Executive Transition Program

Have you recently transitioned from a functional job to a role with more general management responsibility? Or do you perhaps plan to make this shift in the future? The Executive Transition Program (ETP) will take you on an intense learning journey, and help you to master the challenges going along with this change and to remain personally fulfilled.

Spread over seven months, the ETP offers you a unique combination of residential modules with inter-modular activities. Based on the broad range of industries represented in the ETP, the cultural diversity, and the seniority of our participants, we have selected methods appropriate for this group and their different learning styles: business simulations, case discussions, professional and peer coaching, lectures, role plays, best-practice examples, company visits, workshops, and team exercises.

In your new role as general manager, you have to evaluate the potentially conflicting interests of the various functions. In order to decide each time which of these have priority, you have to go beyond functional jargon and to be able to ask critical questions. Reflecting this necessity, ETP will start in module 1 (Core managerial competencies) by looking at the fundamentals of all major business functions. As a result, the program will offer you a solid understanding of both the language and the thought processes prevalent in the major functions (such as operations, marketing, sales, HR, IT, finance and accounting).

In module 2 (General management perspectives), the focus of the program will turn to cross-functional aspects, that is, to the ways in which the functions discussed in module 1 interconnect. We will look at strategic aspects of running a business incl. digitalization, discuss the critical role of innovation incl. design thinking, evaluate relations between business and the non-market environment, and discuss the methods and rules general managers should follow when making decisions.

Every new set of responsibilities increases the number of stakeholders who need to be taken into account. Therefore, module 3 (Integrative leadership in action) will further broaden perspectives by looking at the role of communication, at leading yourself and others, change management, as well as business ethics and CSR. By being offered an opportunity to discuss personal leadership challenges with experienced faculty, professional coaches, and a diverse, experienced, and international group of participants from a broad range of functions and industries, you will leave the program with clear ideas and plans for the businesses you are leading, as well as your future personal development. At the same time, this group of individuals will serve as a lasting peer network that can be leveraged beyond the duration of this program.

Key benefits: Profit from hands-on expertise

You will return to your organization from this program feeling confident and ready to assume complex roles as general manager. You will be equipped with new capabilities, tools, and concepts, feel competent when leading others, and be prepared to manage across national borders. In addition, as an ETP alumna/alumnus you will become member of the exclusive ETP Salon, which will give you access to the ever-growing group of executives who have completed the program.

Many of the ETP alumnae/alumni highlighted the enormous benefit they were able to reap from the diversity of their classmates. Intensively interacting with peers from different organizations, functions, industries and countries helped them to broaden their horizon and to lead their areas of responsibility more successfully.

Key topics

• Operations and supply chain
• Marketing
• Sales
• Finance and accounting
• Human resources
• IT management
• Executive transitions
• Corporate strategy
• Competitive strategy
• Strategic innovation and entrepreneurship
• Digitalization
• Non-market strategies: the role of lobbying, politics, and regulation
• Intellectual property rights
• Decision making and evidence-based management
• Leaders, leadership, and followers
• Leading change
• Business ethics and CSR
• Status and networks
• Executive careers
• Leading and reinventing yourself
• Executive communication

Postgraduate Diploma in Advanced Management

Having completed the ETP you will receive the ESMT Postgraduate Diploma in Advanced Management, a prestigious recognition of your professional development.