Future Leaders
Accelerate your leadership journey
Are you ready
to step up to
senior leadership?
Have you been recognized
as a rising leader and want
to accelerate your growth and
career? IMD’s Future Leaders
expands your potential by
building capabilities across
three essential pillars: strategy,
innovation, and leadership.
Throughout this immersive and transformative journey, you will:
For HR professionals responsible for
developing future leaders, discover
the benefits of partnering with IMD’s
Future Leaders program here.
Intensive leadership development (including a weekend
Alpine experience) builds the self-awareness, resilience and
agility needed to transition to higher levels of leadership.
Faculty, coaches and your peer cohort support you every
step of the way, fostering continuous learning and reflection.
• Sharpen your strategic thinking working on a real
business challenge.
• Develop innovative solutions you can apply
immediately.
• Build the leadership presence needed to inspire
and influence at the highest levels.
Your experience is further enriched by AI and innovation
tools, enabling you to test ideas and shape solutions relevant
to your context and industry.
IMD faculty really make the topic
of leadership approachable. I’m feeling
grateful to have been part of this
incredible cohort of Future Leaders
and to have learned from so many
esteemed professors!
Marijke Brenninkmeijer
Strategic Business Leader - Retail
Germany
Key learnings
Discover an integrated learning journey
built around three success pillars
Strengthen business acumen
with core fundamentals
Develop your entrepreneur
mindset
–strategy, finance, marketing, and innovation
– grounded in real-world complexity.
Use AI and technology to bring creative,
entrepreneurial approaches to real
business problems.
Lead with greater
self-awareness and resilience,
leveraging reflection, coaching, and
feedback to adapt leadership style
and increase impact.
Create tangible business value
by tackling a real challenge
from your company or industry.
Expand your network
and join a trusted community
that fosters long-term collaboration,
shared learning, and support.
Three pillars for success
01
02
03
Strengthen core business
skills in marketing,
finance, value creation,
sustainability and more
to help drive long-term
strategic success.
Use AI and technology
to rethink what is possible
and apply creative,
entrepreneurial thinking
to real business challenges.
Build self-awareness,
executive presence,
and decision-making
to lead yourself and team
through uncertainty.
STRATEGY
INNOVATION
LEADERSHIP
Your
learning
journey
Step 1
Set up for success
LiVe virtual, 2 half-days
• Explore today’s complex business challenges.
• Meet participants and form home groups.
Step 2
Master business fundamentals
Online, 8 weeks, 8 hours a week
• Delve into units on leadership, strategy, business finance,
and marketing.
• Select your in-company business project.
Step 3
Lead tomorrow’s challenges
On campus, 10 days, includes weekend alpine experience
Develop an organization-wide view of your
business to effectively lead in complex times.
Ensure you become the leader who creates
sustainable, long-term impact.
• Integrate and apply acquired knowledge to work on your value
creation ideas.
• Develop responsible and innovative mindsets, and explore
the latest thinking on digital, entrepreneurship, and innovation.
• Deep dive into your leadership skills with coaches to build
your confidence and ability to create momentum.
Step 4
Move into your new future
LiVe virtual, 1 day
• Present your in-company business project to fellow participants
and key stakeholders from your organization.
• Celebrate success and commit to future action.
Benefit from group work, executive and peer coaching throughout your journey.
Step 5
Become part of IMD Future Leaders alumni community
• Join networking opportunities and annual Future Leaders alumni event.
Purposeful value
creation for
your organization
Work on a business challenge you want to address, the change you want
to make happen and the contribution you will make to your organization
and wider society. You are the project leader from inception to execution.
• Build potential and confidence to make
sustainable impact for your organization
and wider society.
• Grow your executive presence
and influence to bring others along
to make a real difference.
• Connect theory with practice. Learning
exercises are highly experiential with
immediate application to ensure tangible
value is created.
• Benefit from external insights and
industry expertise through IMD’s unique
blend of international faculty, mentors,
and peer leaders.
It’s an incredible, transformative journey, shining
a brighter light on the importance of finding
opportunities to contribute to broader society
and making a positive impact beyond ourselves.
Conor Quinn
Head of Sales, Global FMCG
BT, Switzerland
Executive
coaching
Get key inputs to perfect your leadership style
and maximize your impact.
Build on your strengths
and harness your areas
of development through
practice in groups or
individually.
Get unbiased insights
to identify and develop
your personal leadership
style and become the
leader you are meant to be.
Interact with program
coaches throughout.
As executive coaches, we become your trusted
advisor. We give you transparent and authentic
feedback to strengthen your self-awareness
and build a deeper foundation to better
yourself and others.
Francis Pfluger
Executive Coach
IMD, Switzerland
Meet your
Program Director
Meet the experts who
will guide you to success
Sophie Bacq
Professor of Social
Entrepreneurship;
Coca-Cola Foundation
Chair in Sustainable
Development
Cyril Bouquet
Professor of Strategy
and Innovation
An award-winning researcher and teacher,
Cyril Bouquet specializes in helping leaders
and organizations tackle complex challenges
through innovation and creativity and
supporting them with their transition journeys
as they seek to create change and deliver
progress for society.
He is co-author of the 2021 book on innovation
and creativity ALIEN Thinking: How to Bring
Your Breakthrough Ideas to Life.
In today’s rapidly evolving world, future leaders
must cultivate an entrepreneurial mindset
to navigate uncertainty with curiosity, agility,
and creativity, while driving purposeful change
in themselves and their organizations.
Read full biography
Salvatore Cantale
Professor of Finance
Frédéric Dalsace
Professor of Marketing
and Strategy
Susan Goldsworthy OLY
Affiliate Professor
of Leadership,
Communications, and
Organizational Change
José Parra Moyano
Professor of Digital
Strategy
Niccolò Pisani
Professor of Strategy and
International Business
See
biographies
Exclusive
Future Leaders
community
Once you complete the program you are
eligible to join exclusive Future Leaders
community events in addition to receiving
IMD alumni status. Building strong
relationships with peer leaders, faculty,
and coaches will support and accelerate
your own leadership journey.
The biggest personal impact for me
is the network of people. I know that
we are connected for life because
of the experience we shared
throughout the program.
Yana Makaveeva
Head of HQ Talent Acquisition
ICRC, Switzerland
Future Leaders
Real
impact
I gained a lot from my colleagues in the program
as I saw how they approached different
exercises and was able to learn from
their unique experiences and perspectives.
Participants
12
Connect with a diverse
group of global peers
34
Are you a functional expert, or manager of
a function or project with around 5 to 10 years
of professional experience and ready to take on
greater leadership responsibilities?
Then join other like-minded executives from across
different industries, cultures, and nationalities for
an enriching learning experience. Your class will
become a trusted network as you move upwards
through your career.
11
years of experience
%
of participants say they have gained
fresh knowledge and insights.
100
%
of participants say they have
become a more effective executive.
average age
industries
20
Désirée Gilgen
Senior Account Executive FSI
SAP, Switzerland
98
nationalities
2025 class profile (average data).
Inspirational. Impactful. This program empowers
you to transform the way you work and the way
you develop your career.
Ellie Bourdilloud
Head of M&A
LEXR, Switzerland
100
%
of participants say they have
taken practical steps that enhance
the performance of their team/
organization.
Survey of 2025 participants.
Future Leaders was a life-changing experience, with talented
young leaders from around the world ready to shape
their industries and make the world a better place.
Diego Vázquez Gutiérrez
Key European Account Manager
Mondi Group, Spain
+
Challenging what
is and inspiring what
could be, we develop
leaders who transform
organizations for a more
prosperous, sustainable,
and inclusive world.
About IMD
+
20,000
2,000
executives come to IMD
each year from 120+ countries
and virtually every industry.
organizations trust IMD
to develop their leadership
talent each year.
+
145,000
The International Institute for Management Development (IMD) has been
pioneering leadership development for nearly 80 years. Founded by
business for business, we are an independent university institute with
Swiss roots and global reach. Operating from Lausanne with strategic
hubs in Singapore, Shenzhen, and Cape Town, IMD works with 20,000+
executives from 120+ countries annually. Our 145,000+ alumni form
a powerful global network. Consistently ranked among the world’s top
business schools, IMD bridges cutting-edge research with real-world
application to help leaders solve problems, scale solutions, and drive
impact. Real Learning for Real Impact.
Learn more
Most published institution
in Harvard Business
Review and MIT Sloan
Management Review.*
alumni in over 180 countries
form a powerful network
of global connections
and opportunities.
94%
98 %
of participants report
significant personal impact
from attending an IMD
program.**
of participants would
recommend IMD to a friend
or a colleague.**
*After HBS and MIT authors, 2020-2025.
**Survey of 2025 participants.
Fee
CHF 19,900
Apply now
Contact
Program Advisor Team
info@imd.org
+41 21 618 0700
Schedule a call
Start
your journey
See program dates