T R A N S F O R M K N O W L E D G E I N T O I M P A C T. O N L I N E .
LEARN.
ENGAGE.
ACCELERATE.
DISRUPT.
Transforming
Business Leaders
Into Change Makers.
The Stanford LEAD year-long online business program offers a deeply immersive,
academically rigorous experience for professionals who are committed to driving meaningful
change within themselves, their teams, and their organizations.
LEAD bridges research-backed concepts into practice, empowering you to transform
knowledge into impact. The insightful curriculum—delivered online via connective virtual
platforms—promotes the application of business frameworks in real-time, to real-life
business challenges.
Our hand-selected global cohort of mid-to-senior level professionals and leaders value
collaboration, diverse perspectives, and the exchange of knowledge to craft effective
solutions and approaches.
Experience an immersive online business program that propels you, your team and your
organization to the next level.
VIRTUAL
FACULTY
CURRICULUM
A classroom experience
at your fingertips:
meaningful, virtual
engagement that goes
beyond a face-to-face
experience.
Learn from the same
Stanford Graduate School
of Business professors that
teach in our highly ranked
MBA program.
Research-based,
academically rigorous
coursework from
Stanford GSB.
REAL-WORLD
APPLICATION
Course assignments
guide you in applying
your learnings real-time
for immediate impact.
FEEDBACK
GLOBAL
COHORT
High-touch interactions
with Stanford GSB
Collaborate and connect with
faculty and personalized,
a diverse group of global
actionable feedback from peers for knowledge sharing
course facilitators
and support through the
and peers.
LEAD program and beyond.
“
It’s a complete
mind-shaping
experience.
”
- Constantin Nicolai Vlad, CEO
– Constantin
Nicolai Vlad, CEO
TwoStone LLC
TwoStone LLC
“
My experience
with the LEAD program
has really supercharged
me as a leader. I’ve been
able to launch global
initiatives that without
the LEAD program I
may not have had the
courage, the strategy or
the support from a
network to implement.
”
– Gabrielle
McGee
- Gabrielle McGee,
Chief
Operating Officer
Chief
Operating
Officer
Tory Burch
Foundation
Tory Burch Foundation
Impactful LEADers
LEAD has
contributed
to my
professional
Participants
success.
Agree
94%
Prepare to up-level, personally and professionally with LEAD. In the foundation courses, you
will master the core competencies of leadership and learn how to make strategic and viable
decisions to drive the right initiatives forward and accelerate impact in your organizations.
You will fine tune your knowledge base with five elective courses that can be customized
to suit your personal learning journey.
STANFORD LEAD BENEFITS:
LEARN from the brightest minds in the world, our acclaimed Stanford GSB faculty.
ENGAGE with Stanford Graduate School of Business faculty and a global cohort
of peers, leveraging innovative platforms that foster deep connections.
ACCELERATE your impact at work by applying your learnings in real-time for
high-impact results.
DISRUPT your organization and drive meaningful change.
A World-Class Experience
96%
Participants
Agree
The LEAD
program is
worth the
investment.
Real World Influence
98%
The frameworks
I learned in LEAD can
be easily translated to
Participants everyday challenges
on the job.
Agree
*Source:
Data Data
drawn
fromfrom
survey
responses
of of
254
former
programdates
datesbetween
between
August
2020
March
*Source:
drawn
survey
responses
254
formerparticipants,
participants, with
with program
August
2020
andand
March
2021.2021.
WHO ARE
LEAD
PARTICIPANTS?
LEAD participants are
from diverse personal
and professional
backgrounds, though
they all share a bold
determination to drive
innovation in their
organizations and
industries.
Mid to senior level
professionals who are
committed to
implementing creative
strategies and
practices to position
their organizations at
the forefront of
innovation.
Engaged leaders
who are committed to
developing their
management skills
and approaches to
optimize team
performance.
Enterprising
professionals who
wish to collaborate
with other
self-motivated
individuals and value
an exchange of diverse
perspectives, to drive
change.
Emerging leaders
who want to up-level
their career trajectory
and master the
foundations of
impactful leadership.
LEAD PARTICIPANT SPOTLIGHT STORIES
ANDY
Vice President, Nikola Corporation
After a distinguished 28-year career in the military, Andy found himself driven to promote positive change as
he entered the corporate sector for the next chapter of his career. During his time at Stanford LEAD, Andy was
able to integrate the LEAD materials and skillsets quickly and efficiently, which translated into a promotion from
Director to Vice President. By the time he completed the LEAD program, Andy had created an organizational
vision to inspire passionate people to innovate so that the entire team can “move at the speed of trust”.
“I really looked hard at a lot of educational programs, and what appealed to me first of all was the name LEAD,
you know: learn, engage, accelerate, disrupt. I thought, this is a perfect program for me. I’m going to be
surrounded by like-minded thinkers that want to be change agents for their organizations.”
JOLONE
Executive Director, UBS Zurich
Despite several years in middle management at various banks, Jolone felt that her career had stalled. Jolone
entered LEAD with the goal of breaking through her current challenges and embodying a role at the executive
level. She saw LEAD as the key to unlocking her executive potential by broadening the breadth of her existing
skillset and enhancing her visibility. Jolone landed a new job as the Executive Director, Relationship Manager
for UBS Switzerland AG. She credits much of her success to the LEAD program.
“What I found most fascinating, which I told a lot of people: can you believe that a virtual program doesn’t
feel like it’s virtual? That a virtual program is even, to me, more effective than any other face-to-face program
that I’ve done. You actually don’t get to feel that you are doing this long distance, and it’s amazing.”
LEAD PARTICIPANTS ARE A DIVERSE GROUP OF MID
TO SENIOR LEVEL PROFESSIONALS AND LEADERS.
C-SUITE
PRESIDENT
VICE-PRESIDENT
HEAD OF REGION
100+
COUNTRIES
30+
INDUSTRIES
40
AVERAGE AGE
23-79
AGE RANGE
1/3
WOMEN
DIRECTOR
MANAGER
OTHER
FACULTY
Preparing professionals
to reach their leadership
potential by thriving in a
state of constant change.
World-Class
Stanford Professors
Learn from the same
Stanford professors
who teach in our
top-ranked
MBA program.
Breakthrough
Curriculum
High Impact results
from research-based
curriculum and
frameworks.
Supportive
Staff
Our staff is at your
service at every step
as you earn your
certificate.
Our faculty team is assembled from world-renowned authors, expert educators, and
trail-blazing researchers, who teach in our highly ranked MBA program. Through the delivery
of meaningful and relevant coursework, discussion and materials, our faculty teaches our
participants dynamic solutions to business challenges and empowers participants to apply
their new skills and frameworks to make an immediate impact. Here we shine a spotlight
on two of our esteemed Stanford Graduate School of Business faculty, the directors of the
LEAD program.
PETER M. DEMARZO
The Staehelin Family Professor of Finance
Faculty Director, Stanford LEAD
Peter DeMarzo is the Staehelin Family Professor and Professor of Finance, and
Faculty Director for Educational Technology, and former Senior Associate Dean
for the GSB. He has published research on corporate investment and financing,
asset securitization, financial contracting, and market regulation. Recent work
has examined the optimal design of securities, compensation mechanisms,
regulation of insider trading and broker-dealers, bank capital regulation, and the
influence of information asymmetries on corporate disclosures and investment.
He is co-author of Corporate Finance and Fundamentals of Corporate Finance
(Pearson Prentice Hall 2012). He has served as president of the Western Finance
Association and director of the American Finance Association. He is a Research
Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research. Before joining Stanford,
he was on the faculty of U.C. Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, Northwestern
University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management, and a National Fellow
at the Hoover Institution. DeMarzo received a Ph.D. in Economics in 1989 and
M.S. in Operations Research in 1985 from Stanford University, and a B.A. in
Cognitive Science and Applied Mathematics in 1984 from U.C. San Diego. His
research has received awards including the Barclays Global Investors/Michael
Brennan best paper award from the Review of Financial Studies, and the Western
Finance Association Corporate Finance Award. He won the Sloan Teaching
Excellence award in 2004 and 2006, and the Cheit Outstanding Teaching Award
in 1998. He currently teaches MBA and PhD courses in Corporate Finance and
Financial Modeling.
SARAH SOULE
The Morgridge Professor of Organizational Behavior
Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs
Faculty Director, Stanford LEAD
Sarah A. Soule is the Morgridge Professor of Organizational Behavior at the
Graduate School of Business. Her major areas of interest are organizational theory,
social movements, and political sociology. She has written two recent books, the
first with Cambridge University Press, entitled Contention and Corporate Social
Responsibility, and the second with Norton, called A Primer on Social Movements.
She is the series editor for the Cambridge University Press Contentious Politics
series. She is a member of the founding team of the new journal, Sociological
Science, an open access journal that is disrupting academic publishing. She has
served on a number of boards of non-profit organizations, is currently a member
Board of Advisors to the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design (the Stanford d.school)
Fellowship program, and is currently serving on the faculty advisory board to the
Stanford Center for the Advancement of Women’s Leadership. She has taught a
number of courses with the Stanford d.school, and is the Faculty Director for the
Executive Program in Social Entrepreneurship at Stanford Graduate School of
Business. She has served as a judge for the Center for Social Innovation Fellowship
program, and for the Tech Awards (Tech Museum of Innovation).
COURSEWORK
Master the Foundations:
Stanford LEAD develops effective leaders who embody five core leadership competencies:
critical analysis, self-awareness, interpersonal acumen, situational awareness, and holistic
communication. These leaders are able to successfully address and navigate the unique
challenges and opportunities inherent in fostering and implementing change within their
organizations.
Foundation Courses (Required):
•
•
•
•
Critical Analytical Thinking
Financing Innovation: The Creation of Value
Strategic Leadership
Leadership Immersion (Select One)
• Foundations of Leadership
• Values-Based Leadership
Define Your Own Path:
Develop your skill set with five elective courses of your choosing—courses that target your
professional objectives, fill gaps in knowledge and expertise, and enable you to turn your
learnings into action for real-time impact.
Elective Courses (Select 5):
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
A New Type of Leader: Anchored on Purpose, Fueled by Humor
Building Power to Lead
Business Model Analysis and Design
Communicating with Impact
Creating a Life of Consequence: How Happy, Meaningful, and Successful Lives Really
Happen
Crisis Management
Customer Experience Design: A Neuroscience Perspective
Decision Making
Design for Disruption
Design Thinking: From Insights to Viability
Designing Organizations for Creativity and Innovation
Diverse by Design
Getting (More of) What You Want: Negotiating, Collaborative Problem-Solving, and
Value-Claiming
Leadership Agility
Leading Effective Teams
Mobilizing for Successful Change: A Toolkit
Motivating Employees
Persuasion: Principles and Practice
The Innovation Playbook: Designing Stories for Impact
UPON COMPLETION OF
LEAD, PARTICIPANTS
RECEIVE:
A Stanford Graduate
School of Business
Professional Certificate
Continued exclusive
invitations to speaker
sessions and special
events
Continuing
Education Units
What To
EXPECT
Begin with foundation
courses and round out
your curriculum with
elective courses that fit
your business challenges
or professional goals.
1 year
Part-time and fully online
9 courses
4 foundation and 5 elective,
graded on a pass/no pass basis
5-10 hours
Total time commitment per week
PROGRAM DETAILS:
•
•
•
Application Deadline: February 2, 2022
Program Dates: March 16, 2022 - March 15, 2023
Program Fee: $19,200
Interested in learning about LEAD? Try one of the following:
1) Connect with Us:
Email: gsb_leadcertificate@stanford.edu
Phone: +1.650.736.7901
Live Virtual Advising: https://stanford.zoom.us/j/490766588 (Password: 052015)
•
•
•
Tuesdays 9-9:30 a.m. Pacific Time
Wednesdays 1-1:30 p.m. Pacific Time
Thursdays 5-5:30 p.m. Pacific Time
2) Complete a Self-Assessment:
You can access a brief questionnaire on the Stanford LEAD website that will help identify if
the LEAD program is the right fit for your goals and objectives. The LEAD team will contact
you upon completion of the self-assessment and offer guidance, based on your responses.
3) Attend a LEAD Preview:
The richness of the LEAD experience is difficult to put into words. So, we bring the LEAD
program to you to experience over the course of 1-2 weeks. Our program preview gives
you an in-depth look at LEAD by emulating the program experience, with direct access to
Stanford GSB faculty and course facilitators, a global cohort of peers, relevant course content
and the chance to put your new learnings into practice by completing an assignment. As an
additional option, there is the opportunity to question the people who know our program
best: our participants!
Upcoming LEAD Previews are being offered in November 2021 and January 2022. For
future dates, please visit stanfordlead.com
Application Requirements:
Eligibility Considerations:
The LEAD application can be completed online. It includes:
Participants are selected based on aptitude, experience, a desire
to collaborate, and the drive to become more impactful leaders
who are committed to accelerating change within themselves
and their organizations.
•
•
•
•
Basic personal contact and professional background inputs
An essay (500 words or less)
(2) responses to video interview questions
Electronic recommendation from a stakeholder on your
professional growth
Tuition: We offer flexible payment options. You may cover costs in
one lump sum or make three payments throughout the year (40%,
30%, 30%). If your company is sponsoring your tuition payment,
we will do our best to work with you on a schedule that fits your
company policies.
•
•
•
•
Admissions are selective to ensure a diversity of perspectives
and experience within each cohort
Cohort size is limited in order to facilitate maximum
engagement
Proficiency with speaking and writing in English is required
(TOEFL is not required)
No GMAT or GRE required