Open Programs for Individuals

Digital transformation is the key challenge for executives today. WHU, Foundry (formerly IDG Communications), and Software AG offer an advanced program for senior executives in IT and digitalization that enhances your capabilities to lead and transform your organization into a digital, disruptive, and globalized economy.

The five-day module hosted in Düsseldorf challenges your entrepreneurial mindset and inspirational leadership capabilities. Join an active network of more than 150 program alumni! You will receive a WHU Executive Education Certificate after successfully completing the program.

Corporate boards play an increasingly vital role in today’s disruptive business landscape. As a board member, you can shape the entire future of your organization by providing guidance and oversight on crucial issues facing organizations today, ranging from risk management, business strategy, sustainability, and compliance.

Are you a senior-level executive currently serving on a corporate board, or aspiring to transition into this role? Or maybe you are a senior manager wanting to engage more effectively now with your board: This unique program was designed to give you pragmatic new insights and valuable tools to amplify your impact and secure your organization’s future.

In a dynamic learning forum, industry and academic experts from WHU and IESE Business School will accompany you to ensure you magnify your contribution in your particular role, create strategic value and ensure a sustainable competitive advantage for your organization.

This program is offered by Leadership Choices and WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management. You will learn how to add coaching to your leadership signature authentically.

You will primarily learn how coaching as a leader works from a practical perspective. Using the Leadership Choices coaching model, you will be given insights into powerful questions and levels of listening. Moreover, you will learn to apply coaching interventions that have proven successful in a leadership context. Plenty of practical coaching work will take place in the classroom. During the program, you will also be asked to work with real coachees, i.e., coaching clients. After successfully completing the program, you will receive a WHU Executive Education Certificate.

Our Negotiations Seminar equips you with the skills you need to manage business negotiations successfully, even in the most challenging situations. The 2-day program provides managers and executives with a rich set of negotiation strategies and negotiation techniques to lead successful business-to-business negotiations in any setting – be it day-to-day interactions with suppliers, customers, or colleagues. The international participant group allows you to network with peers from various cultural and industry backgrounds.

During hands-on exercises in the program, such as role-plays, you will be equipped with ready-to-use skills. On top of that, you will take home improved leadership and communication skills! You will receive a WHU Executive Education Certificate after successfully completing the negotiation seminar.

Our world is changing at lightning speed. And so are the challenges you and your organization are facing. At the same time, we strive to integrate purpose, values and meaning into our and others' professional lives. The ability to open up, embrace change and co-create tangible, impactful solutions are critical success factors today and even more so tomorrow.

The Capability Program transforms you with purpose so that you can transform your environment. The action learning program challenges you to step up and take real responsibility as a social entrepreneur in the field. As part of a diverse team, you co-create a tangible social enterprise to improve job and life chances of a deprived community in the project country (Sri Lanka, Cambodia, or Mongolia). In this process, you will find unique opportunities to find and lead by purpose, think and act as an entrepreneur and collaborate as a diverse self-organized team. At the same time, you will be granted 9 ECTS points.

The Executive Education divisions of three leading European Business Schools – WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management, Stockholm School of Economics (SSE), and ESSEC Business School – join forces to offer a new pioneer program for (future) leaders in sports business. Over 3 x 3-day modules, participants learn how to systematically look into the future and develop a strategy for growth (at WHU in Düsseldorf). Furthermore, they study how to turn strategy concepts into commercial success (at SSE in Stockholm) and they will learn about the role of leadership, goal setting, and culture in managing change (at ESSEC in Paris). Participants will not only discover new skills and explore new ways of thinking, but also have the opportunity to expand their network through a diverse group of international peers and world-class experts.

Participants will be awarded an Executive Education Certificate from each business school after successfully completing the program.

The Financial Literacy Program is all about how to read, derive, and apply relevant financial information to decision-making situations. Created for managers who are not financial specialists, this program provides a solid foundation in finance and accounting.

This financial literacy training will help you to read, understand, and interpret income statements, cash flow statements, and balance sheets. An overview of types of financing will be presented and you will develop an understanding of the characteristics of different financing instruments. You will be able to effectively apply financial analysis techniques and through that understand the strategic performance goals. You will receive a WHU Executive Education Certificate after successfully completing the program.

In today’s complex and disruptive world, innovation management is key to staying relevant to customers, keeping ahead of the competition, and taking advantage of emerging digital technologies. The Innovation & Corporate Entrepreneurship Essentials Program will equip you with insights, skills, and tools to act as a frontrunner in innovation and corporate entrepreneurship within your organization. Renowned WHU faculty members and experienced practitioners, with extensive international experience, will share with you the latest research results, practical tools, strategic approaches, and agile methods for fostering an innovative mindset. The program is designed to engage all aspects of innovation and entrepreneurship through guest lectures, group work, case studies, and a Serious Lego Play Session. Special attention will be paid to generative AI and the practical applications of ChatGPT. You will learn how to utilize it effectively in your business development strategies through real-life examples.

You will be awarded with a WHU Executive Education Certificate after successfully completing the program.

WHU’s Leadership Essentials Program explores the foundations of leadership by comparing effective and ineffective leadership behaviors – and by challenging you to (re-)consider who you are as a leader and why anybody should be led by you. During the 3-day interactive leadership seminar, you will develop a greater understanding of your own leadership, critical team dynamics as well as the strategic value of leadership at an organizational level.

We use exercises, group work, and case studies to illustrate the behaviors of highly effective leaders. The program concludes with reflections on what you have learned and a forward plan that will help you apply the insights you gained during the business leadership program. You will receive a WHU Executive Education Certificate after successfully completing the program.

A leader has to keep many things in mind in order to make sustainable and strategically relevant decisions. WHU Management Essentials Program provide participants who are transitioning into a leadership position or have done so recently, with the fundamental skills of General Management.

You can choose 3 out of 4 of the following programs: Leadership Essentials, Strategy Essentials, Financial Literacy and Innovation & Corporate Entrepreneurship Essentials.

Each of these programs focuses on different skills that are essential for successful leadership. In combination with a personality profile, the programs can be scheduled flexibly. You will receive a WHU Certificate of Excellence in General Management after successfully completing the program. Optionally, you can earn 6 ECTS credits, if you decide to write exams.

This development program is designed for experienced professionals who aim at learning and employing the art of strategy to improve decision making. Over the course of this intensive program which is designed as a “training camp”, participants will be engaging in experiments, role plays (e.g., war gaming), and AI-based computer simulations to experience how thinking, deciding, and acting strategically can help achieve desired outcomes.

You will be awarded with a WHU Executive Education Certificate after successfully completing the program.

Are you looking to improve your business operations and stay ahead of the competition? Join a virtual bootcamp to learn how to leverage ChatGPT and other Generative AI tools to improve ideation, facilitate customer interactions, optimize data-driven decisions, and automate business tasks. In three interactive sessions, Professor Dries Faems, a digital transformation expert and a thought leader on the topic of Generative AI for business development, will give you an introduction on how to write effective prompts, combine different AI tools, and develop agents to execute tasks in the context of specific use cases. This format is especially suited for business professionals from all industries who are motivated to improve their business operations and stay ahead of the competition by harnessing the power of ChatGPT and Generative AI.

You will be awarded with a WHU Executive Education Digital Certificate after successfully completing the bootcamp.

The Online Certified in Value Chain Management Program focuses on a broad variety of activities and processes within an organization that are needed to create a product or service. This program will introduce you to the different stages of value creation, starting with a product or service idea and ending with its distribution. This includes important aspects such as design, procurement, production, quality control, and others. The more value an organization creates, the more competitive it will be.

Participants will learn how to understand and optimize a business’s Value Chain Management in order to deliver outstanding performances and results.

You will benefit from innovative teaching methods and a virtual but collaborative learning experience. All online courses are pitched at the MBA level and after successful completion of the Program, you will be granted a WHU Online Executive Education Certificate and 10 ECTS credits, which can be credited to an MBA (16% of an MBA).