IESchool of Social and Behavioral Sciences Kicks Off Its New Executive Master in Positive Leadership

Focused on using behavioral science to help leaders transform themselves and their organizations, the thirteen-month blended program brings together world-class international faculty who are the established leaders not only in their areas of business specialization but are integrally involved applying the emerging science of positive psychology to the modern workplace.

The first of five week-long training modules in Madrid included training workshops with Dr. Barbara Frederickson, an expert in emotion science and among the founders of the field of Positive Psychology; Dr. Nansook Park, an expert in the psychology of strengths who helped design the US Army Comprehensive Soldier Fitness program; Michael Chaskalson, a leading expert in mindfulness practices for executives; and Johannes Glarner who is working with participants to develop the posture, breathing and other physical aspects that promote confidence and leadership attitudes.

The program is designed to provide accomplished senior executives with science-based knowledge and tools they can use to develop themselves as leaders – more effective thinking, behavior and attitudes -- and then knowledge and tools they can use to dramatically improve the strategy, functional processes, and organizational design to achieve sustainable performance in their organizations and in the people they lead.

“So often executives attend short corporate training courses and leave with a motivation for change, only later to find that professional and organizational habits remain the same,” says Lee Newman Ph.D., former McKinsey consultant and entrepreneur and now IE Professor and Dean of the School of Social and Behavioral Sciences.  “The EXMPLS program creates a context in which participants can truly transform the way they think and act, and apply their training directly to the challenges they face in their organizations.”

EXMPLS brings participants together for intense week-long training modules, and then they return to work to implement projects and to engage in new behaviors while maintaining contact with each other and with program faculty.  Thus, the program is not just about learning the “what’s” and “how’s” of leading, it’s also about training participants in new ways of thinking and behaving that will make them better able to lead.

“There is a clear and compelling need for this type of program” says Academic Director Juan Humberto Young, D.M. who spent decades working in the high-powered world of Swiss banking before developing a positive organization consulting practice.  “While the trend is still in its early stages, companies are starting to recognize that employee well-being and bottom-line results are integrally linked.”

As a reflection of its global mission in leadership development, the first cohort of EXMPLS participants are senior managers  from around the world (East Asia, Australia, Europe, Latin America, Middle East & North Africa, North America, and Western and Southern Africa) who are working in leadership positions in corporations, professional firms, government, and not-for-profit organizations.