's top 60 executives at their bi-yearly offsite retreat; the CEO asked for this event to engender senior level support for changes we expected the attendees to initiate after attending the program. Two of four planned sessions (each for about 40 attendees) have been completed. Amit's facilitation focused on operational leadership - how to get something one is passionate about done, instead of simply talking about it. Both the executives who commissioned the program and the attendees have rated it very highly.

Envisioning the Future: In 2002, at Forrester Research, Amit conceived, designed and led a by-invitation-only program ("Thriving in a World of Anywhere, Anytime Drug Distribution") for the head of American sales at GlaxoSmithKline. This three day event attracted top executives, including a few CEOs, of America's largest distributors and retailers of pharmaceuticals. Amit's team interviewed most attendees surveyed other executives in their companies. They used the data to facilitate discussions on topics ranging from emerging technology to cross-organizational processes and collaboration. Attendees left the event with high-level action plans, some of which crossed organizational boundaries. The media publicity about the program helped accelerate the industry's adoption of EPC technology.