Emerging CEO Programme
Lead Strategy. Drive Growth. Transform with AI
- Experience structured learning on strategy, leadership and AI
- Learn from expert faculty and industry practitioners
- Access executive strategy activities, faculty live sessions and more
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Empowering tomorrow's leaders to drive transformation
The Emerging CEO Programme from Imperial Executive Education prepares you to step into the CEO role with the strategic perspective required to lead an enterprise. As organisations navigate rapid technological change, evolving markets and increasing complexity, leaders must learn to shape enterprise strategy, guide organisational transformation and make decisions that influence long-term business performance. Over eight months, this programme helps you develop the capabilities required to lead strategy, growth and organisational performance at the enterprise level.
Through a curriculum that combines strategic leadership, governance and transformation frameworks with real-world case studies, executive strategy activities and expert-led live online sessions, you will strengthen your ability to lead complex organisations. The programme also includes the AI for Business Transformation module, a dedicated programme component that helps you explore how organisations can adopt AI to drive business impact, strengthen innovation and build competitive advantage.
Distinguish yourself with a certificate from Imperial Executive Education and earn Associate Alumni status upon successful completion of the programme.
What you will learn
The Emerging CEO Programme will enable you to:
Understand the executive leadership skills necessary to excel in a forward-thinking C-suite role
Foster a culture of innovation that drives organisational evolution through transformative leadership
Identify opportunities for innovation by generating business ideas with generative AI (gen AI) tools
Design innovative business strategies that leverage gen and agentic AI for growth and competitive advantage
Leverage strategic frameworks to navigate rapid market shifts and competitive dynamics with confidence
Evaluate and optimise funding mechanisms, ensuring alignment with the organisation’s strategic priorities and growth objectives
Design integrated strategies that align financial, operational and leadership objectives with the organisation’s short- and long-term goals
Analyse and refine structural frameworks to enhance decision-making efficiency and organisational alignment
Who is this programme for?
The Emerging CEO Programme is designed for senior professionals aspiring to fast-track their transitions to C-suite roles. The programme helps develop a holistic view or ‘big picture’ mindset of the organisation, enabling participants to emerge as confident leaders capable of guiding the organisation through high-growth challenges.
This programme is particularly relevant for, but not limited to:
Functional heads and senior executives looking to gain exposure to cross-functional leadership, strategic decision-making and corporate governance while managing stakeholders and aligning innovation with profitability
Vice presidents, directors and their equivalents seeking personalised mentorship to expand their leadership capabilities and develop a mindset to navigate organisational and market challenges
Founders/co-founders of start-ups seeking insights into leadership presence, financial strategies and stakeholder management in order to scale their organisations
Curriculum
This comprehensive eight-month learning journey is designed to strengthen your leadership capabilities while deepening your understanding of CEO strategies and transformation imperatives. You will also explore how AI is reshaping organisations and how leaders can harness it to drive innovation, strategy and business transformation. The modules are developed and delivered by distinguished Imperial Business School faculty, helping you navigate the complexities of operating at the C-suite level.
Understand the executive leadership skills necessary to excel in a forward-thinking C-suite role. Navigate the current business landscape confidently by gaining expertise in effective decision-making, strategic management and ethical leadership. Explore how to drive innovation and profitability while ensuring alignment with sustainable practices and responsibility.
Module 1: Organisational Structures: From Hierarchies to Networks
Module 2: Navigating and Influencing Complex Politics
Module 3: Building Collaborations at the Executive Level
Module 4: Understanding Enablers and Derailers to Career Progression in the C-Suite
Module 5: Building Trust and Relationship Management
Module 6: Adept Communication: The Art of Storytelling
Module 7: Fostering a Culture of Ethics
Module 8: Inspiring Cohesive, Effective Teams
Module 9: Future Forces Transforming Demands on the C-Suite
Module 10: The Role of C-Suite in Driving Digital Transformation
Module 11: Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG): Balancing Profitability and Responsibility
Module 12: Understanding and Appreciating Diversity in the Workplace
Find your unique CEO voice that resonates with top talent, innovators and stakeholders. Create an environment of mutual respect and openness within the C-suite to encourage innovation, risk-taking and rapid iteration. Navigate the complexities of sustaining growth while also moving towards profitability and scalable systems.
Module 13: The CEO Role in High-Growth Organisations
Module 14: Individuality as a CEO
Module 15: Corporate Governance
Module 16: The C-Suite
Module 17: Financial Strategies
Module 18: Navigating Funding Sources
Align the organisation’s vision with agile expansion, innovation-driven growth mechanisms and transformation strategies that can adapt to fast-changing industries and market landscapes. Unify teams in an era of change, ensuring adaptability and resilience while scaling and building for growth. Attract and retain top talent in innovative fields with strategies that can endure transitions and growth phases.
Module 19: Executing on the Innovation Edge
Module 20: Corporate Strategy for Disruptive Growth
Module 21: Executive Communication
Module 22: Leading through Flux
Module 23: Talent Strategies for High Growth
Module 24: Stewarding Culture
Explore AI as a strategic enabler that transforms business operations, strengthens innovation and advances your career in an AI-driven world. Study key AI concepts, learn to apply them to real-world business challenges and discover how to leverage them to automate workflows and drive meaningful innovation.
Module 25: Fundamentals of AI in Business
Module 26: Generative AI Tools and Prompt Engineering
Module 27: Automating Workflows with Generative AI
Module 28: Innovation and Competitive Advantage through Generative AI
Module 29: Managing Organisational Impacts and Strategic Integration
Module 30: Ethical Considerations and Risk Management in AI
Agentic AI live online sessions
Session 1: From Generative AI to Agentic Workflows: How Agentic AI Can Transform Business Processes
This session introduces how AI agents can accomplish basic end-to-end tasks within a business ecosystem. These tasks include handling routine customer queries, preparing first-draft reports, checking compliance steps and coordinating between systems. You will also learn how to identify the processes most suitable for agent implementation and how to evaluate the resulting benefits in clear, measurable business terms.
Session 2: Governing Agentic AI: How to Keep Agentic AI Safe, Reliable and under Control
This session helps you understand the risks of agentic AI and ways to manage these risks, even without technical expertise. You will also examine some real-world examples from different organisational departments.
Session 3: Building Agentic AI into Existing Teams: Roles, Skills and Real Workflows
Through this live session, you will explore how organisations can practically introduce agentic AI into everyday business operations without disrupting teams or inducing fear. You will also focus on the role of people, capability building and workflow redesign in the deployment process.
Note: Session topics are indicative and are subject to change.
Programme highlights
Fixed learning path
Through a fixed learning path and capstone projects, apply AI to real industry problems and develop innovative, scalable solutions.
Peer learning
Engage with diverse senior leaders in forums to exchange perspectives, challenge ideas and enrich learning.
Case studies and industry examples
Learn from real-world business cases and industry examples to understand the evolving CEO role and leadership challenges.
Success coach
Craft your learning journey in line with your career goals with a success coach assigned to your cohort.
Associate Alumni status
Earn Associate Alumni status upon successful completion of the programme.
Executive strategy activities
Across the Emerging CEO Programme experience, you will apply programme lessons to complete two executive strategy activities, consisting of weekly assignments. These assignments are an opportunity to synthesise programme insights and apply them directly to resolve real-life challenges.
Executive toolkit activity
These required activities, which are built into each module, will equip you with the necessary skills to lead at the executive level and offer regular opportunities to translate theory into practice. The project includes a variety of research-based activities.
Executive workbook
This project will require you to leverage CEO-specific strategies and skills to build a transformation road map for your organisation. Each week, you will complete an assignment by crafting a plan for how your organisation will navigate the complex business landscape and apply innovative initiatives to achieve business objectives.
Executive AI-focused capstone projects
In Phase 4, you will complete mini capstone projects within each module. For each project, you will select an industry-specific business problem and propose an AI-driven solution. This exercise will strengthen your understanding of AI capabilities and their potential to innovate products, services and processes at scale.
Immersive Learning
Experience a learning journey that extends beyond the classroom through online modules, live online sessions, discussion forums and toolkit activities that build practical leadership capabilities. You will:
Engage with global peers, guest speakers and distinguished faculty through online sessions to deepen your understanding of the evolving CEO role
Collaborate with your cohort in discussion forums to exchange insights and perspectives while strengthening your learning through peer engagement
Apply programme concepts through weekly assignments that culminate in two executive strategy activities, translating knowledge into actionable leadership capabilities
Receive guidance from a cohort success coach to align your learning journey with your professional goals
Testimonials
Meet the faculty
The programme faculty are world-renowned experts who foster a rich and comprehensive learning environment, ensuring participants gain essential insights and practical knowledge.
Programme Director and Lecturer at Imperial Business School
Adam Kingl is a globally recognised expert in enterprise leadership, organisational transformation and the future of work. He teaches and develops executive education programm...
Fractional CTO and Strategic Adviser
Khalil Dimachkie is a technology strategist and CTO with over 20 years of experience leading software engineering, digital transformation and technology strategy initiatives. ...
Advanced Research Fellow at the Institute for Security Science and Technology, Imperial College London
Catherine Mulligan is an expert in digital transformation, emerging technologies and enterprise technology strategy. As an Advanced Research Fellow at Imperial College London’...
Professor of Digital Strategy and Innovation, Imperial Business School
Christopher L Tucci is an expert in digital strategy, innovation and enterprise transformation, focusing on how organisations adapt business models in rapidly evolving technol...
Managing Director of the Centre for Responsible Leadership
Kate Coombs is a behavioural science expert specialising in enterprise culture transformation, leadership behaviour and responsible decision-making. As the Managing Director o...
Partner and Co-Founder at Candesic Strategy Consultants; Visiting Professor in Finance at Imperial Business School
Marc Kitten has 25 years of experience in transactions and financial markets and advises corporations and financial investors. He serves on the boards of several fast-growing ...
Principal Lecturer (Teaching); Admissions Tutor for the BSc Economics, Finance and Data Science degree at Imperial Business School
Danielle Lyssimachou is an accounting expert specialising in financial strategy, corporate reporting and decision-making for senior leaders. With over two decades of internati...
Programme Director of the Imperial Leadership in a Technology Driven World Programme and Visiting Fellow
Frans Campher is an executive coach, trainer and leadership facilitator specialising in enterprise leadership, strategic decision-making and organisational transformation. He ...
Associate Professor, Innovation Hub I–X, Imperial College London
Islem Rekik is the Director of the Brain and SIgnal Research & Analysis laboratory. She has led over 90 pioneering research projects at the intersection of AI and healthcare, ...
Professor of Organisational Behaviour and Leadership and Vice Dean of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, Imperial Business School
Sankalp Chaturvedi’s work focuses on leadership effectiveness, organisational transformation and building high-performing teams in complex organisations. Sankalp’s research ex...
Emerging CEO Programme with Imperial Executive Education
The Emerging CEO Programme prepares you to navigate the complexities of modern business by building the strategic perspective required to lead at the enterprise level. Developed by renowned faculty and industry experts, the programme combines leadership, strategy and transformation frameworks with real-world insights. You will also explore how emerging technologies, including AI, are reshaping decision-making, innovation and competitive advantage, equipping you to lead organisational transformation and transition confidently into the CEO role.
Certificate
Upon successful completion of the programme, participants will be awarded a verified digital certificate of completion by Imperial Executive Education.
Note: You will earn the Associate Alumni status upon successful completion of the programme. Visit the Associate Alumni page to find out more.
FAQs
The Emerging CEO Programme is a multimodular immersive learning journey that aims to provide participants with the skills and knowledge to emerge as strategic chief executive officers. This CEO training programme covers vast topics to help you learn strategic leadership skills, CEO roles and responsibilities and new mandates undertaken by CEOs in the last few years.
The Emerging CEO Programme is designed for senior professionals aspiring to fast-track their transitions to C-suite roles. This Emerging CEO course is particularly beneficial for individuals in roles such as assistant vice presidents and directors or associate directors, associate vice presidents and founders.
The Emerging CEO Programme has been designed with your busy schedule in mind. You will be required to commit not more than four to six hours per week, enabling you to benefit from this transformative programme while fulfilling your day-to-day work responsibilities. This impactful programme offers a blend of self-paced modules and live interaction.
The eight-month learning journey includes live online and video online sessions with renowned faculty, industry experts and global peers. You can take advantage of live sessions and the Slack channel to ask questions and discuss ideas with your cohort success coach and participants. Real-world examples and in-depth programme learnings are delivered through a combination of recorded video and live online lectures.
The programme fee covers teaching fees, all academic material and access to online coursework.
You can pay the full programme fee upfront or pay in easy instalments. If you apply well in advance of the programme start date, you can receive a fee benefit. If you would like to approach your company with a sponsorship request for this programme, here is a customisable template that you can use.
Yes. Closed-captioning and transcripts for all pre-recorded videos and closed-captioning for recordings of live sessions are available.
Emeritus collects all programme payments, provides learner enrolment and programme support and manages learning platform services.
For the programme refund and deferral policy, please click the link here.
Programme fees for Emeritus programmes with Imperial Executive Education may not be paid for with (a) funds from the GI Bill, the Post-9/11 Educational Assistance Act of 2008 or similar types of military education funding benefits or (b) Title IV financial aid funds.
Connect with a programme adviser for a 1:1 session
Our programme advisers have helped senior executives around the world choose the right programme for their career goals. Schedule a one-to-one session to get a deeper understanding of why the Emerging CEO Programme from Imperial Executive Education is right for you.
Email: learner.success@emeritus.org
Phone: +44 746 045 1107 (UK) / +1 315 236 4838 (US) / +65 3129 7468 (SG)
Early applications are encouraged. Admissions are reviewed on a first-come, first-served basis.
Flexible payment options available.
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