What You'll Learn
In today’s fast-changing and increasingly AI-driven business landscape, organizations need leaders who can think strategically, navigate uncertainty, anticipate disruption, and align execution with long-term business success.This highly interactive program provides practical tools and frameworks to help you evaluate industries, assess competitive dynamics, identify growth opportunities, and strengthen organizational performance.
You will learn how leading companies build and sustain competitive advantage, leverage innovation, and make effective strategic decisions in rapidly evolving markets. The program also examines how forces such as artificial intelligence (AI) are reshaping industries, business models, and leadership priorities.
Through real-world business cases, interactive discussions, and applied analysis, you will strengthen your strategic thinking, leadership judgment, and ability to connect strategy to execution within your organization. You will also analyze your organization’s current strategy and competitive position, identifying ways your team or department can contribute more effectively to long-term value creation.
This experiential program offers practical content, robust strategic frameworks, and opportunities for real-world application, enabling you to immediately apply what you learn to your organization’s most important challenges and opportunities.
Program Benefits
- Develop a stronger strategic and leadership mindset and improve your ability to think beyond day-to-day operations
- Learn practical frameworks and tools used to evaluate industries, competition, market trends, and strategic opportunities
- Strengthen your ability to make informed strategic decisions in complex and uncertain environments
- Understand how organizations build, sustain, and defend competitive advantage
- Explore how AI is transforming industries, business strategy, leadership, innovation, and competitive dynamics
- Analyze your own company’s strategy and identify opportunities to improve strategic positioning, performance, and growth
- Align your role, team, or department more effectively with organizational priorities and strategic goals
- Explore innovation, disruptive strategies, and strategic moves companies use to compete and grow
- Earn a Certificate of Completion from the Harvard Division of Continuing Education
Who Should Enroll
This program is designed for:
- Experienced senior leaders and executives who have significant business responsibility but may not have had formal training in strategy, or who are seeking a structured refresh of core strategic frameworks.
- Mid-level managers and leaders preparing to take on broader leadership responsibilities that require stronger strategic judgment, prioritization, and cross-functional decision-making.
- Functional leaders across operations, finance, marketing, product, technology, HR, and related areas looking to strengthen strategic thinking and lead with greater cross-functional and enterprise-wide impact.
- Entrepreneurs and business owners seeking to sharpen their strategic approach to growth, positioning, and long-term value creation.
- Consultants and advisors who support organizations in strategy development, execution, and transformation, and need practical frameworks to guide their work.
Topics Covered
- The process of developing and executing effective business strategies
- Strategic thinking, leadership, and decision-making in complex and rapidly changing environments
- The impact of AI on business strategy, competition, innovation, and leadership
- Frameworks and tools used to conduct external and internal strategic analyses
- Evaluating competitive forces, industry dynamics, market shifts, and industry attractiveness
- Assessing a company’s resources, capabilities, core competencies, and competitive advantage
- Identifying strategic opportunities, risks, and emerging threats
- Business-level and corporate-level strategies for growth and differentiation
- Innovation, disruptive strategies, blue ocean strategy, and strategic positioning
- Strategic leadership, organizational alignment, and execution
- Strengthening short- and long-term organizational performance
Considering this program?
June Schedule
Day 1: Foundations of Strategy & Competitive Advantage
- Build a rigorous understanding of how firms create and sustain competitive advantage through resources, capabilities, and strategic positioning
- Analyze internal strengths and external market forces to identify strategic opportunities, constraints, and trade-offs
- Develop a structured approach to understanding how strategy is formulated in complex and evolving business environments
- Explore how technological change and industry shifts (including AI) influence competitive dynamics and strategic choices
Day 2: Strategy Execution & Strategic Leadership
- Understand what makes a strategy effective and how it translates into sustained organizational performance
- Strengthen strategic leadership capabilities to align decisions, priorities, and execution with organizational objectives
- Apply core strategy frameworks to real business cases to develop structured strategic judgment
- Build the ability to think critically about strategic choices in complex, competitive environments
October Schedule
Week 1, Day 1
- Explore how core competencies drive competitive advantage
- Understand the process of strategy-making and execution
- Examine various generic business strategies
Week 1, Day 2
- Evaluate macro and micro environments to uncover critical strategic issues
- Assess competitive conditions and industry attractiveness to seize opportunities
- Analyze current resources and capabilities to identify core competencies
Week 2, Day 1
- Discover what constitutes a winning strategy
- Learn the cornerstones of effective strategy execution
- Study the moves organizations use to strengthen their competitive positions
Week 2, Day 2
- Develop strategic actions and contribute effectively to organizational goals
- Master essential skills for strategic leadership
- Apply what you have learned to your organization and showcase your insights
Instructor
-
![Areen Shahbari]()
Areen Shahbari
Areen Shahbari is a strategy advisor, executive educator, and President of Cactus International, a global consulting and training firm. She advises senior leaders across Fortune 500 companies, governments, and mission-driven organizations on strategy, decision-making, and execution in rapidly changing environments shaped by AI and disruption. A Fulbright Scholar and recipient of the Harvard Distinguished Teaching Performance Award, she teaches at Harvard’s Division of Continuing Education and works with leaders worldwide across industries and sectors.
Instructor
-
![Areen Shahbari]()
Areen Shahbari
Areen Shahbari is a strategy advisor, executive educator, and President of Cactus International, a global consulting and training firm. She advises senior leaders across Fortune 500 companies, governments, and mission-driven organizations on strategy, decision-making, and execution in rapidly changing environments shaped by AI and disruption. A Fulbright Scholar and recipient of the Harvard Distinguished Teaching Performance Award, she teaches at Harvard’s Division of Continuing Education and works with leaders worldwide across industries and sectors.
On the first day of the program, [the instructor] presented a slide with a list of key attributes that one needs to become a better strategic thinker. The sliding scales allowed us to evaluate ourselves on these attributes. This exercise really stood out. In fact, I have used it with my team.
Program Manager Cloud Integration, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas
Earn a Certificate of Leadership Excellence
The Certificates of Leadership Excellence (CLE) are designed for leaders with the desire to enhance their business acumen, challenge current thinking, and expand their leadership skills.
This program counts toward the CLE in Management Development.
Register today and get started earning your certificate.
